The European Concept For Accessibility 2003

3.2 Public Transport

Whether out of necessity or for leisure purposes, moving around and getting from one place to another is a characteristic of human beings. If we add to this need the growing social ideology of personal autonomy then it becomes clear that any life journey should be made accessible.

We believe that public transport has a very important role to play in making this a reality, and therefore it has to be adapted to the diversity of the population (accessible), cover the mobility needs of everybody (effective), be compatible with the environment (environment-friendly), and be sustainable.

1. Accessible When designing accessible transport it should be borne in mind that the measures to be taken will depend on the environment and the mode of transport in question (bus, train, underground, etc.).

Thus, we will analyse each transport mode individually:

• 3.2.1 Buses
  
• 3.2.2 Underground, Trams and Trains
  
• 3.2.3 Taxis
  
• 3.2.4 Ports and Airports
  
• 3.2.5 General Observations
  

2. Effective If public transport is not effective, in other words it is not adapted to the mobility needs of users (capacity, timetables and routes covered) then people will end up not using it:

• The public transport network has to cover the whole of a given area.

• The number of stops should be proportional to the size of the area (all users should find a stop nearby, regardless of where they are).

• The number of vehicles should be increased during peak times to prevent crowds making the service inaccessible.

In short, a public transport network that is designed to meet the real needs of users, in terms of accessibility of both vehicles and the service itself, will create friendlier environments as it will reduce the number of private vehicles on the road each day.