Document Type

Conference Paper

Publication Date

6-2010

Subject Area

Transport planning - Accessibility planning, Transport accessibility - Access to Technology, Mobility - Accessibility Planning (Disability), Transport accessibility - Lack of access

Abstract

The overall aim of the ACCESS2ALL FP7 EC co-funded project is to define concrete mobility schemes, guidelines and policy recommendations, ensuring accessibility of Public Transport to ALL users, through the coordination of current research efforts, the production of common research roadmaps, the identification of best practice models and the appropriate use of ICT aids and networks. Within this concept, the creation of a best practices database is envisaged, which will include descriptions of existing best practices in the provision of accessible transportation services for all, respecting the needs of mobility impaired people. The aim is to identify and collect good (and bad, as examples to avoid) practices from all over the world, addressing transportation needs and solutions for different modes of transportation and different accessibility needs and structure them in an online, public database. The concept of the creation of the on-line best practices database is defined, primarily, by the identification and collection of relevant best practices, which is performed by literature and previous research review of existing PT (Public Transport) services and selection of the ones that have been evaluated as best practices or are considered as innovations that are expected to promote the accessibility of all users to public transport services. After collecting these practices, they are structured into a public online database, hosted in the ACCESS 2 ALL project website (www.access-to-all.eu). The database is constructed in the form of a web based front end, providing all the required functionalities, through adequately selected technologies. The preliminary collection resulted in a set of 35 database entries, which address to most of the user groups and transportation modes that are of interest within the project. The database has gained positive evaluation by external to the project experts regarding its usefulness and usability. Moreover, the collected best practices are being evaluated by experts participating in the project, in order to assess their potential and decide on whether or not to be finally included in the database. This database will offer the possibility to all associated groups, i.e. public transport providers, researchers, associations of mobility impaired people, decision makers, politicians, general public, etc., to consult it and retrieve information on existing and emerging best practices on accessibility on public transport for all its users. It also constitutes the basis for further work elaborated within the ACCESS2ALL project, such as the suggestion of priority implementation scenarios. The overall aim is to provide a useful tool, which would contribute in rendering public transport more friendly and easy to use by all members of the society.

Rights

Permission to publish the abstract has been given by TRANSED 2010, copyright remains with them.