For many of the Western Cape’s disabled commuters, getting to work by train is a daily struggle.
|||Cape Town - Public transport lies at the heart of city life. But for the estimated 20 000 wheelchair users in Cape Town, transport options are limited.
When Darran Colquhoun, who has been paralysed since he was 18, was offered a learnership at a call centre in October last year, he was elated. He had been unemployed for six years. But he had to carefully consider his transport options to work.
Colquhoun, 33, decided to use the Business Express train, a Metrorail service, but when he enquired with the station manager at Brackenfell station, closest to his home in Bellville, he discovered the service was not wheelchair-friendly. However, the manager made a plan. “They put a ramp on one coach because I was catching the train to Cape Town station,” said Colquhoun. This train departs platform one at 7.15am. If he misses it, he can’t get to work.
The problem was getting back home in the afternoon. Although Colquhoun could board the train, it arrives at platform two. He needs to exit from platform one. Because of a few metres’ gap between the two platforms and only stairs to cross over, it is impossible for a wheelchair user.
He brought this to the attention of Metrorail staff, who, according to Colquhoun, assured him they were working on it. More than a year later, he still cannot travel home by train.
Instead, his fiancée, Lianda Blignaut, who works as a chef in Stellenbosch, drives from there to the city centre and takes Colquhoun home every day by car. “I use my entire salary to pay for petrol to get home,” said Colquhoun. It costs him R100 a day for petrol, and R200 on weekends when the Business Express doesn’t run.
He isn’t the only one struggling.
Donald Pitt, also a wheelchair user, had to quit his last job because of the difficulty of travelling to work.
In January, he was employed at a call centre in the city. Since then, 27-year-old Pitt used the Metrorail train from Bellville station to work in the city centre, and back in the afternoons.
“As far as money is concerned, the train is my only option. If I’m on the train I’m fine. It’s getting on and off that’s a problem,” he said.
Anthony Ghillino, project manager of the QuadPara Association of the Western Cape, echoed the frustrations of Colquhoun and Pitt. “It all starts and ends with transport – without it we are disabled.”
Mthuthuzeli Swartz, regional manager for Metrorail Western Cape, said a final draft policy was in place for approval by the Passenger Rail Association of SA before the end of this financial year.
“With the upcoming modernisation of our stations, we will be focusing on making the identified stations universally accessible.”
Jeremy Opperman, Independent Disability Analyst, said South Africa had a major transport crisis in terms of accessibility.
“The city and province is remiss in that it has failed to deal with the issue satisfactorily. It’s taken too long.”
Councillor Brett Herron, mayoral committee member for transport, said Dial-a-Ride was a service designed for people with special needs but it was not meeting demand as there were more than 6 000 people on the waiting lists.
* Metrorail says the following 15 out of 122 stations are accessible: Cape Town, Woodstock , Salt River, Ysterplaat, Mutual, Heideveld, Nyanga, Langa, Stock Road , Mandalay, Khayelitsha, Kuyasa, Chris Hani, Lentegeur and Century City.
Putting his life on the line
Every day for the past year Donald Pitt, 27, takes the risk of crossing the Bellville railway line in his wheelchair – it’s the only way he can reach the platform.
The Cape Argus joined Pitt on one of his journeys at 4pm on a Friday. Pitt has to be lifted off the train, usually with the help of a passenger or the train driver, but this time it is Wesley Farrow, an acquaintance.
Time is of the essence as they move down the platform towards the railway tracks.
Farrow pushes him quickly and they check to see whether there are any trains in sight.
Pitt turns his wheelchair around and he is pulled backwards over the railway line at Bellville station.
Soon they are on the other side of the tracks and back on to the platform, making their way to Pitt’s lift that will be taking him home.
Pitt says he has fallen out of his wheelchair twice while being assisted on to a train.
During his train journey from Cape Town to Bellville earlier, his wheelchair was stationed between the two doors at the end of a carriage.
The aisles are too narrow for him to move away from the doorway. As the train moved he steadied himself by having a firm grip on it.
shireen.mukadam@inl.co.za
Cadet News Agency
Cape Argus