When step-free on London's Tube isn't actually step-free

[Deleted]

Video in link

Hundreds of millions of pounds have been spent on improvements to the Underground system in London in the build up to the launch of the Elizabeth line.

At Tottenham Court Road alone, £600m has been invested, in part to make it fully accessible and step-free.

But people with mobility issues, using wheelchairs, and parents pushing prams continue to have problems getting on some trains.

It’s still a case of “please mind the gap”, as Ellis Palmer reports.

I would like to say I am surprised but alas no

[Deleted]

Do we really need to spend money on this when we could be spending it on the military instead?

Yes [10 characters]

[Lorgar Aurelian]

Got an pictures of the gap? Wondering how it compares to the gap here in Toronto.

[Deleted]

Do we really need to spend money on this when we could be spending it on the military instead?

Do you mean making aircarriers and tanks fully accesible and step-free?

Yeah,that would be totally cool.

[Player Twelve]

Seems like a huge waste of money if they can't do it.

[Daedius]

Do we really need to spend money on this when we could be spending it on the military instead?

Great idea, let's have the military deploy ramps for wheelchair users!

[Afrospinach]

Seems like a huge waste of money if they can't do it.

They could always have a couple of attendants with a ramp.

There are some pretty impressive gaps at some of the tube stations but nothing insurmountable. Now how many years could you do that at every single tube station in London before you blew 600m.

Got an pictures of the gap? Wondering how it compares to the gap here in Toronto.

It actually varies a great deal. Some of the stations are even on curved tracks.

http://www.metadyne.co.uk/mind_the_gap.htm

This is about as big a gap as I ever remember seeing.

[Deleted]

Accesability for wheelchair users is a big problem, but is adapting the environment to the wheelchair the right approach? Why not reinvent the wheelchair to adapt the chair to the environment rather than the environment to the chair.

They do but beyond hover capabilities a gap is definitely difficult to avoid

[Lorgar Aurelian]

They could always have a couple of attendants with a ramp.

There are some pretty impressive gaps at some of the tube stations but nothing insurmountable. Now how many years could you do that at every single tube station in London before you blew 600m.



It actually varies a great deal. Some of the stations are even on curved tracks.

http://www.metadyne.co.uk/mind_the_gap.htm

This is about as big a gap as I ever remember seeing.

Oh wow that looks really bad, I don’t think any where in Toronto is like that.

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Accesability for wheelchair users is a big problem, but is adapting the environment to the wheelchair the right approach? Why not reinvent the wheelchair to adapt the chair to the environment rather than the environment to the chair.

How would you suggest making a smart adapting wheel chair?

[Dhrizzle]

Well, as a non-hovering person I have little difficulty with the gap. With ongoing advances in robotics and AI, maybe the wheelchair will be replaced by the walkingchair in the not so distant future.

I suspect it will be a very long wait for people who would like to use public transport today, I suspect decades until the technology can be made available to every wheelchair user in the country. It also wouldn't help wheelchair users who don't want their movement automated.

[Dhrizzle]

I wasn’t suggesting it was a solution to current accesability problems, maybe in a few decades rather than years, and I was thinking user controlled rather than automated. The AI aspect would be related to environment/terrain recognition to allow the user to navigate that environment through an ongoing user input.

You presented the idea as an alternative to making the current environment changes, until the technology is ready there's no reason we shouldn't continue to improve wheelchair accessibility, especially in vital areas like public transport.

When I said "movement automated" I was referring to self-powered devices, some wheelchair users prefer to move under their own power.

[Player Twelve]

They could always have a couple of attendants with a ramp.

There are some pretty impressive gaps at some of the tube stations but nothing insurmountable. Now how many years could you do that at every single tube station in London before you blew 600m.



It actually varies a great deal. Some of the stations are even on curved tracks.

http://www.metadyne.co.uk/mind_the_gap.htm

This is about as big a gap as I ever remember seeing.

Holy shit, they spent money to improve it and they didn't fix that shit? Yeah, doesn't seem like a waste of money, it is a waste of money.

[mickybrighteyes]

They do but beyond hover capabilities a gap is definitely difficult to avoid

Seems like that is a smaller case than remodeling buildings/platforms in multiple locations. I sadly walker technology probably won't be seen as a better alternative though.

[Xarkan]

Holy shit, they spent money to improve it and they didn't fix that shit? Yeah, doesn't seem like a waste of money, it is a waste of money.

Why fix the gap

The quick fix must be like with busses where part of the floor just inside the door can be used as a ramp to get wheel chairs inside.

[Player Twelve]

Why fix the gap

The quick fix must be like with busses where part of the floor just inside the door can be used as a ramp to get wheel chairs inside.

Buses lower themselves to be at the same level as the platform you're on(And even then there's a small gap), can trains do that? I don't think so. Even with the lowering, it still poses a problem to people in a wheelchair when there's no platform they can roll on from. It's a PITA to get on a bus in a rural area in a wheelchair because you have to get on from the ground rather than from a platform, the bus can't lower to the ground.

[belfpala]

Great idea, let's have the military deploy ramps for wheelchair users!

/snip pic

That's one badass wheelchair. Dayum. It even has a support team.

/s

We try to be wheelchair accessible (or other mobility difficulties-accessible) over here, but it's hard to convert old infrastructure. Some things are easy enough; for example, buses have hydraulics to lower to the level of the curb. Other things are not as easy. For example, a colleague put a restaurant on the third floor above a specialty grocery store. His decision of course, but he had to pay to gut some of the building to install an elevator.

[Primemrip]

I like the part where he complained about the fact that other people were willing to help him on and off the train, and then complained about the fact that the solution was for man to lay down a ramp for him.

[Orlong]

They could always have a couple of attendants with a ramp.

Or they could just install a damn elevator. They invented them over 100 years ago

[Xarkan]

Buses lower themselves to be at the same level as the platform you're on(And even then there's a small gap), can trains do that? I don't think so. Even with the lowering, it still poses a problem to people in a wheelchair when there's no platform they can roll on from. It's a PITA to get on a bus in a rural area in a wheelchair because you have to get on from the ground rather than from a platform, the bus can't lower to the ground.

Newer busses lower themselves

Newer busses are often lower to begin with

Part of the floor being able to be used as a ramp is older then deflating low floor busses.. because it is quite frankly such an easy thing to do. It takes being able to put a hinge on a plate more or less, no fancy pneumatics here.

[Player Twelve]

Newer busses lower themselves

Newer busses are often lower to begin with

Part of the floor being able to be used as a ramp is older then deflating low floor busses.. because it is quite frankly such an easy thing to do. It takes being able to put a hinge on a plate more or less, no fancy pneumatics here.

Never seen any ramp-like things on the buses here.



They all lower themselves.