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MRT Jakarta designates parking area for disabled users
The conveniences that most people take for granted are often unavailable to people with disabilities
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span>The conveniences that most people take for granted are often unavailable to people with disabilities. Access to a parking lot, for example, can mean a lot, especially in a city where public facilities have not traditionally accommodated the needs of disabled residents.
Retnowati Sibarani, 53, said it was hard for people in wheelchairs like her to travel the city. She said parking lots and public streets were often inaccessible.
“The regular parking lots and some sidewalks are usually too steep, making it hard for the disabled to pass through,” she said.
Retnowati expressed gratitude that city-owned MRT operator PT MRT Jakarta had officially designated a parking area for the specialized motorcycles used by disabled people at the Lebak Bulus MRT Station in South Jakarta on Thursday. She hoped it would inspire other stakeholders to provide more accessible facilities for disabled people.
The parking area was the first to be provided by the MRT operator. More are expected to be established at other MRT stations.
“We will provide security guards at every station’s entrance to help the mobility of people in wheelchairs,” MRT Jakarta director of operations and maintenance Muhammad Effendi said.
The parking area is able to accommodate five to six specialized motorcycles for people with disabilities and is located within 70 meters of the MRT station’s west elevator.
Javanese Christian Church (GKJ) Nehemia, which owns the parking area, provides it for free to people with disabilities from Monday to Saturday weekly. The church required the space for attendees every Sunday.
Despite the city’s limited vacant land, Effendi said the company would aim to standardize disabled parking spots and make them a required facility for MRT stations in Jakarta.
The legal right of public access for disabled people is established by Article 97 of Law No. 8/2016 on people with disabilities. The law requires both the central and regional governments to guarantee the accessibility of buildings, roads, residential complexes, parks and cemeteries for people with disabilities.
In addition, Article 45 of Law No. 22/2009 on traffic and public transportation requires the establishment of supporting facilities for disabled and elderly people as part of the public traffic system.
Regional regulation (Perda) No. 10/2011 on the protection of people with disabilities requires hotels, offices, malls and apartments to provide both physical and nonphysical accessibility for disabled people.
However, despite the abundance of prevailing laws, authorities and the private sector have yet to fully implement accessibility infrastructure in the field, leaving many facilities inadequate for disabled residents.
Aris, 54, a resident of Bina Daksa, a social rehabilitation house in Pondok Bambu, East Jakarta, used the word “severe” to describe the city’s unfriendliness toward disabled residents. He said daily travel around the city was a huge hurdle for people who used a prosthetic leg or wheelchair like he did. He said the screws that poked out of the sidewalks around Pusat Grosir Cililitan mall in Cililitan, East Jakarta, for example, made it difficult for those in wheelchairs or the visually impaired to traverse the area.
He said people's unawareness of disabled people’s public accessibility needs concerned him. He once traveled on the commuter line from Jatinegara railway station and was left alone on the platform with no one helping him get to the main road.
“It remains hard for us to go anywhere without people’s kindness,” he said. (trn)
