Assessment of social and transport mobility for persons with severe impairments in urban environment

Abstract

The article discusses the issues of transport accessibility of the urban environment, the effectiveness of measures taken to ensure conditions and opportunities for transport services for low-mobility groups of the population. Urban residents with the 1-st and the 2-nd groups of visual and musculoskeletal disabilities participated in the social research carried out in 2016 and 2020. The obtained results indicate that in spite of the existing positive changes in the urban environment, including the availability of public transport, nevertheless, the issues of barrier-free environment remain unresolved: the availability of bus stops, the lack of acoustic media, tactile safety, sufficiency of the public low-floor transport. It is necessary to pay attention to the improvement of accessible transport on the outskirts of the regional center, where people with reduced mobility live. Only competent work of administrative city services in cooperation with public organizations of people with disabilities in the implementation of the State Program “Accessible Environment” will help improve the quality of life and contribute to the integration of persons with disabilities into society.