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Trams aid disabled riders

Prague Transport: By 2013, all routes will have wheelchair access

By Hilda Hoy
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
February 14th, 2007 issue

COURTESY PHOTO
Tram drivers must take time out to operate the wheelchair ramps on existing trams, an issue that the new ones won't resolve.
Just about every Prague resident has ridden home, packed cheek to jowl, on a fetid rush-hour tram or suffered through a raucous, beer-soaked night tram. In fact, some might say riding these trams, for better or for worse, is an essential part of life in Prague.
But, for the city’s disabled residents, it’s an experience that’s long been out of reach.
The ubiquitous red-and-white trams that crisscross the city have for decades been inaccessible to wheelchair users unable to mount the high steps at their entrances.
That’s about to change, the Prague Transport Company (DPP) vows.
On Feb. 1, the company debuted a new, wheelchair-accessible tram model — actually a refurbished version of the familiar trams that have run on Prague rails since the 1960s.
Along with new electronic controls for the driver and new seats for passengers, the refurbishing added a lower middle door that’s equipped with a manually operated ramp. With the help of the driver, wheelchair users will be able to enter and exit the carriage, DPP spokeswoman Eva Dydová says.
The launch signals the beginning of a transformation to public transportation accessibility, she says. “Within the next five to six years, we want only [wheelchair-accessible] trams to run in Prague.”
For now, there’s only one of these refurbished trams — known by its complicated model name of T3R.P-LF — running in Prague, on the No. 2 route. By the end of March, another will begin operation, and 10 more are set to join the fleet this year after going through the necessary renovations.
The process of upgrading older tram models will continue gradually until 2013, at which point there should be enough renovated models to cover the whole city, Dydová says.
‘Gradually improving’
The physically disabled don’t have an easy time getting around the capital, says Jarka Franková from the Prague Association of Wheelchair Users (POV). Though the situation has been “gradually improving” in recent years, especially in the areas of bus and metro travel, “tram transport is the biggest problem at the moment,” she says.
“The accessibility of buildings is governed, but … there is no such law in the Czech Republic saying that all [transit] lines must have at least one bus or tram with a low entrance.”
However, the city has taken the initiative to make improvements, she says. “Even though the situation is not perfect yet … City Hall and Prague Transport are really doing what they can. But money, that’s the main issue.”
Outfitting the city’s public transport network with a new fleet of trams comes with a substantial price tag.
Take the 14T tram, the flashy, sleek model designed by German luxury-car company Porsche that was introduced in Prague early last year.
Built locally by Škoda, these trams boast a roomy, modern interior and entrances equipped with wheelchair ramps. However, the high cost of these new trams — 60 million Kč ($2.8 million) each — has been prohibitive. So far, there are only 10 of this model running in Prague, on the No. 3, 9 and 26 routes. Over the next three years, another 18 will be phased in, Dydová says.
Refurbishing existing trams, which costs just 8 million Kč each, seems to be the way City Hall wants to go, because it enables the DPP to increase tram accessibility more quickly and at a much lower cost.
Last year, the DPP received a total of 12.7 billion Kč in funding from City Hall.
Ongoing problems
The expansion of wheelchair-friendly trams will augment improvements made in other areas, says the POV’s Franková.
“Right now, the ideal transport for disabled people is the bus. Since 2000, the number of low-entrance buses equipped with ramps has increased significantly,” she says. Also, metro stations have been increasingly upgraded with elevators to give the disabled access to underground train platforms. Currently, 32 of the city’s 54 metro stations, mostly outside the city center, have elevators, she says. The DPP also runs two cross-city bus routes especially for the disabled.
However, these aren’t good options within the center.
Wheelchair users have also complained to the POV that drivers can be rude and unwilling to help them with the bus ramps, or that the elevators in metro stations are prone to breaking down, Franková says.
Wheelchair users aren’t the only ones shut out by transit, says Green Party Deputy Džamila Stehlíková. As the new minister responsible for minority and human rights issues, she plans to make transit accessibility for a variety of groups a priority, she told The Prague Post in a January interview.
The issue is “a national problem … not just for the handicapped, but for seniors, mothers with children in strollers, pregnant women or other groups that have problems with mobility,” she said.
“We are trying to pressure the local authorities and point out the fact that they should try and get money from [European Union] funds.”
Hela Balínová contributed to this report.

Hilda Hoy can be reached at hhoy@praguepost.com


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