ABSTRACT
The issue of accessibility of public transport (PT) for mobility impaired (Ml) people is a major concern in modem societies, within the concept of assuring equal opportunities for all citizens . The mobility impairment may be related either with a temporal or a permanent disability. The disabilities in question could be of different types (i .e . lower limb impairment, vision impairment, age-decline disabilities, etc .) , thus covering a significant percentage of the population. The ACCESS2ALL FP7 Coordination Action project aims at defining concrete mobility schemes, guidelines and policy recommendations, ensuring accessibility of public transport to all users, through the coordination of current research efforts, the production of common research roadmaps, the identification of best practice models and the appropriate use of ICT (Information & Communication Technologies) aids and networks . Within this concept, one of the targets is to isslLe a set of priority implementation scenarios to promote the uptake of MI users needs and wants into the planning and operation of PT. Towards this, the first step has been to clearly cluster the addressed user groups and perform literature review on their needs, the current situation and existing good practices in the area. Then, the definition of implementation scenarios
followed, taking into account the needs of the users as well as the technological potential and organizational structures. In ACCESS2ALL, a set of 1 8 scenarios has been dcfined by the project experts, structured in a special tcmplate, including thc PT mode, the relevant issues addressed, the related uscr groups, the type of operation (i.e . urban, interurban, periurban, etc .) , the business chain actors involved, the most adequate aids and processes to be followed, an estimation of the relevant cost, maintenance and service update issues, etc . These scenarios involved most of the issues of intercst of the ACCESS2ALL project, i.c. information (c.g. adapted pedestrian route guidance systcm for elderly and disabled (E&D), dynamic routc accessibility), safety in transportation (e.g. special dummies of E&D for crash tests, modular and adjustable tie-down systems and anchorage points in PT vehicles), vehicle and/or transportation hub ingress/egress (e.g. standardisation of automatic and appropriate ingress/egress lifts, automatic lift at trains for wheclchair users ingress/egress) use of accessible aids (e.g. modelling Accessibility Technology dcvices in mainstream products design), comfort issues and service facilities (e.g. modelling E&D users in ergonomic design of transportation systems and stations), emergency support (c .g. personalized guidance in mobile nomad device of MI travellers in case of emergency in transportation hubs, personalized models of emergency handling, taking into account E&D behaviour and prescnce), tickcting/booking/cancellation (personalized smart card or mobile phone application for 1icketing/booking/cancellation taking into account uscr profile, Automatic info-kiosk interface with mobile), multimodality of transport chain (e.g. selection of preferred modes and mode changes based on user ' s profile, selection of walking distance between modes based on user ' s profile). In order to prioritize these scenarios, thc Analytical Hierarchy Process Multi-Criteria Analysis has been applied. According to this methodology, a set of criteria should be originally defined, which will be the factors for prioritization. The critcria defined for the needs or this analysis were : range of affected users, maturity of technology, European dimension, cost efficiency, range of application/transportation means covcred, impact to safety and impact to the environment. In order to perform a concise analysis, these criteria needed to be prioritized, so as to assign a weight to each criterion. For this rcason, a pairwise comparison matrix has bcen composed, in which each criterion is rated in comparison to each of thc rest of them, following a pre-defined range of values . The second step was to create a second matrix, in which a mark is assigned for each scenario - criterion combination, again according to a pre-defined scale. A dedicated interactive session has taken place during the first proj ect workshop, for the application of this methodology by internal and external to the project experts . The analysis of the results followed, from which the sccnario priorities derived. This prioritization exercise has been performed in the first year of thc proj ect; it will also be performed later in the project, including more scenarios and more and/or diffcrent criteria, which will derive from the work performed within thc several tasks of the ACCESS2ALL project, as wcll as from other related projects in cooperation with ACCESS2ALL. The final list of priority implementation scenarios will as well contribute in the definition of further research roadmaps, which also lies among the aims of the ACCESS2ALL proj cct .
