cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/2138709
Archived version: https://archive.ph/CLnlq
Archived version: https://web.archive.org/web/20230831110800/https://www.reuters.com/sports/olympics-loom-pariss-transport-grid-worries-wheelchair-users-2023-08-31/
I’ve been to Europe many times and I’ve yet to see a city as remotely accessible as the average American city. I get why everything can’t be refitted for the disabled but god help you if you’re a wheelchair bound European
a city as remotely accessible as the average American city
You mean, once you get out of your car? Also it’s quite funny how literally the other commenter mentions NYC.
Even accounting for how car-centric US cities are, I agree with that commenter. Yeah it may be hard to get downtown from outlying neighborhoods without a car, but sidewalks have ramps and building have access. Hell, the parking lots have designated parking spaces. Not true at all in most European cities
Edit: I guess it’s worth a little more nuance than just limping all European cities in the same category. The wealthier northern cities have definitely caught up a bit (though they all still have buildings that are completely inaccessible). The real problems are the southern cities like Rome, Madrid, Athens, Lisbon etc.
NYC is so old it’s essentially a European city since it was built pre-car and pre-caring about the disabled. In most American cities less than 300 years old you’ll see ada ramps, lifts, doors, accessible sidewalk crossings, etc.
Yes America is too car centric, 100% agree on that but we’re doing leaps and bounds better on disability access than Europe. Also, we have handicap parking spots so lifts have room to move disabled in/out of cars with plenty of room
Same issue in NYC. Retrofitting old stations for accessibility is really expensive.
Then you have constant upkeep in keeping the homeless from shitting in the corner of the elevator.
Expensive, but NYC is making the costs far more than reasonable. There is a big cost problem in NYC, which combines with an unstated policy of not caring. (If they cared it would be done, but of course saying you don’t care is illegal)
This is the best summary I could come up with:
With Paris streets often clogged by traffic, travelling underground is often much quicker but only 9% of metro stations can be accessed without walking up and down steps.
Wheelchair users, however, would need to travel by bus as both metro stations have stairs and no lifts, a test ride carried out by Maille, who was accompanied by a Reuters journalist, showed.
In Paris, transport operator RATP pledges to increase this number in the French capital by the start of the Games but only to 14%, blaming the grid’s age - the core was built about 100 years ago - for not undertaking a more ambitious push.
“I hope these Games will make our political leaders realise that … we can’t wait another 30 years for full accessibility but it needs to happen now,” said Maille.
RATP regional vice president Gregoire de Lasteyrie told Reuters that all Olympic sites would be accessible to everyone, thanks to buses and trams.
The company also plans to deploy 250 specially refitted buses that can transport more wheelchair users, he added.
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