People with disabilities call for better transport access policies

People with disabilities in the country have called on the government to strengthen and implement policies that ensure inclusivity and equal access to transport services.

President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered his keynote address at the Transport Summit on Universal Accessibility with the theme: ‘Accessible Transport for All’.

South Africa is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Several key stakeholders including; representatives from the Department of Transport, people living with disabilities, taxi associations, and representatives of transport SOEs, amongst others, gathered under one roof to deliberate, identify challenges and find solutions to universal access to all types of transportation, including aviation, maritime, road, rail, and public transport.

Those living with disabilities have said summits like this must not be a talk shop. Chief Director at the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, Praveena Sukhraj-Ely explains, “At the moment there is compliance, however, we have to report that it is slow and we are trying our level best to motivate and advocate to be more inclusive and ensure we have accessibility across the board in all areas.”

National Treasurer  for DeafBlind SA, Albert Peters says, “Why I would really like to come out of this is some sort of mechanism that will enforce the current legislation for example, in public transport like the minibus taxi, the drivers are very few drivers that have compassion for persons with disabilities they either just pass a wheelchair user because they believe he will take us space if two persons, as far as blind people are concerned, they don’t know, they are never sure of where they are going.”

Government says it will continue to respond to the challenges people with disabilities face.

To date, the revised white paper on the National Transport policy, which was published three years ago, commits to a number of implementation strategies.

The Presidential working group has also been working towards coordinating initiatives to integrate different modes of transport for the disabled.

President Cyril Ramaphosa says, “The Department of Transport has gazetted a national policy for parking discs that will enable drivers with disabilities to use a disc obtained in one part of the country everywhere in South Africa.”

Meanwhile, an example of what is possible waits in the form of the Gautrain and their plans to improve on accessibility…

Gauteng CEO Tshepo Kgobe says, “The next level we are looking at going is what we call mobility on demand, it’s the ability for someone who is living with disabilities to be able to request a specific service and that service will come and pick them up from their house with a trained driver who will know how to handle any situation. that in itself is the next level we are introducing as a whole, it will form of what you call a gau express.”