Disabled score win, but BTS should pay up

Disabled score win, but BTS should pay up

The Supreme Administrative Court's ruling on the installation of lifts at BTS Skytrain stations is indeed a victory for people with disabilities who have long fought for better access to public transportation.

The court on Wednesday ordered that lifts should be installed at all 23 BTS stations within one year. Currently, only five stations have such facilities.

Yet the ruling is a loss for all taxpayers given that the court told City Hall to fit the lifts, meaning it has to pay using tax money.

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) itself gleefully showed its readiness to do the job. Deputy governor Amorn Kitchaweng said on Wednesday City Hall has the cash, amounting to 200 million baht, which has been approved; and it should be able to begin construction this month. 

Don't get me wrong. I fully support installing better facilities for the disabled and those in need. No one can deny that lifts are a necessity for those in wheelchairs, old people, pregnant women, and those who are sick.

It's a shame that these disabled people have had to struggle for such a service through a court order; and while City Hall seems to identify itself with a business, not the public. 

I have no idea if the BTS operator realises that while being mean to those in need can help save a lot of money, it also simply casts the corporation in a bad image.

Well, I understand that the disabled, who are led by Suporntum Mongkolsawadi, had no choice but to file the case with the Administrative Court which has authority over state agencies. That's why the court ordered City Hall to do the job rather than the skytrain operator.

But to use taxpayer money for a profit-making business, allowing the BTS to escape its responsibilities, is just too hard to swallow. In fact, it's a shame that the BTS operated without such facilities for years, using the lame excuse that the deal it made with City Hall did not include lifts! And then to make us believe that using taxpayer money for such facilities is justified, the BMA cited another weak excuse: all the systems including lifts will be handed over to City Hall when the 30-year concessions expire in 2029. 

According to Mr Amorn, City Hall has installed five stations while the BTS provided some escalators for its system. Yet, may I say that those facilities are not completed, and not convenient compared to those provided by the the MRT for its underground system which is well designed and more practical and can really serve people with disabilities (even though the MRT still needs to do more as only half of its 60 exits for the underground have those facilities).

Sathon Station is a good example. Those who use this busy station which connects two sides of the Chao Phraya River should know what I mean. There are two escalators (only up, not down) from the street to the the concourse level. But after that, no more. And all the passengers have to climb up the steep stairs to board the trains. 

Even the five stations boasted about by Mr Amorn have some problems which astound me. They should not have any problems, theoretically, since they are very new. But the opposite is true.

Let's look at Bang Wa station, the terminal station on the Thon Buri side. There are lifts on just one side of the road − the outbound Phetkasem while there is one escalator on the inbound side. People in wheelchairs who want to reach the inbound side just can't do it.

But equally, or even more importantly is service-mindedness. With 200 million baht from our tax, we hope people with disabilities and those in need will be served well once all the facilities are installed.

I mention this because people with heavy belongings, bicycle riders who travel with their bikes, have complained they are not allowed to use the available lifts in some stations which the BTS staff insist are reserved only for the disabled. They just don't have "people in need" in their vocabulary.

Having facilities is one thing, but service-mindedness is another.

Without the latter, the facilities may not prove very useful.


Ploenpote Atthakor is Deputy Editorial Pages Editor, Bangkok Post.

Ploenpote Atthakor

Former editorial page Editor

Ploenpote Atthakor is former editorial pages editor, Bangkok Post.

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