Nation
Thursday April 26, 2007PENANG: The state government will bring in buses equipped with facilities for wheelchair passengers once the new RapidPenang bus system is running smoothly.
The RapidPenang bus service is scheduled to start operations in August with 150 buses initially.
State Traffic Management Committee chairman Datuk Dr Teng Hock Nan said buses with facilities for wheelchair passengers would have to stop longer for boarding and could disrupt arrival schedules.
“Such buses do not fit into the first phase of the RapidPenang bus service system which we have to ensure runs efficiently first,” he said.
Dr Teng said another 100 new buses with facilities for wheelchair passengers would be brought in.
He said the 150 buses for the first phase were equipped with special seats for the elderly, pregnant women and children.
“They are low-floor buses, meaning that the elderly and pregnant women do not have to climb many steps to board them,” Dr Teng added.
The state government’s decision to bring in non-disabled friendly buses has drawn flak from the Barrier-Fee Environment and Accessible Transport Group (BEAT).
Its coordinator Christine Lee said cost should not be a justification for not bringing in such buses.
The Support Group Society for the Blind of Malaysia secretary Abdul Karim Stuart Russell wrote to The Star suggesting that the Penang government used buses equipped with all the necessary facilities for everyone to use.
Category: Rapid Penang
Monster Blog – April 18, 2007: Disabled Persons Do Not Need Special Buses
Disabled persons in this country are hard-pressed to believe that the government is concerned with the challenges they are facing. Despite countless pleas not to be left out in the nation’s progress, they are still struggling to cope with environmental and attitudinal barriers all the time. To add insult to injury, past mistakes are recreated in the present.
Rapid KL made a major blunder when they never took the needs of disabled persons into account and acquired non-accessible buses in 2004. Three years down the road, RapidPenang is making the same mistake when Penang State Local Government and Traffic Management Committee Chairman Datuk Dr. Teng Hock Nan announced that “for the time being, we will not be having special buses for the disabled who use wheelchairs.”
In respond to Dr. Teng’s statement, the Barrier-free Environment and Accessible Transport Group (BEAT) called for a press conference on April 14 to dispel the misconception that disabled persons and wheelchair users need special buses. These so called “special buses” are in reality non-step buses that are widely used as public buses in Japan, Australia and Hong Kong. Apart from being accessible and having places for wheelchairs inside the buses, it is just like other regular buses that the public can use.
It will be a grave mistake and an act of discrimination against disabled persons on RapidPenang’s part in not providing such accessibility. Public buses have a lifespan of between ten to twenty years, depending on how well they are maintained. Do disabled persons have to wait another ten to twenty years? Why is the government not making an effort to get it right from the beginning now that they have the opportunity to do so?
The Star – April 17, 2007: Don’t leave us out, urge wheelchair-bound commuters
North
Tuesday April 17, 2007Don’t leave us out, urge wheelchair-bound commuters
WHEELCHAIR users do not want to be left behind when RapidPenang’s 150 buses ply the streets in Penang in August.
Barrier-Free Environment and Accessible Transport Group (Beat) coordinator Christine Lee said that non-step, low floor buses should be made available for the public, including senior citizens and wheelchair bound commuters.
She expressed concern over a statement by State Local Govern-ment, Traffic Management, Informa-tion and Community Relations Committee chairman Datuk Dr Teng Hock Nan that the state would not provide special buses for the disabled who use wheelchairs.
She pointed out that the statement contradicted Transport Mini-ster Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy’s announcement that the transport needs and interests of disabled persons would be included in the public transport master plan, and Second Finance Minister Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop’s assurance that new buses in Penang would be “disabled-friendly”.
Beat, a coalition of 16 NGOs for disabled persons, urged Rapid-Penang, Syarikat Prasarana Negara Berhad to consider “every Penan-gite’s right to accessible public transport, irrespective of the person’s condition”.
“Non-step buses are already widely used in other countries such as Japan and Australia. They are convenient for senior citizens, pregnant women and adults with prams,” Beat assistant coordinator Peter Tan elaborated.
He said that he had no problem moving around Japan on public transportation when he was there, despite being wheelchair-bound.
“Costs should not be a justifica-tion for not bringing in accessible buses. It will still cost the state government to do so in future. Wheelchair users who are denied their accessibility to buses may not be able to go to work or participate in various activities.
“They’ll be further marginalised from mainstream society,” Tan added.