The EDSA Busway Philam Station ramp, now coated with tarpaulin, shall be closed for 2 months to present manner for obligatory enhancements. —Inquirer photograph/Grig C. Montegrande
MANILA, Philippines — Lower than every week after it was opened to the general public, the overly steep wheelchair ramp on the Edsa Busway Philam station in Quezon Metropolis has been briefly shut down for “enhancements,” after it gained notoriety for being not accessible to individuals with disabilities (PWDs).
Metropolitan Manila Improvement Authority (MMDA) Chair Don Artes stated the contractor of the ramp has pledged to put in both a wheelchair platform or a vertical raise to maneuver PWD passengers from the footbridge to the busway platform.
READ: Drawing flak for steep Edsa ramp, MMDA personnel to help PWDs
“We can even enhance the wheelchair ramp by pouring cement to scale back the slope. From the 13 millimeters slope, it might go all the way down to 11 mm, which may be very close to to the advisable 10 mm,” Artes stated throughout a information discussion board on Saturday.
The MMDA chair famous that the enhancements can be without charge to the federal government, and shall all be shouldered by the personal contractor.
READ: Unfriendly to PWDs
The ramp shall be reopened to the general public when the general enhancements are completed, which might take one to 2 months.
The MMDA blamed “peak and area limitations” of the Metro Rail Transit Line 3, which is related to the Edsa Busway, which prevented the contractor from constructing a much less steep wheelchair ramp.
Exhausting determination
“It’s a tough determination between placing that ramp or constructing none in any respect,” Artes stated. “It was not an ideal design, particularly for these utilizing wheelchairs, however it is going to nonetheless assist senior residents, pregnant girls and different individuals with incapacity as a substitute of taking the steps.”
“However it’s good that we’re criticized, so we will tackle the difficulty,” he added.
Putting in a raise was additionally not a part of the price range of the undertaking, with the MMDA noting that “based mostly on our observations, virtually not one of the passengers of the Edsa carousel are wheelchair customers.”
Artes stated they’d additionally deploy personnel to help disabled individuals who may wrestle in utilizing the ramp, which “wouldn’t be too steep” for many who stroll on it.
The controversial ramp at Philam was a part of the 2 new stations of the Edsa Busway (the opposite being Kamuning station) opened to the general public on July 15.
The MMDA and the Division of Transportation even touted the Philam station to “present accessibility and comfort to passengers, particularly senior residents and individuals with disabilities.”
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However commuters, particularly PWDs and designers, famous that the wheelchair ramp was too steep, in violation of the legal guidelines on PWD accessibility. Mockingly, the controversy was stirred simply throughout the observance of the Nationwide Incapacity Rights Week from July 17 to 23.
