Is Mumbai's public transport accessible to the differently-abled? Part 1

Photo credit: Bayar Jain

Aye dil hai mushkil jeena yahaan, zara hatke, zara bach ke yeh hai Bombay meri jaan (O heart, it is difficult to live here, step aside, be cautious, this is Mumbai, my love.) Several Mumbaikars echo this sentiment as they speed through crowded platforms, squeeze their way into the trains, clutch onto rusted handles to maintain balance and avoid unnecessary fights with fellow commuters. Part of being a Mumbaikar is managing public transport and those who can afford it avoid it altogether. However, some do not have a choice.

Candice Dsouza, a counselling psychology student belongs to the category that avoids public transport. Diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy, she finds the gap between the platform and the train too high. Due to this and the rush at peak hours, she would travel by cab from Thane to Churchgate, every day for three years to commute to college. Infrastructural developments like escalators and elevators on platforms are not easily locatable and are of little help to her as she cannot get on to it fast enough.

Suryakant Patil, a visually impaired student prefers travelling in the general compartment of the local train, instead of the compartment for the differently-abled, as the latter is overcrowded with abled commuters. Ummehani Bagasrawala, who is also visually impaired doesn’t find it safe to travel in the handicapped compartment. Moreover, she finds it difficult to get into the ladies’ compartment as they are not very accommodating. She says, “They are more concerned about making space for themselves rather than looking around to see if someone is differently abled.” To avoid being pushed around, like Dsouza, she too uses private transport.

In a rush to get into the train, most people do not notice fine details like Julia Delima, a student of Disability Studies and Action at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Deonar. She says, “Ever since the stations have been done up to raise the level of platforms, the safety line indicating a person is standing too close to the edge of a platform, is wiped off and at stations like Kurla and Dadar where it is visible, it’s not covered with tactile tiles. There is no uniformity in installation of tactile tiles. Some stations like Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT), platforms two and three do not have tactile tiles even near the disabled compartment.” At some platforms the beeper and tactile tiles are installed at incorrect locations and creates confusion among the visually challenged.

Infrastructure designed for the differently-abled requires a great deal of thought and application. Transport analyst and civil engineer from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, Sudhir Badami explains that the slopes built at stations like Mumbai Central, Reay Road and Kurla are of the dimensions 1 by 14 and are too steep for those in wheelchairs to reach the bridge. He adds, “A slope to carry persons with disabilities needs to be of the dimensions 1 by 20 or 1 by 16.”  

Read Part 2 here