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Obviously, physically challenged people suffer from a lot
after they slipped off the subway wheelchair lift. After that
of difficulties with public transportation. With the low floor
accident,legislationwaspassedin2005toimprovesafetyfor
busses,thefirstproblemisthattherearenotenoughofthem.
thesedevices,theActforthePromotionoftheTransportation
AccordingtodatafromtheMinistryofLand,Transport,and
Convenience for the Mobility Disadvantaged (APTCMD),
MaritimeAffairs(MLTM),in2011thelocalaveragenumber
which stipulates that local governments must provide low
of low floor busses was just 12 percent of the fleet. What is
floorbussesandspecialtaxisforthehandicapped.Manylocal
worse, almost all of the low floor buses are in Seoul, which
governments,though,donotfollowthelaw.Accordingtothe
means that handicapped people in smaller cities and rural
law, revised in this April, local governments should make
areas cannot use public transportation. Also, the number of
low floor busses 41.5 percent of their bus fleets by 2016. But
lines that use low floor busses is not enough. For example,
the average rate of low floor busses in Korea, as previously
Seoul has the most lines in Korea, but these busses run on
mentioned,isjust12percentasof2011.Forthebenefitofthe
just 165 bus lines of the 401. Second, the low floor bus is
handicapped,localgovernmentsshouldfollowthelaw.
adopted only for intra-city bus. Intercity and express bus
Not just through legislation, but all citizens should make
companies,andeventownshuttlebusservicesdonotoperate
the convenience of the handicapped a priority on public
low floor busses. Nam Byung-jun, an activist for Solidarity
transportation. Using public transportation, physically
Against Disability Discrimination (SADD) pointed out that
challenged people must endure other people’s inattention.
there are no current plans to use low floor busses on a broad
Some people look at them as if they are clowns when they
scale.“Therearenoregulationsabouttheintroductionoflow
use the subway wheelchair lift, others look at people in
floorbusses,exceptonintra-citybuslines.Sotravellingfrom
wheelchairs and make them feel uncomfortable. Some even
onecitytoanotherisdifficultforthephysicallyhandicapped
think that people who participate in demonstrations for the
withoutapersonalcar,”addedNam.
mobility rights of the physically challenged are badgering
The taxi situation for the handicapped is even worse. The
themtoomuch.
government does not intervene with plans, regulations, or
anything to manage taxis for the handicapped, and because
ofthis,thereisnonationalstandardofoperation,suchastaxi
Whatisthecauseofthisproblem?
fares, schedules, passenger safety, and the like. Also, local
governments tend to cut their budgets for transportation of
These problems have resulted largely from three points.
the handicapped. For instance, in Gangwon Province, the
There is a blind spot in the law, APTCMD. When it comes
city of Wonju is the only city running a taxi service for the
to details, the content of the law has no legal force because
handicapped,andinChungcheongbukProvince,itisthesame
the responsibility for enforcing the law is not spelled out.
with the city of Chungju. This shows how indifferent local
APTCMD states that the central government and each local
governmentsareaboutthismatter.Aswell,mosthandicapped
government should contribute 50 million won to the bus
peoplewholiveintheruralareashaveabsolutelynoaccessto
company for buying low floor busses. But the law does not
transportationsuitedforthem.
give the operational authority to local governments. Local
In 2001, an elderly couple in wheelchairs were killed
governments only have the responsibility of planning for the
adoption of low floor busses. They do not have the power to
force the bus companies to run low floor buses, so it makes
http://korealand.tistory.com/259
the bus companies less than enthusiastic to operate low floor
busses.
Furthermore,APTCMDgivesnodeadlineforadoptinglow
floor busses and special taxis for the handicapped. Actually,
it does suggest numbers -- 41.5 percent for low floor busses,
one special taxi per 200 first and second-class handicapped
persons--butitdoesnotinsistwhenlocalgovernmentshave
to achieve these objectives. The legislation only stipulates
that governments make plans for securing low floor busses
and special taxis, so they are free to set the due date at their
convenience. Because of this, local governments do not have
▲Thelowfloorbuses(R)aredifferentiatedfromthenormalbuses(L)inthat
peopledonothavetoclimbthesteps.
muchresponsibilityandcandelayenforcement.
www.theargus.org

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