By Karin Bendixen

Wooden paths down to the beach

Since 1992, the city has been installing wooden paths down to its beaches, together with accessible showers and toilets. Nowadays, all Barcelona’s beaches have these wooden paths and are accessible, although only two have accessible toilets so far.

Parks and gardens: When the Accessibility Plan was first developed, parks and gardens were not taken into account in the original study. Realising this shortcoming afterwards, the Barcelona City Council has signed an agreement with CRID to check the accessibility aspects of the city’s parks, gardens and beaches and to develop a plan similar to the one for its streets.

Traffic light and litter bin

The City of Barcelona has been working at a special concept for pedestrian crossings. It facilitates passage for people in wheel-chairs, people with prams as well as visually impaired people. The edge between the street and the pavement has been levelled down, and on one side of the ramp there is a litter bin and on the other there is a traffic light.

By bus? No problem

50 percent of Barcelona’s buses are now accessible for wheelchair users and the city’s bus timetable states clearly which buses are accessible. So there are no problems when a wheelchair user enters a bus – and no curious looks either.

This is how its works:

The middle door in the low-floor bus opens. A plate is ejected and the bus ‘kneels’ towards street level. Without the help of the driver – and almost without using any extra time, the wheelchair user can move towards an area in the middle of the bus. A pair of seat belts enables the chair to be secured in place. And when you want to get off, you just press ‘stop’, like anyone else. The button is at the same level as the wheelchair and the driver can see that the wheelchair user is the one who wants to get off.

Published in Crisp & Clear No. 1, April 2000