By way of background, People With Disabilities ACT (PWD ACT) is a not for profit consumer systemic advocacy organisation which represents the interests of people with disabilities in the ACT. PWD ACT works to improve access to all amenities and to all formats of information and activities of the community.
PWD ACT has embarked on a program of events, consultations, communications and campaign initiatives to better understand the access needs and priorities of people with disability.
We have also begun working to bring together decision makers, planners and thinkers on access and the future of Canberra to start a conversation about access in our city.
The work aligns with priorities under the National Disability Strategy as well as Involve – Canberra’s Disability Commitment which is the ACT’s response to the Strategy. Access will also be important in enabling people with disability to realise the potential of the National Disability Insurance Scheme as it rolls out in the ACT trial site.
Many people acquire disability as they age and the main factor in needing better access and inclusion is getting older. That’s especially the case for the ACT, whose proportion of people aged 65 years and older is growing faster than the rest of Australia – 3.6% of the population in the ACT compared to 2.9% of the population across Australia.
Elements of our access campaign include a pledge and forthcoming community ambition campaign as part of Involve Canberra; a social media forum; an online survey; a phone out to our organisational members and a keynote event.
The case for action
While the process is still underway, culminating in a public consultation and discussion forum on 23 October, we have gathered a useful body of information about the key access barriers and gaps experienced by people with disabilities as the project has progressed. A brief high level outline of these issues is at Attachment A.
An accessible Canberra aligns to a number of the Governments strategic budget priorities, including Enhancing Liveability and Social Inclusion, Suburban Renewal and Better Transport, and Health and Education investment. It supports successful infrastructure development in Canberra.
The access features of our city, including within the National Capital Precinct but also into the city, should be regarded as an infrastructure asset for Canberra. It is important that we preserve, steward and build this asset going forward as well as ensure that our infrastructure can deliver the community access needed to reap the benefits of our investment in the NDIS. There are untapped opportunities to market and profile Canberra as an accessible city. A place where tourists of all abilities are welcome and a model for sustainable design for countries with ageing populations, such as China.
Good planning for access also supports sustainable spending and manage a fragile revenue base for the Territory. Canberra is heading for an increase in the ageing population and it is more cost effective and sustainable to plan for this in advance and build access features into development rather than retrofit later.
A range of people are undertaking work to plan, educate, promote, broker and regulate solutions for access and this work may be high quality but it is not always coordinated for maximum effect.
For instance, during our consultations we found that the Access City project funded by the ACT Government to broker access solutions was not cognisant of or utilising Disability Confidence Canberra which was also funded by the ACT Government and had been developed to make business more responsive to disability access and provide them with the tools to make a change.
A joined up approach would see us going into a business precinct with a full gamut of joined up tools and resources. It would mean a complaint about an issue to the Access City hotline triggered both a brokerage response and an educative response with the regulatory response offered as a fall-back. This does not happen.
Players in the space currently include Territory and Municipal Services, the Access City hotline, the ACT Human Rights Office, the Community Services Directorate, Volunteering ACT, the Council on the Ageing and Disabled Peoples Organisations
Canberra has a unique opportunity to drive for improvement in access and incentivise a community response as a whole of jurisdiction launch site for the NDIS. More than 5000 will transition to the NDIS by July 2016 and the joint investment in the ACT is expected to the $342 million by 2019-20.
If we were ever going to land a fully accessible city for people with disability and older Canberran’s now is the time to do it. This may not require extra resources – but it does require a harmonised, determined effort with a range of stakeholders pulling in the one direction.
There are challenges created by new disruptive platforms like Uber and new technologies like touchscreens. Canberra tends to be an early adopter of innovations like this but we lack a focal point of strategic advice to ensure that they are as accessible as they can be.
There are ongoing access blackspots in Canberra which are hard to shift. These include improving access to the retail “courts” in Belconnen and Woden, older areas of Canberra like Manuka, parts of the city and intractable issues with wheelchair taxis. There is an uneven adoption of measures like tactile indicators, Auslan interpreting and access to web platforms.
