European Mobility Week takes place this year from the 16th – 22nd September.
Since 2002, this week aims to highlight mobility and urban transport issues, as well as improve public health and quality of life by tackling environmental problems such as air pollution. But one of the main issues that is raised over and over again is that of accessibility.
Annie Byrne is a Dublin student. As a wheel-chair user she depends on the Number 39/39a bus to bring her to college, the city centre, and the music events she loves. “The bus comes about every 20 minutes. My mobility problem is I can only take the bus if someone with a buggy hasn’t got the one wheelchair spot. A person with a buggy isn’t obliged to move. The bus driver can only ask them to move, twice.
“People often refuse to move. That leaves me, and anyone else who needs the wheel chair space on the side of the road. A buggy can be folded up and put away but I can’t fold-up my chair. I’m a representative for people with disabilities on the Dublin Community Buses Committee. They know the problem and it’s always the same answer. The law needs to change so that wheelchairs have a
legal right to the wheelchair spot.”
How does this affect people with disabilities all over Ireland?
- Just under a quarter can access private transport. Another quarter don’t use public transport because they don’t find it accessible.
- Almost half of people with a physical disability have difficult going out at all.
- Only 5% of the state’s taxis were wheelchair accessible (2015).
- Most rail and bus providers, e.g. the DART, require 24-hours’ notice if wheelchair users plan to travel.
(Taken from the Disability Federation of Ireland’s, DFI, transport fact sheet.)
And it’s not just public transport that make the city inaccessible. Dublin’s streets are torn up by LUAS works, billboards and illegal parking. For a heart-stopping view of physical obstacles faced, see visually-impaired Barry O’Donnell’s journey from Tara Street to O’Connell Bridge. Barry uses
a body camera recording all the obstacles he has to overcome on this YouTube clip. He took part in a recent Dublin City Council/DFI public awareness campaign, #MakeWayDublin. It addressed the thoughtless behaviour and poor design that makes our towns a nightmare to navigate.
Annie Byrne wants the whole of Ireland to get active and take action on the issue of city mobility. “What I need is for a group of people to support me in fighting for that. Otherwise I’m waiting while two, three buses leave me at the stop. It’s 20 minutes to the bus terminus to increase my chances.
All of this is no fun at all on a wet cold night when you just need to get from A to B.”
So go out there and start planning. Lobby and petition TD’s to make changes and get active this European Mobility Week.
