Give complete priority to those who need it most on the bus and the metro
This is the message of the new campaign launched by Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) to promote the priority of seating on public transport reserved for those who need it, through three real-life accounts. The goal is to raise user awareness so that passengers give up their seats for people with reduces mobility, pregnant women, the elderly and people holding babies.
The campaign has been organised in collaboration with the Municipal Institute for People with Disabilities (IMPD) at Barcelona City Council and includes three real-life accounts from public transport users.
The three are Andrés Hinarejos, who has a spinal injury and, in the campaign, asks: “If you take up a wheelchair space, where do I go?”; Lorena Blanco, who has a prosthetic leg and notes: “You want to sit. I need to sit. Respect reserved seating”, and Javier Rojano, who has a prosthetic knee and explains: “You can use the stairs. I need the lift”.
Priority and visibility
The campaign seeks to foster the civic use of reserved seats and spaces on public transport, as well as the priority of lifts, as the same time giving visibility to people with reduced mobility and other disabilities.
Various steps have also been taken to improve visibility and make all indications clearer. New notices were recently placed in all lifts on the network, highlighting the priority for these groups, and significant improvements made to reserved seating and spaces on new trains. New signage was also installed on buses, highlighting priority places even further.
Accessibility on TMB
The entire TMB bus network (1,135 vehicles) has been conditioned to transport people with reduced mobility and disabilities since 2007. Vehicles have ramps, low non-slip floors, reserved areas for wheelchair users and preferential seating for people with reduced mobility. They also feature buttons with braille on them for people with visual disability, plus a visual and acoustic information system for people with sensory disabilities on all vehicles and at many stops.
On the metro system, 153 of the 165 stations (93%) are equipped with lifts which directly connect the street, the station foyer and the platforms. Of the other 8%, work is currently under way at four stations (the Espanya and Maragall interchanges), with the rest either out to tender or in the administrative process with the Ministry for Territory and Sustainability at the Government of Catalonia.
