Community Participation:Accessibility of Public Transportation for People

with Mobility Impairments

Lia Poeder OTD/SDecember 17, 2013

Personal Background

• Who I am

• My interests

Why care about participation?

• Participation in meaningful activities and meaningful roles is correlated to quality of life and well being (Christiansen et. al. 2005)

UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

(CRPD)

• Demands equality for all people regardless of ability

• Calls for adaptations to empower disabled people to actively participate in life ensuring all human rights are met

• Aims to decrease discrimination

United Nations, 2006

Traditional vs Modern View of Disability

Person-Environment Interaction Model 1

• Social Model of Disability (Hughes and Paterson, 2013)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzRQOfVvVh4

Person-Environment Interaction Model 2

OCCUPATIONANDROLES Policy

Personal Factors

Physical Activity

Assistive Technology

Social Support

Physical Environment

Culture

Social Capital

Public Transportation and Disability

• Traditional view of disability applied to public transportation

• Modern view of disability applied to public transportation

Public Transportation

• Designed to give community access to all of the public

• Decreased accessibility of public transportation has been found to lead to decreased participation (Hammel et al., 2006)

Application to Dundee?

• 40% of households report no vehicle• 20% population with disabilities• 1/6 population over the age of 65

Scotland Census 2011

Dundee Resident Comments

I don’t know what I would do without public transportation.. I don’t have a car so I use it for everything..

I have seen the lifted morale of older adults when provided access to the community through transportation…

I dread using the bus… his chair is too big, there is no space, and people don’t move to make room…

Public Transportation Accessibility Components

• Physical environment

• Social environment

Policy

• Disability Discrimination Act (DDA)– Structural guidelines

for public spaces including public transportation

– Addresses new construction and remodeling

Literature and Public Transportation

• Accessibility in terms of location of bus stops• Accessibility in terms of impact on

participation• Accessibility in terms of structural barriers

Aims

• What social behaviors are typical of public transportation?

• What structural barriers and facilitators are present on public transportation?

– How well have DDA standards been implemented?

– How have they been implemented differently in different areas?

Design

• Exploratory study

• Unobtrusive structured and unstructured observation

Sampling

• Two national bus companies– 15 buses from each company– Routes/Times – Types of Buses

• Bus Stops in and outside of city centre

• Dundee Taxis

Data Collection

• 2 weeks of bus data collection– Unstructured Observation

• Four buses/bus stops assessed structurally– Bus Usability Checklist

• Taxis: 2 accessible, 2 inaccessible– Informant Conversations

Structural Findings: Bus Stops in City Centre

Shelter

Seating

Signage/route info

Phone number for further info

Structural Findings:Bus Stops Outside City Centre

X Shelter

X Seating

X Signage/route info

X Phone number for further info

Structural Findings:Buses

Step free entrance36” wide entranceAccessible seating optionsGrab bar near accessible

seatingStop alerts can be accessed

seated with closed fist

Behavioral Findings

• Bus Drivers

• Attendants

• Passengers

Bus Driver Behaviors

• Waiting for passengers to be seated• Use of hydraulics/ramp• Pulling to the curb• Giving adequate time for passengers to exit

Waits for all passengers to be seated: 1

Waits for passengers with visible mobility impairments to be seated: 5

Does not wait for passengers to be seated: 24

27/30 buses equipped with hydraulics

Hydraulics used inconsistently

1 ramp used

Most bus drivers did pull to curb within 6 inches

2 buses did not pull into bus lane

Add bus driver pic here

Bus Attendant Behaviors

• 13 buses used bus attendants– Help passengers move through bus– Collect money at seats– Help passengers off of bus– Answer questions

Passenger Behaviors

• Priority seating• Passengers helping other passengers• Passengers Obstructing Space

Current Taxi Policy

• All new taxis must be accessible • Taxis that are not accessible may only pick up

passengers by appointment• Accessible taxis must provide maintenance to

their vehicles to ensure accessibility

Taxi Conversations: Accessible Taxis

• Views– All taxis should be accessible– There is not a larger expense to having an

accessible taxi– It does not take more than 2 minutes of extra

time – People do need and use the service

Taxi Conversations: Inaccessible Taxis

• Views– There is no desire/motivation to acquire an

accessible taxi• There is no loss of money by not being able to drive

disabled people

– There are too many accessible taxis• Some disabled people request a saloon car because of

the easy entry

Discussion of Findings

• Importance of both structural and behavioral facilitators for public transportation use

• Importance of decreasing behaviors that cause barriers to participation

Limitations

• Only could observe people with visible mobility impairments

• Could not interact with anyone being observed

• Unstructured

Future Research

• Further information on the impact of behaviors on passengers– Interviews with disabled passengers – Assessment of those without visible impairments

• Development of more structured observations • Assessment of other modes of public

transportation• Assessments of interventions for behavioral

barriers

Questions?