PRESENT STATE AND ISSUES CONCERNING BARRIER-FREE TRANSPORTATION IN JAPAN AS OF 2006
Yoshiaki IMAFUKU, Transportation Affairs Officer, DPI-Japan
ACCESSIBILITY OF ROUTE BUSES
As for route buses, 19 non-step buses were introduced for the first time in 1996. Currently its number exceeds 7,850. Also, the total number of one-step buses with a ramp and buses with a lift is estimated to be over 8,000. One of the points for discussion when revising the Barrier-Free Standard (Smooth Moving Standard) from now on will be the inclination of ramps.
As to the introduction of non-step buses, there is a problem of regional disparity. No non-step bus has been introduced in Akita Prefecture and Okinawa Prefecture. They are concentrated in Tokyo metropolitan and other large urban areas.
Furthermore, the operation of wheelchair-accessible buses (non-step buses, one-step buses with a ramp, and buses with a lift) has "no specific route, no specific time, and no announcement of time schedule." This can be considered as a discrimination against persons with disabilities as wheelchair users cannot utilize the services as needed and also because only wheelchair users are treated in such an unfair way and not other passengers.
ACCESSIBILITY OF STREETCARS
There are 19 streetcar companies in Japan. After streetcars are made barrier free by introducing a new type of low-floor vehicles and by raising the level of platforms, it is recognized that streetcars are the easiest to get on and off and the most convenient for wheelchair users, the elderly, and others.
Especially on the Toyama Port Line (nicknamed as the Portram) of Toyama Light Rail Co., Ltd., which opened in April 2006, all vehicles and stations are accessible in accordance with "universal design." Accessibility improvement in streetcars has finally begun on its full scale.
The accessibility of existing streetcars are also being challenged well. In Tokyo, all the stations on the Toei Streetcar (Toden) Arakawa Line and the Tokyu Setagaya Line are barrier-free. It is very easy for wheelchair users, the elderly, and those with a baby carriage to get on and off at barrier-free stations of super-low-floor streetcars in Hiroshima City, Okayama City, and Kagoshima City. Currently, in various places in Japan, planning for streetcar operations is under consideration.
ACCESSIBILITY OF TAXIS AND COMMUNITY BUSES
The existing Traffic Barrier-Free Law was not applicable to taxis, but the New Traffic Barrier-Free Law requires taxis to be barrier-free. Attention is being paid in deciding content details and setting numerical targets.
In Tokyo, taxis equipped with a lift or a ramp has started to operate. Still, only 5,000 out of a total of 260,000 taxis (only 2%) in Japan are barrier-free.
Also in recent years, local governments are operating "community buses" to secure transportation for those who have difficulties in transferring such as persons with disabilities, the elderly, and citizens living in areas where transportation is insufficient within their administrative regions.
More than 900 cities, towns, and villages operate community buses. Some community buses are equipped with a lift or ramp and also the number of non-step buses is increasing. Accessibility stated in the new law is also applicable to community buses. From now, it is necessary to appeal to local governments to require that a community bus should be a non-step bus.