Due to our combination of State and local government functions the ACT has some strengths and weaknesses in planning for disability access. On the one hand we can better coordinate solutions, but on the other hand we lack a source of dedicated consumer lead advice to ensure accessibility in developments such as might be provided by a local government access committee by appointed by a council.
An attempt was made previously to provide coordinated advice on access issues in Canberra through the ACT Access and Planning Advisory Committee (AAPAC). While this was a useful body and achieved the ACT Guidelines for Access and Mobility, a different and more agile response is required in 2015. The task is one of coordination and marshalling of effort as well as dealing with emergent issues, like new technology and disruptive innovation like the emergence of Uber. We therefore propose a taskforce structure with very specific objectives.
While the Disability Expert Panel provides important advice on the National Disability Strategy, it sits within the Community Services Directorate and it’s remit is too wide to allow a tight focus on access issues within spaces, places and transport services. These require a close focus and a dedicated remit with appropriate expertise.
There is a lack of focussed expertise on disability access in Canberra as the issue does not fall within one organisations remit. There is a need for a focal point of advice to get it right.
Our proposal – ACT Access Taskforce
PWDACT notes that the process is not designed for local organisations to request funding assistance. We do not do so.
Our idea is for a key coordination point for the planning of disability access in Canberra that will:
- Develop a Universal Design Charter for Canberra
- Identify areas of duplication and potential harmonization in work to plan, educate, promote, broker and regulate solutions for access and ensure that those areas worked together.
- Work to maximise shared community education approaches across the ACT, the Australian Capital Territory Region and the National Capital Region.
- Provide focussed advice and oversight where needed on disability access issues on signature infrastructure developments and suburban renewal and transport projects.
- Provide strategic advice on access for people who are ageing or have a disability in areas of market change or technological disruption.
- Provide strategic advice to the ACT Government on priorities for creating a more accessible and sustainable Canberra to cater to the needs of people with disability and older Canberrans.
- Identify priority areas and blackspots in planning for access in urban centres.
- Provide advice on improving access to public transport including disability parking, access to share-rides, taxi’s, hire cars, buses, rail services and the Canberra airport including:
- Early advice on a package of reforms to ensure people with disabilities are not disadvantaged by ride sourcing technologies and ride sharing platforms
- Identify opportunities to market Canberra as an accessible region and create an investment approach to access.
Draft Terms of Reference for the proposed focal point, the Canberra Access Taskforce, are at Attachment B.
We would be happy to discuss the submission. Please feel free to contact PWDACT on (02) 6286 4475 and you can also contact Craig Wallace, Access Campaign Manager on 0413 135 731.
ttachment A
Brief outline of issues highlighted in
access consultations by PWD ACT
Background
In July 2014 PWD ACT commenced a consultation process around disability access issues in Canberra.
There were a number of ways for people to engage.
Social media forum
PWDACT held a social media forum asking for = views on Disability Access in Canberra from 10am – 2.00pm on Saturday 19 September 2015.
The forum was conducted on Facebook and Twitter using the hashtag #CBRaccess and sought community views on access to buildings, parking, taxi’s, buses, shops, national institutions and the places we live and work in Canberra.
PWDACT’s team was online during the forum and feedback from across platforms was subject to thematic analysis.
Online survey
An online ‘survey monkey’ survey sought views from individual PWDACT members and members of the community about disability access issues. This online questionnaire was launched during the social media forum.
Access phone out
PWDACT held an access phone out consultation to all our 30 organisational members as well as other key stakeholders during September/October to gauge their views on where access barriers exist and how these can be addressed. These depth interviews addressed a spectrum of issues and assessed peoples concerns on a scale of 1-5.
Access City Q&A @ the PWDACT AGM
On Friday 23 October 2015 a panel of distinguished Canberra planners, spokespeople and decisions makers came together at the ACT Legislative Assembly to start a conversation about the future of access in Canberra. The panel was part of the consultation process and also an opportunity to have a discussions about access and the future of Canberra.
