Disability Access, Public Transport | Parliamentary question without notice
24/09/2013
The Hon. K.L. VINCENT (15:52): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the minister representing the Minister for Transport Services questions regarding the provision of information to passengers with disabilities on Adelaide Metro bus services and the overall accessibility of bus services.
Leave granted.
The Hon. K.L. VINCENT: Following a constituent inquiry I have been giving some further consideration to the adequacy of the information provided regarding public transport services on Adelaide’s network of metropolitan bus services, specifically whether information on upcoming stops might be able to be presented to bus passengers, as it is to train and tram passengers, over a loudspeaker system.
Members in this chamber are regularly told by proud ministers that some 86 per cent of Adelaide’s buses are currently considered accessible, with the rest of the fleet to be made accessible by 31 December 2022, as required by the commonwealth Disability Discrimination Act 1992. I also note that the minister, in her recent correspondence with my office, has admitted that only 68 per cent of Torrens Transit buses are actually labelled accessible.
However, it appears that there is a concerning lack of clarity from the government as to what actually constitutes an accessible bus. On the Adelaide Metro website, the Disability Standards for Public Transport set out by the commonwealth Attorney-General under the Disability Discrimination Act are referred to but very little detail is provided as to how the standards are interpreted by the department and what measures have been taken to ensure compliance. I note that part 27.4 of the Disability Standards for Accessible Public Transport 2002 states:
All passengers must be given the same level of access to information on their whereabouts during a public transport journey.
I should stress that I am not paraphrasing; that is a direct quote from the standards. I could be wrong, but from my reading of this it is possible to assume that not providing a loudspeaker announcement which helps a cohort of people obtain the same level of information about their whereabouts as other passengers on a bus trip, which is a kind of public transport journey, could be against the standards.
It is important that information is relayed to passengers regularly. While loudspeaker announcements of upcoming stops are usually seen as a measure to aid people with vision impairment, my constituent makes the valid point that there are also many other people with a range of disabilities (a cognitive impairment, for example) which impedes a person from understanding directions well enough to know when to get off the bus. My questions are:
1. Given that the commonwealth Disability Discrimination Act 1992 requires making all buses accessible by 2022, what does ‘accessible’ mean to the South Australian government: is it purely accessible to people with physical impairments or is it ‘accessible’ in a much broader and, I would argue, more accurate sense?
2. Does the government’s definition of ‘accessible’ bear any resemblance to the broad and far-reaching range of issues encompassed by the Disability Standards for Accessible Public Transport 2002?
3. Can the minister provide clarification as to whether the failure to provide audio announcements on our state’s bus routes contravenes part 27.4 of the standards and, if so, will she see to it that they are provided in the future?
4. If the minister is unwilling to implement audio announcements, what are her reasons for this and what are some alternatives she may consider?
5. As only 68 per cent of Torrens Transit buses are currently accessible, will the minister be advising people with disabilities, in particular, in Adelaide not to live in regions of the city where Torrens Transit runs the bus routes?
6. Given that the minister has notified us that only 61 per cent of 174 bus routes were accessible over a random three-day survey, does the minister intend to inform people with a disability to live elsewhere but on the 174 bus route?
The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (15:58): I thank the honourable member for her very important questions. I will undertake to take those questions to the Minister for Transport Services in the other place and seek a response on her behalf.
