MANILA – The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) will install a vertical lift at the EDSA-Philam bus carousel station after drawing severe criticisms over a newly installed ramp that was deemed too steep for persons with disabilities (PWDs) using wheelchairs.
MMDA Acting Chair Romando Artes said the lift and other improvement works for the station, located near the corner of Quezon Avenue, would be at no cost to the government.
He said the contractor of the project would shoulder the cost of the overall improvement works, which is expected to take one to two months.
“Ito (vertical lift), diretso na from the foot bridge, diretso na sa platform. So more likely ito iyong atin ilalagay doon. Ganoon din sasakay iyong wheelchair dito sa elevator at ibaba na diretso iyong naka-wheelchair sa platform ng bus station (There will be a direct access from the footbridge to the platform.
Most likely that is what we will put up there. The wheelchair will ride the elevator and the person can directly reach the bus platform),” he said during the Saturday News Forum in Quezon City, while showing a photo of the project.
In the meantime, the MMDA would close access to the ramp.
“Isasara muna po namin habang ginagawa in which case, maghahagdan muna po ang ating mga kababayan (We will close it temporarily while it is being done, in which case, the public will use the regular stairs for the meantime),” he said.
The MMDA earlier explained that the steep angle of the ramp was due to the height restrictions of the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 since the elevator cannot be made level with the footbridge.
It admitted that it was not a perfect design for those on a wheelchair but would have been helpful to senior citizens, the pregnant and other PWDs who are unable to use regular stairs.
“[N]oon pong kinu-consider kasi ito, noong tiningnan namin, sa amin kasing observation wala halos gumagamit ng bus carousel na naka-wheelchair. Pero iyon nga po, hindi rin naplano nang ganoon kabilis na na-isip kaagad na lagyan ng wheelchair access ito (When we were first considering this, we observed that wheelchair users don’t often use the bus carousel. We weren’t able to immediately think of putting a wheelchair access here),” Artes said.
“Pero buti na lang na-criticize din po kami kaya napag-isipan naman po kung paano i-a-address iyong isyu (It was a good thing we received criticism and we were able to think of a way on how to address the issue),” he added. (PNA)
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