Euskotren designs its own tactile flooring to be installed in all trams to make travelling easier for the visually impaired
- The prototype – in whose design the associations of the visually impaired have been actively involved – is already being piloted in Bilbao and Vitoria-Gasteiz, and will be extended to 26 units in the coming months
- This system will come as factory standard in the new trams
Over the coming months, Euskotren will install its own tactile flooring model in all the trams of Bilbao and Vitoria-Gasteiz, which will make travelling easier for the visually impaired. This morning, the Basque Minister for Sustainable Mobility, Susana García Chueca, its Deputy Minister for Infrastructures and Sustainable Mobility, Miguel Ángel Paéz, and the Euskotren General Manager, Javier Seoane, together with representatives of organisations for the visually impaired – ONCE and Itxaropena – that have worked with Euskotren to test the system, have travelled in one of the trams that already has this specific flooring fitted; different tests have been performed on this flooring for the final design of the prototype that will be used throughout the fleet.
The budget to create the prototype and install it in the 26 trams (16 in Vitoria-Gasteiz and 10 in Bilbao) is roughly €100,000. Furthermore, all the new units will include this system as standard.
The goal of the tactile flooring is to help the visually impaired to navigate their surroundings, by guiding them to the area of reserved seats and helping them to identify possible obstacles in the unit. Its use provides the visually impaired with greater autonomy and safety, as tactile paving is already used at all the tramway stops built by Euskal Trenbide Sarea. Beyond its practical purpose, this project means that the reserved spaces in the trams are more visible; it is thus an awareness raising tool to foster more respectful and civic attitudes among passengers.
The selected paving has been specific designed for the Euskotren tram service; the ONCE and Itxaropena associations have been involved in the design process, as the Basque Minister for Sustainable Mobility, Susana García Chueca explained, ‘they are the ones that best know the obstacles that some people come up against to use public transport’. In October, they were sent an initial proposal which has been improved thanks to their contributions.
The Minister stressed that ‘the tramway accessibility standards are very high and all its stops are accessible for people with reduced mobility’. ‘But we cannot rest on our laurels, as every user has their own reality and we want to use all the facilities available to us so that nothing prevents them from using Euskotren public transport,’ García Chueca stressed.
Even though the whole fleet has advanced technologies to make it easier for people with different needs to travel, Euskotren continues to work towards universal accessibility. The different improvement actions, which include tactile flooring, are included in the Strategic Plan to Improve Accessibility in Euskotren 2024-2030, whose priority goal is to guarantee that everybody has equal opportunities to enjoy adapted and inclusive public transport.
The deployment of these modifications is the result of a citizen participatory and active listening process that Euskotren ran to learn first-hand about the needs of the differently abled. It therefore worked closely with eight associations (Fekoor, Eginaren Eginez, Elkartu, Fevas, Itxaropena, ONCE, Euskal Gorrak and Zuzenak), which shared their feedback, the daily difficulties faced and possible areas for improvement.
In addition to tactile flooring, there are other measures included in the Strategic Plan for Universal Accessibility which have already started to be rolled out:
- Removal of folding seats: Folding seats have already been removed from all the Euskotren units to create a more open space to make it easier for people with reduced mobility to manoeuvre. Partitions have already been removed to provide greater unrestricted access (from 800 mm to 1000 mm).
- Changes to the pictograms (inside and outside): Changing the inside and outside pictograms for larger ones and in different colours to make them more visible is going to soon be put out to tender. Blue and orange will be used.
- Changes to the PRM areas, reserved seats and outside vinyl signage: The areas of preferential use for people with reduced mobility (PRM) (including the order of priority) will be better identified inside the units. The reserved seats will be upholstered in orange, in the same way as in the trains, so they are easily recognised. The process to change the upholstery is already underway and will be extended to all units. Marking the spaces for wheelchairs and baby strollers on the floor is planned as well.
- Adapting the ticket machines at the stops to the different needs: New credit payment terminals, a contactless system and more accessible buttons are just some of the features that have been added to the machines to meet that undertaking. Work is underway on an own prototype for forthcoming ticket machines as part of the collaborative process with the associations.
- Specific training for the Euskotren staff: Euskotren has already run a specific course to train its staff on accessibility and to raise awareness in that regard.
- Outside advertising on the trams: Work is underway with different groups for the outside advertising on the trams to be compatible with the needs of the differently abled. A collaboration process has already started to find and incorporate the most satisfactory technical solutions.