Four BTS stations receive much-needed lifts
Help for disabled, elderly arrives at last
Lifts for disabled and elderly commuters were officially launched yesterday at four BTS Skytrain stations by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA).
City Hall governor Aswin Kwanmuang said yesterday that three lifts each were installed at Ratchadamri, Phrom Phong and Thong Lor skytrain stations while another two were also launched at On Nut station.
The four stations are among 19 stations which are scheduled to be installed with lifts.
The BMA is in the process of constructing 45 other lifts at the rest 15 stations. Ramps and other disabled-friendly facilities will also be installed at ground-level to ticket booths and from ticket booths to platforms.
Of the 15 stations, construction of the lifts at Taksin station had to first wait for the Rural Roads Department’s decision on expansion of skytrain tracks, Pol Gen Aswin said.
The lift installation was conducted in compliance with a 2015 Supreme Administrative Court ruling which instructed the BMA to provide lifts at all Skytrain stations so disabled and elderly commuters could easily access public transportation.
The installation also aimed to enhance the quality of Skytrain stations to be on par with international standards, Pol Gen Aswin said.
He said that City Hall would expedite the construction work on the remaining stations, adding that more than 90% of the work was expected to be completed by August.
In January, almost 100 disabled people fed up with delays in installing the lifts petitioned the Civil Court to pressure the BMA into taking immediate action.
They were also looking to sue City Hall for damages, demanding the city pay them millions of baht in compensation because city officials failed to finish installing lifts at all Skytrain stations.
The group backed up their complaint with the Supreme Administrative Court ruling which ordered City Hall to finish installing the lifts within a year of the ruling being handed down, or by Jan 21 last year.
Two years have passed since the ruling was made and lifts are still missing from many Skytrain stations. The compensation they are demanding is in the amount of 361,000 baht per person, according to their petition.
Suthon Anakul, deputy director of the BMA’s Traffic Policy and Transport Department, said the agency has ordered contractors overseeing the lift installation to expedite their work.
The BTS operator has allowed contractors to install lifts at its stations around the clock after the installation was earlier only allowed to be conducted after operational hours. The previous delay was also as a result of the stations’ designs which did not support new facilities.
Contractors also had to avoid, or remove, existing public utilities underground to make way for the lifts, Mr Suthon added.
Meanwhile, Manit Inthapim, chairman of Transport for All, expressed his thanks to the City Hall governor who sped up the installation, saying disabled-friendly facilities would provide equality for people from all walks of life to use public transport.
Pakkard Posee, a wheelchair-bound commuter, said she was delighted about the lift installation at the first four Skytrain stations as the facility would benefit not only the disabled but the elderly as well.