Objective
Our society has committed itself to providing all citizens with equality of opportunity. In this framework, the ability to use public transport can be critical for different purposes such as commuting to work, joining in entertainment activities or buying products and services.This means that inasmuch as possible people with different degrees of mobility (the young, the older, people with disabilities, people carrying babies or shopping, pregnant women, etc.) should be granted the same comfort, speed and capacity when using public transport. The only way to guarantee this is to ensure the whole of the public transport (railway, buses, taxis and its supporting infrastructure) in the E.U. becomes universally accessible. In addition, universal design is not only a way of solving a problem, it is an opportunity to increase the quality, usability and safety of public transport as well as the competitiveness of our industry. So, the goal of this project is to promote and support the networking and coordination of research and innovation activities in the field of universal design of accessibility systems for public transport between a comprehensive group of stakeholders (end users, designers, manufacturers, operators, authorities) with a view to achieve quality and equality of access to public transport in the E.U.. Significant dissemination and society awareness of this work will also be necessary to maximize the benefits of the project.Experience has shown that accessibility design is a multidisciplinary problem that demands a highly coordinated approach. End users must validate new designs; they must communicate their needs and assessment of the current situation. Designers and manufacturers must find cost-effective viable solutions. Operators must be taken into account so what works in the laboratory also works in the real setting. Authorities must legislate and regulate by taking all of this into account to achieve maximum effectiveness.
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Call for proposal
FP6-2003-TRANSPORT-3
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