Chaired by Sue Salthouse, Canberra Citizen of the Year, panellists include: Joy Burch MLA, Minister for Disability; Alistair Coe MLA, Shadow Minister for Planning and Infrastructure, Urban Services and Transport Services; Malcolm Snow, Chief Executive, National Capital Authority; Eric Martin AM, Managing Director, Eric Martin & Associates; Jenny Mobbs, Executive Director Council on the Ageing ACT; and Maureen Cane, CEO, Volunteering and Contact ACT.
The forum heard some startling stories about access barriers in Canberra including poor access in retail “courts”, problems with taxi’s, buses and hire cars, concerns about Uber, safety issues on Canberra streets and footpaths and poor access in some iconic spaces.
A lack of access in Bunda street was highlighted and there was also discussion about access in new infrastructure like light rail. In addition to access barriers the panel heard about a lack of coordination around access promotion, education and complaint resolution, including across the ACT Government.
On the positive side, speakers highlighted a “golden opportunity” for Canberra to get it right noting our population is ageing and we are a whole of jurisdiction launch site for the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
Speaking from experiences of inclusive design internationally speakers noted that great cities are judged by how well they manage their built environments and also that close enough wasn’t good enough when it came to access.
The panel canvassed a range of solutions including dedicated contact points in each ACT Government directorate, a single point of contact on disability access issues, the idea of a Canberra Universal Design Charter and policy suggestions such as mandated requirements for ACTION buses to be fully DDA compliant.
The forum included “live” feedback online via the hashtag #CBRaccess
Other
The consultation has also taken views via email.
Key findings:
While the consultations are ongoing there are some interim findings that suggest a need for ongoing work and coordination on disability access in the ACT. These include prevalent barriers, some beacons of better practice and uneven intra-govt and organisation coordination around disability access issues.
Barriers/issues
- Concerns about a possible reduction in wheelchair taxis and accessible transport due to the increase and availability of ride sourcing Apps
- The lack of access in the “court areas” around Phillip and Belconnen as well as in older parts of the city like Fyshwick and Manuka
- The lack of access to ATM’s due to height and design issues
- Dangerous rides in wheelchair taxis
- Action buses taking off before passengers are seated subjecting people to injury and falls
- Poor street lighting in some suburbs causing trip hazards and people feeling unsafe
- People needing to travel along overgrown verges and rough ground to get to curb cuts
- Poor access in iconic buildings like Parliament House including heavy doors and heavy carpet
- Access to programs and services that aren’t disability specific
- ACT residents not being subsidised for the costs of visual smoke detectors
- Narrow doorways and a lack of access into nightclubs and venues
- Lack of any hire cars with hand-controls for visitors
- Hotels in Canberra advertising access and then failing to deliver
- Trees, bushes, long grass and shrubs cover foot paths making it near impossible to use the foot paths with a mobility aid
- Problems with sensory processing for people with a hearing disability due to flooring, noisy devices like driers
- An older couple were trapped in a carpark at the convention centre after the lift failed to arrive and they were told to walk up to the next floor of the car park and press the bottom to send the lift back down.
- Another man in a wheelchair was forced to go up steep internal carpark ramps against oncoming traffic to attend a disability conference.
- Disability toilets used for storage including or unpleasant/unemptied nappy bins
- Footpaths being cracked, steep, uneven and having poor camber (sloping into the road)
- People illegally parking in disability spaces throughout Canberra
- People parking across footpaths in new suburbs making it difficult for wheelchair users
- The need for the ACT Government to require in the contracts of private car park operators that they allow disabled car drivers the same concessions as apply in Government operated car parking.
Positives
On the positive side, Canberra residents and visitors alike offered bouquets to Canberra events such as Floriade, currently held in Commonwealth Park.
Access to the National Capital Precinct and newer buildings was also praised.
Contributors to the Forum highlighted a “golden opportunity” for Canberra to get access right noting our population is ageing and we are a whole of jurisdiction launch site for the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
Coordination issues
The consultation identified a number of coordination issues.
A range of people are undertaking work to plan, educate, promote, broker and regulate solutions for access and this work may be high quality but it is not always coordinated for maximum effect.
