Improving the design of urban transport experience with people with disabilities

Abstract

Despite the significant advances in accessibility, barriers to accessing public transport persist. This paper reports on the “Barcelona Transportation network (TMB) inclusive transport project (Metro ride experience) in the city of Barcelona 2017–18”. This research project aims to empirically examine the effects of including people with disability (PwD) in the process of designing encounters in an urban public transport service environment. To this end, we examined previous co-creation frameworks in the transportation context, and carried out qualitative, comparative research in two stages (Study 1, designing the experience for people with disability, and Study 2, designing the experience with people with disability) with 37 participants. Our methodology consisted of focus groups, shadowing participants during the transportation experience, and post-experience surveys with semi-structured questions. The study explains how ensuring adequate communication encounters with participants before the experience can guarantee a successful design of the urban transportation experience. The results will provide clear guidance to transport network managers on how to allocate proper adapted communication resources to PwD for improving accessibility before the transportation experience takes place.