Portable ramps aren't working for anyone
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​​Unpleasant, unreliable, and unsafe service abounds
Neurodivergent riders of trains can be triggered by the loud BANG you hear when a driver or a conductor deploys a train ramp. However, boarding isn't the only time of stress for those who use ramps. Disembarking trains is actually even more stressful for those with mobility aids and low vision. Stories abound about every train operator. Those who use ramps always know or has heard of someone who has been forgotten, rerouted, or delayed because train staff forgot their duty to deploy a ramp for them to safely disembark. Worse still, we know people with low vision can request a ramp, through miscommunication from train staff get forgotten, and then station staff try to help them off without the ramp instead, and they've ended up severely injuring themselves falling into the very train gap they wanted to avoid by asking for the ramp.
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Unsafe to users
Even when the ramp is deployed, the ramp can be deployed incorrectly and created a situation where it slips off the step and causes severe injury​
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Unsafe to staff and difficult to deploy (heavy, loud)
Train staff aren't trying to deliberately create an unpleasant service. Those ramps are heavy to handle and dropping them onto the step can be accidental because of how heavy, cold, and slippery the metal can be. Handling large heavy items is a workplace hazard and one of the reasons ramps cant be made longer to make them less steep.
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They aren't being used properly (steep)
Ramps are typically less than 1520mm long which means the height of the step into the train can be no more than 190mm (1:8 gradient) for unassisted access. Over 90 V/Line stations and over 81 Melbourne Metro platforms have steps into trains that are higher than this. If the ramp is longer, the gradient extends to 1:14 grade, which means the ramp needs to be 2660mm long before the 190mm step can become higher. To make matters worse, train staff do not push riders up steep ramps because of OH&S risks.
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No independent access
Having to ask for a ramp can be difficult for those who live with disability. Many disabilities are invisible and communication to drivers isn't always smooth. On many occasions, riders who don't need a ramp stand in the ramp boarding area and confuse the drivers for who needs a ramp and who doesn't. Public transport paid for by all tax payers should be built for all of the public. In many cases, using public transport is the only way people who live with disability can economically move around their city and contribute to the local economy.
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Slow
Trains at Metro Melbourne try to arrive and leave within 30 seconds during peak hour periods. When ramps are used to help with boarding and alighting trains there's a significant variation in the 30s dwell time target at stations. To account for this, timetables have to built with slack into them, which reduces the amount of trains that can go through the station in any given period of time. Eliminating ramps across the network creates efficiency and translates to an increase in capacity in our train networks without need to buy more trains. Portable ramps don't actually work well for train operators as much as eliminating them would. Portable ramps hurt our operators bottom line which means it hurts taxpayers who are the ones who pay for these train services
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Discrimination and segregation
​Forcing people living with disabilities to ride in certain cars, to board only in certain doors of the train, to wait in certain areas on platforms earlier than others, and where they are not afforded the same level of protection from the weather in the process, is discrimination.
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