For instance, during our consultations we found that the Access City project funded by the ACT Government to broker access solutions was not cognisant of or utilising Disability Confidence Canberra, which was also funded by the ACT Government and had been developed to make business more responsive to disability access and provide them with the tools to make a change.
Many people with disability are also unclear about who is responsible for access issues within the ACT Government and how to raise them. The lines of responsibility within Government are also unclear.
Policy challenges:
The consultation process also identified a key policy challenge around the introduction of ride sharing platforms like Uber.
As ‘ride sharing’ and ‘ride sourcing’ operations increase their market share of driver-vehicle point-to-point passenger transportation, people who use wheelchairs and other mobility assistance devices will be increasingly disadvantaged if appropriate regulation and incentives to ensure that such businesses service people with a disability are not implemented.[1]
The introduction and popularity of ride sourcing (mainly Uber) has already caused significant disruption to the ability of people with disabilities to access transportation in other jurisdictions.
Since the introduction of Uber, the number of Wheelchair Accessible Taxi’s (WATs) on the road in metropolitan Melbourne has decreased from 565to below 500[2] and the response time has increased. The proportion of WATs on the road in metropolitan Melbourne has reduced from 15 percent to 10 percent.[3]
In 2014, Uber introduced ‘Uber Access’, an ill-defined new ‘service’ that enables people with fold-up wheelchairs to transfer into conventional sedans and put their wheelchair in the boot of an Uber sedan vehicle. This has always been done by people using conventional sedan taxis and is less relevant now as newer vehicle designs are making conventional sedans less accessible for many people.
The ‘Uber Access’ initiative does nothing to replace WATs nor provide access to people who use non-folding chairs, motorised wheelchairs or scooters or who are not able to transfer out of their manual fold-up wheelchair into a car seat. This is a significant proportion of people in wheelchairs.
Uber announced it would ‘look into’ getting wheelchair accessible vehicles, but none have emerged.
The ACT Government is now moving to regulate Uber in the ACT.
PWD ACT met with a senior representative of Uber during the consultation process and noted a set of similar issues in the implementation to those in Melbourne. Uber were not able to identify a pathway to acquiring wheelchair accessible vehicles or how they would handle drivers seeking to transfer from the WAT’s network into ride sharing arrangements with Uber.
It is possible that outcomes in the ACT could be worse than in other jurisdictions. The WATS network is fragile and has a poor service history. There have been historic problems with the timeliness and capacity of the wheelchair accessible taxi fleet in Canberra – while competition in the space is welcomed its unclear whether Uber will offer it. Drivers have in the past complained that running WATS is unprofitable and have threatened to hand in WATS plates and leave the industry. Uber may emerge as the trigger for unhelpful disruption.
On the other hand PWD ACT believes that Uber could offer opportunites to improve the provision of wheelchair accessible transport in Canberra. For instance by diversifying the kinds of vehicles available to provide wheelchair accessible transport in the ACT. However there are no indications that this will occur naturally and without some leverage.
In order to ensure people with disabilities are not disadvantaged by the introduction of ride sourcing technologies, and that we continue to respect and facilitate the rights of people with a disability to travel around our community with some degree of flexibility, the ACT Government must implement a package of reforms.
These reforms could include regulation, subsidies, mandated requirements for the App, application of the Taxi Subsidy Scheme fee to Uber, developing a stronger Uber Assist market offer as well as licencing, training and quality assurance requirements.
We believe that this body of work could be an early focus of the work of a dedicated body coordinating advice and oversight of disability access in Canberra.
Attachment B
ACT Access Taskforce – model Terms of Reference
The ACT Territory and Municipal Services Directorate has established a Taskforce to provide coordination, direction and advice to improve access to places and spaces in the Australian Capital Territory for people who have a disability or who are ageing.
The Taskforces role will include providing counsel to the ACT Government, its agencies and Ministers with responsibility for transport, urban development, infrastructure, maintenance and other municipal services on planning for the needs of people who have a disability and/or who are ageing. It will work to drive greater coordination and harmonisation of efforts to plan for, regulate, promote and improve disability access in the ACT.
