Travelling in London for the Paralympic Games was quite an adventure. My sole purpose at the Games was to report about the Bermudian Paralympian Jessica Lewis, who competed in the Wheelchair Track Events there. However, aside from that I also observed other issues like accessibility on transport, especially during this special sporting event.
Overall, it was a quite pleasant and positive experience. I didn’t have any experiences where I had to complain about inaccessibility or poor services. This subject is important to me as I am a wheelchair user and mobility is always an on going problem for people who have little or no use of their lower extremities. Another reason why I’ve chosen to report on this is to make comparisons between accessibility in Bermuda’s Public Transport System and accessibility in London’s Public Transport system.
From my point of view, I think that London’s Public Transport System is better organised than Bermuda’s because the staff members seem to be more experienced and therefore know what to do, especially if something was to go wrong.
For example, one afternoon while I was travelling to the Olympic Stadium, I had to get on the bus but the ramp on it was malfunctioning. So when the staff saw this, they reported it, called for a new one and before you knew it, it arrived in no time. This proved to me that their services are fast and efficient.
Unfortunately, in Bermuda, that has not been my experience. In the UK, it is apparently mandatory for all public transport to be fully equipped to serve the physically challenged community. However, in Bermuda we don’t have any laws in place to hold the Public Transport System accountable for how they give their services to people who have mobility problems.
A few years ago, our former Premier did try to improve the wheelchair accessibility of the public buses by bringing in new ones with ramps. However, a problem occurred where the size of the gap between the buses and the sidewalks were not measured properly so this plan unfortunately did not work.
While being in London for the past two weeks, I generally enjoyed travelling on the buses and the shuttle. All of the public places that I visited were wheelchair friendly and were implemented with both ramps and elevators to make getting around easier for me and other physically challenged people.
However, on my way back, returning from London, I did experience a problem getting to the coach station. As I travelled on the buses in London, I noticed that there were short messages on the windows that said, “This area is designated for wheelchair users and baby buggies,” or it would say, “Please give preference to wheelchair users.”
However, when there is a baby buggy on the bus, wheelchair users are not allowed. So while I travelled back from London, this created a problem. I ended up watching six buses go by as the wheelchair spaces were occupied with baby buggies which prevented me from getting on. The full buses were due to the athlete’s parade that was going on to officially end the London 2012 Paralympic Games. As time went by, I ended up changing my plans and turned to the train service for help. Two gentlemen kindly lifted me down the stairs in my wheelchair and onto the train.
This train then took me to the coach station and from there I waited for my coach to arrive. When it arrived, the driver operated the lift which brought my wheelchair on the coach and then I transferred to a regular seat and went on my way back home.
