Etude conjointe CEMT-IRU « Amélioration de l’accessibilité des taxis » - Maria Nyman

Maria Nyman, Administrateur, Forum européen des personnes handicapées (EDF)

Challenges and opportunities for accessible taxi services

Good morning ladies and gentlemen,

My name is Maria Nyman and I am working as a policy officer at the European Disability Forum. The European Disability Forum (“EDF”) is the umbrella organization of disabled people in the European Union. Our full members are the 27 national disability federations of disabled people in the EU Member States as well as all the European Disability-specific non-governmental organizations. EDF is therefore the representative cross-disability organization at EU level, promoting the rights of the approximately 50 million disabled European citizens.

I am pleased to be here today at this important event where the joint ECMT and IRU report on access to taxis is presented. This report treats a very important and urgent issue for disabled people. The lack of accessible public transport means that taxi is a mode of transport that is frequently used by disabled people. However, lack of access of taxis means also for many persons that they have to rely on special transport, which is, although necessary as a complement to other modes of transport, felt as stigmatizing by many disabled people. EDF therefore very much welcomes this report. ECMT and IRU invited EDF to be part of the working group of this report ever since the beginning of the work, which allowed the report to reflect the needs of the users. To participate in this work and to meet all other stakeholders was very interesting for us and allowed all participants of the working group to better understand the needs and constraints of one another. This is the best way to move the agenda for taxi policies forward and was the prerequisite for ensuring that the final result of this work was successful, with solutions that were really adapted to the needs of the passengers but still feasible for industry and public authorities.

All too often, accessibility issues have been disregarded because it has been said that they are too costly or that there are not enough potential users benefiting from them and that there are no possible technical solutions allowing them anyway. I believe that the fact that we are all gathered here today is proof enough that we have come further than that and that we all realize the potential and importance of a user-friendly and accessible taxi system. Increased awareness about the need for ensuring a society that is adapted to the needs of its citizens and the demographic changes are two of the reasons that have allowed us to get to this point.

I feel confident saying that I believe that the benefits will be very important with increased accessibility to taxis for all stakeholders. From the point of view of the disabled person, being able to use the same modes of transport as “ordinary citizens” increases the personal well-being and leads to social inclusion.

Disabled passengers experience today a multitude of barriers to most taxis. However, the kind of barriers vary considerably from one disabled individual to the other.

When talking about accessibility for disabled persons most people think about access for wheelchair users. But disabled persons consist of a diverse group of people, including persons who have reduced mobility, persons who are blind, deaf, visually impaired, hard of hearing, deafblind, persons who have an intellectual disability or a mental health condition or even an invisible disability like a chronic illness. The accessibility requirements that need to be considered are several, if we are to respond to these different needs.

Ideally for a wheelchair user, every vehicle should be low-floor and be able to board wheelchair users without special lift equipment. Instead, they should have a removable wheelchair ramp which can be used to permit access and egress from both sides of the vehicle - and not solely via the rear. This will enable easier egress in the event of a rear shunt accident. A removable intermediate step should be provided to assist those who have some other difficulty in entering or leaving the vehicle. The height off the ground should be limited.

The height and size of the passenger compartment should be large enough to allow a wheelchair user to enter and to turn around in order to allow them to face either the front or the rear - and not be forced to be carried sideward facing.

For those wheelchair users who prefer to stay in their wheelchair during the journey, there is a need for floor claps to ensure safety for wheelchairs. There must also be seatbelts for those persons. Today security is big problem. Although wheelchairs are far from having a universal design, universal fixing systems are used.

A ramp might be a solution in order to help wheelchair users to board. However, some persons with walking difficulties will find it extremely difficult or even impossible, and often painful, to board a taxi if the steps are too high, despite of the existing ramp. It is also important that a ramp is not to steep – and that the taxi driver has been trained on how to use the ramp.

The suspension must be soft and stable. Acceleration must also be smooth. This might seem like details, but are key issues for persons who experience pain if the suspension is not soft enough.