It will develop a Universal Design Charter for Canberra and bring together the ACT Government and the National Capital Authority to ensure a seamless accessibility experience across the ACT as one of the world’s great cities.
The Taskforce has an early remit to provide strategic advice measures which might be taken to ensure people with disabilities are not disadvantaged by the introduction of ride sourcing technologies.
Composition
The Taskforce are invited to join on the basis of their relevant experience and technical expertise. They will draw additional knowledge and be informed about the views of the community in a variety of ways, including through direct engagement, to provide an evidence base for their advice. Members are not required to act in a representative capacity as other consultation methods exist for input from peak bodies, community and client consultation.
A subgroup of the Taskforce will focus on transport issues especially ensuring people with disability are not disadvantaged through the introduction of ride sourcing technologies.
While the work of the Board will support the effective implementation of the National Disability Strategy it will focus on specialist and technical advice rather than broader policy issues which are in the remit of the Disability Expert Panel within CSD. This will be an specialist advisory group.
Taskforce Responsibilities:
- Develop a Universal Design Charter for Canberra
- Identify areas of duplication and potential harmonization in work to plan, educate, promote, broker and regulate solutions for access and ensure that those areas worked together.
- Work to maximise shared community education approaches across the ACT, the Australian Capital Territory Region and the National Capital Region.
- Provide focussed advice and oversight where needed on disability access issues on signature infrastructure developments and suburban renewal and transport projects.
- Provide strategic advice on access for people who are ageing or have a disability in areas of market change or technological disruption.
- Provide strategic advice to the ACT Government on priorities for creating a more accessible and sustainable Canberra to cater to the needs of people with disability and older Canberrans.
- Identify priority areas and blackspots in planning for access in urban centres.
- Provide advice on improving access to public transport including disability parking, access to share-rides, taxi’s, hire cars, buses, rail services and the Canberra airport including:
- Early advice on a package of reforms to ensure people with disabilities are not disadvantaged by ride sourcing technologies and ride sharing platforms
- Identify opportunities to market Canberra as an accessible region and create an investment approach to access.
Membership
The Taskforce will comprise of between 7 – 15 members, including a Chair from the Territory and Municipal Services Directorate (TAMS Co-chair) and a Community (non-government) Co-chair.
A Deputy Chair will be appointed with a remit for Transport and will head the Transport Subgroup of the Taskforce.
The members may include:
– People nominated by disabled and aged peoples organisations with lived experience of different access barriers
– TAM’s officials with responsibility for taxi’s, buses, street maintenance, social planning and the maintenance of roads and cycle paths including:
- A member of Parks and Territory Services
- A member of infrastructure, roads and public transport
– A representative of the National Capital Authority
– A representative of the ACT Inclusion Council
– A representative of the Access City hotline
– A person with applied expertise and leadership in the application of the Australian Building Code standards for access
– A person with expertise in the application of access principles in new and emergent technology and business application areas
– Such others as the taskforce may co-opt for specific purposes as ex officio members such as Canberra Cabs, Uber, Canberra airport and Action Buses to attend the Taskforce Transport Subgroup as ex-officio members.
Terms of Appointment
The Taskforce will be appointed for two years and then reviewed against its responsibilities.
The Taskforce will report to the ACT Minister’s for Territory and Municipal Services, Planning, and Roads and Parking. Remuneration will be consistent with the ACT Remuneration Tribunal determination. Members will advise the secretariat if they require remuneration.
[1] Ride sharing’ and ‘ride sourcing’ are defined for the purposes of this briefing as driver-owned and operated vehicles offering one-time rides for a fee at short notice that connect with customers via GPS and smartphone apps such as Uber. Ride sharing is promoted as a way to better utilise the empty seats in most passenger cars and is therefore akin to car pooling. Ride sourcing is the utilisation of apps by commercial operators, similar to a taxi services. Drivers engaging in ride sourcing do not share the same destination as their passengers. The app outsources rides to commercial drivers.
[2] Taxi Services Commission (2015) data
[3] Taxi Services Commission (2015) data
