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Old April 9th 04, 04:08 PM posted to uk.transport.london
Mark Brader Mark Brader is offline
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First recorded activity at LondonBanter: Jul 2003
Posts: 403
Default Disabled 'to sue for Tube access'

Colin Rosenstiel writes:
How many other metro systems have full wheelchair access then?


Or, more to the point, how many built before, say, 1980?

In Toronto, where most of the system opened between 1954 and 1978,
conversion of subway stations for wheelchair access began in the
mid-1990s. Of 63 stations (if I count correctly) on the subway and
Scarborough RT (DLR-like) line then existing, about 1/4 * have
been converted. Mostly this means adding elevators (lifts), some-
times several in a station, but changes to the fare barriers are
also required, and new passages to reach the elevators. The con-
struction work is typically performed by small teams owing to the
confined spaces, and it takes a couple of years to convert a station.

The elevators normally used are largish ones that would hold about
12 people if there are no wheelchairs in them, and are open to the
general public. A few are smaller. The vertical travel is fairly
short in almost all cases; Toronto has only a few deep stations.

All stations opened since this process began have been wheelchair-
accessible from the outset. On older trains, wheelchair users go in
the standing room; on newer ones (now about 2/3 of the fleet) there
are places where seats can be folded up to make a wheelchair space,
with fixtures to anchor the wheelchair into place.

*I can think of 13 for sure, and two more that I would expect to have
been converted but I don't normally get to them; and there may be
a small number of other ones that I didn't think of. I also know of
3 stations where conversion is in progress right now.
--
Mark Brader, Toronto "You are not the customer,
you are the product."

My text in this article is in the public domain.