For persons with visual impairments, it is very helpful is all seat edgings, door, window and hand restraint handles are colour contrasted with other interior colouring. It is very helpful if taximeters are easy to understand and clearly visible from the passenger compartment. This would be an improvement for all passengers, not only disabled passengers. These meters could also give out audible information on costs for those with learning or vision impairments. To allow identification, for those with a vision impairment, it would be helpful if some form of tactile information were be provided in the passenger compartment, for example either the meter number, the driver or vehicle licensing number etc.

Some of our members report that there is not enough space for their assistance dogs in the taxis. In addition, it happens that they are being refused traveling when bringing their dog.

For persons who are hard of hearing it is useful if a loop system is provided to allow communication between the driver and passengers. If the level of noise is limited this is also a way of ensuring easier communication. Another problem today is that lack of efficient communication possibilities makes it difficult for many persons who are, deaf, blind or hard of hearing to know where they are. Communication by the driver (in case you are blind) or information systems like GPS (in case you are deaf) are good solutions.

However, to ensure that disabled people really benefit from all these features, the vehicle owners must maintain and keep the taxis in good order to ensure the good functioning of them.

It is important to look at accessibility from a holistic point of view. This means that the infrastructure of taxi stops, for example, must be accessible. It also means that it should be as easy for disabled persons to make a taxi reservation as for non-disabled persons. One possibility could be to ensure that taxis can be booked by SMS, which ensures that deaf and hard-of-hearing persons easily and independently can order a taxi.

Training is also needed on how to handle mobility equipment.

Although taxis are a very comfortable mode of transport for disabled people provided they are accessible, it is also an expensive way of travelling. Disabled people and other people with reduced mobility proportionally use taxis more than other people, but there is a contradiction in this – disabled people are also generally poorer than the average citizen. Therefore it is crucial that accessible taxis of any model will not be any more expensive than other taxis. States could also consider for example user-side subsidies. Ideally, as long as public transport is not accessible, it should not cost any more for a disabled person to travel by taxi than an ordinary bus ticket. Such schemes exist in some countries.

The most difficult barrier to overcome for disabled people is probably the less expensive to dismantle: this is the attitudinal barrier. Lack of understanding of what disability really is all to often lead to a negative attitude or even degrading treatment of the passenger. Disability awareness training is the best solution. This will allow drivers to see the person behind the disability. All too often disabled people are seen as the difficult customers; those that take time and therefore money…

What is disability? To a great extent it is a social construction. If society was adapted to the needs of all its citizens, less people would feel disabled. Imagine that the non-disabled persons had wings and could fly. We, the minority, would not have any wings and had to rely on our legs. If the houses were adapted only to the non-disabled persons (those with wings) then there would probably not be any stairs in the houses. We as the disabled persons without wings would not be able to go to the second floor, if the constructor had not thought about us, the minority. If he had thought about us, he would have built stairs and then we would not feel disabled any more. In the same way, simply put, a wheelchair user does not have to feel disabled in a building where there is an elevator. Nor in a taxi which is adapted to his or her needs.

This is why this report on accessibility of taxis is so important. Congratulations to IRU and ECMT, because the report provides with many opportunities for improved access to taxis. Solutions to most of the difficulties disabled people experience with taxis today are proposed. Now it is for us all to make use of these proposals. Don’t hesitate to contact EDF if we could support you in making accessibility to taxis a reality for disabled people, may it be in providing disability awareness training to your staff, or for our members to participate in user tests of different technical solutions in practice, or in any other way provide the expertise of our members to your work.

Finally I wish to mention a campaign by EDF, launched in January this year, aiming at collecting one million signatures of persons supporting a comprehensive horizontal EU directive ensuring non-discrimination of disabled people. Even if taxis would become fully accessible, there are still many other areas in life where disabled people face barriers. If you agree that disabled people should have the same rights and opportunities as other citizens then I encourage you to support this campaign by signing directly on the campaign website.

Thank you.

watch Maria Nyman's Powerpoint presentation

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