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Boris wants better pram and wheelchair access
Katharine Barney, Evening Standard26.11.08
LONDON could undergo changes to make it more accessible for wheelchair users and mothers with prams in the run-up to the Olympics.
The Mayor has commissioned a major survey with input from those who find it difficult to get around the capital, particularly disabled and deaf Londoners.
The survey is part of Boris Johnson's Equal Life Chances For All consultation document, which he launched today.
He has already appointed wheelchair Paralympian Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson to advise the Transport for London board. Mr Johnson said: "How many times have we watched a wheelchair user or parent with a pram struggling [to move around the city]?"
He is also planning a similar document investigating violence against women.
Reader views (13)
Well said Lw
As a person in a wheelchair myself i have found it really hard to get around london. The only mode of transport which i can use is a public transport bus which comes with a ramp. and the annoying thing about that is that they dont always work and keep on breaking.
The quicker boris puts in place disabled accees not only on tubes but on every other mode of transport a normal person would use, that will be the day every one will have a much brighter future
- Tg, Lewisham
Its a long time since I was a child, but I'm sure I remember being a person at that age.
- Alan Griffiths, Forest Gate, LONDON. UK
To Lw, London - people with wheelchairs don't pay to use the tube - they get free travel if they live within zones 1-6.
- Mc, London
And this announcement comes of the back of a story a few days ago about the redevelopment of South Kensington, a major tourist destination, where there is not enough money for a lift in the tube station. Suppose a survey and years of decision making don't cost as much as actually having to do the work to make the city more accessible...I'm so glad that the Government bothered to pass the Disability Discrimination Act!
- Sb, London
I always wanted to challenge "Ken" to spend a day trying to get round London with a buggy and a toddler in tow. I swore I'd never do it again. Happy to have driven and paid his stupid congestion charge - it was worth it.
- Sandra, London
Well said Eddie London, if people want kids think about the practicalities first.
Stop expecting everyone else to pander to you.
- P I Staker, London
Who's going to work to pay your pension when you're old and even more cantankerous and bigoted than you are now then, Eddie? Grow up.
- Ruth, Hampton
I am glad that this issue is being addressed, and hopefully a suitable solution/design can be reached, without compromising rush hour space in tubes/buses too much.
Eddie, your comment is just plain unhelpful. Having kids is not aggro. Having to deal with people like you, is!
- Smb, London, UK
Eddie I agree - 1 person with a pushchier should be made to pay £15 on the tube per single fare for the amount of space they take up
- Noel, Stockwell
Eddie - Why is it unreasonable to expect to be able to take your kids on public transport? London might be a hellhole to you but for the rest of us it's home and is an exciting place of museums, galleries, shops, theatres, cinema, family and friends that we visit by using the tube and bus system!
- H, London
In september we took some american tourists up to London to see the sights. One of them was disabled though she could walk a short distance - fortunately as we made the mistake of trying to go from Leicester Square to Victoria without checking before hand to see whether there was disabled access. There was absolutely nothing and she had to climb vast amounts of stairs and was in tears at the end. I presume we are going to hold the disabled Olympics in London - cos if we are we need to do something about disabled access on the underground - especially Victoria which is a mainline station.
- Sarah Barker, Taunton, UK
Don't have kids if you can't handle the aggro.It's selfish enough bringing up kids in a hellhole like London as it is.You deserve the grief.
I can sympathise with wheelchair users though,but certainly not mothers.
- Eddie, London
Allelujah! As a mother of three who has to rely on the kindness of strangers to help me up and down the tube station steps and who would take public transport far more often if it wasn't such an exhausting schlep, I thoroughly approve. Please, please, please, Boris, I am begging you, drag the capital's transport system into the 21st Century. It is a disgrace that, in this day and age, only a handful of stations have lifts and/or ramp access - it should be every single one. Parents and wheelchair users have to pay to use the tube as well, yet it doesn't even come close to meeting our access requirements. Is this fair? If it is difficult for me, God knows what it must be like for passengers with disabilities or those in wheelchairs.
- Lw, London
