Better accessibility to public infrastructure for disabled people in Iași

The Romanian city Iași teams up with a APTA Iași, a local NGO promoting alternative transport, to improve access conditions for people with reduced mobility. The focus is placed on sidewalks and paths. Their plan is to improve street infrastructure’s quality to comply with European standards concerning people needing extra assistance. The first projects of this year focus on public transport stations, audio signals for traffic lights and tactile pavements.

Alex Luchini, president of APTA Iași stated: “At the moment, although a certain degree of accessibility exists when it comes to the public transportation system, it will need to be correlated with the plan for updating the overall infrastructure. These improvements will be beneficial not only for the people living with disabilities but also for the elderly, small children, parents carrying baby strollers and pregnant women. Now that we have established an ongoing dialogue with the Local Administration of Iași we also hope, in the future, to extend these improvements to public institutions as well, by adapting the local services and raising awareness. In order to achieve these goals, a holistic vision and approach are necessary, in the same constructive spirit of collaboration as manifested by the local authorities and the civil society.”

The city hall has created a working group to continue improving public streets to suit everyone’s needs under involvement of APTA. The programme is one step in Iași’s strategy to participate in the European Commission's annual “Access City Award”.

Article published first at TheMayor.eu on 1st of March 2021.