- Paradigm Shift in Making Barrier Free Environment for Mobility of the Disabled Persons in Indian Cities with Special Reference to Public Transport in Delhi Metropolitan Area   390 kb by    Ratna, Udit | planasia_2051@yahoo.com    Short Outline Modern public transport has addressed mobility issues of disabled persons to a large extent. How to facilitate seamless point-to-point travel is debatable. The paper suggests strategies in making the transportation sustainable for disabled persons. Abstract The demand for transport facilities in urban areas has steeply increased due to unprecedented growth of urban population all over the world. The dispersed activities and fragmented land uses especially in metropolitan cities have further added to the average travel length of the commuters. The traffic bottlenecks due to high pressure of mixed vehicles, use of personalised vehicles, violation of traffic rules and non-practice of giving priority to wheelchair users, cyclists and pedestrians have jeopardized the mobility of commuters in general and the disabled persons in particular. Improved mobility in public transport is a crucial and necessary element in earning livelihood, gaining education and accessing health care facilities, etc. as it can allow people with disabilities to play an active role in society both economically and socially. Various attempts have been made by the Indian Government to address some of the barrier free urban mobility issues concerning to the disabled persons, as far as the modern modes of transport such as metro rail, bus rapid transit systems, etc. are concerned. But, how to reach to these modes of transport, how to shift the disabled persons from one mode to other mode of transport and how to facilitate their seamless point-to-point travel from home to final destination is becoming issue of debate. The paper attempts to present an overview of growing concern of disability and emerging problems of disabled persons in Indian cities exemplified through a case study of Delhi metropolitan city. The constitutional provisions, policies, and government initiatives to safeguard the interests of disabled persons with regard to access to the public transport have been discussed in the paper. Finally, the future strategies in making the transportation sustainable especially for the disabled persons have been suggested. Keywords Disabled Persons, Barrier Free Environment, Delhi Metropolitan City, Constitutional Provisions, Metro Rail, Bus Rapid Transit System Case Study presented on the ISOCARP Congress 2011: LIVEABLE CITIES: URBANISING WORLD, Meeting the Challenge   Click to open the full paper as pdf document   Click to send an email to the author(s) of this paper