Century-old metro face difficulties in Paris' attempt to improve transport accessibility

FRANCE 24 English

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00:00Navigating Paris is a daily obstacle course for this paraplegic resident.

00:04Have they installed the new ramps here yet?

00:07Most of the time, he has to depend on a station assistant to help him use public transport.

00:15The lady was kind enough to help me, but I would have struggled to get on by myself.

00:20We're still some way from being independent.

00:24The French capital promised to radically improve public transport accessibility in time for

00:29the Summer Games.

00:31So far, that's meant more tactile lettering, loudspeaker announcements in some stations

00:36and making the tram fully wheelchair accessible.

00:39Efforts that will need to be continued, say NGOs, even after the Games.

00:46We've got to hope that the Paralympics is a wake-up call and raises awareness to show

00:50that inaccessibility is actually just segregation by another name.

00:57Until now, the priority has been on stations serving Paralympic venues.

01:01Paris is expecting 4,400 para-athletes and 300,000 spectators with disabilities from

01:07the 28th of the month.

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