IRU and EDF publish recommendations to taxi drivers to improve accessibility to people with disabilities and reduced mobility.

Brussels - The International Road Transport Union (IRU) and the European Disability Forum (EDF) have joined forces to develop and disseminate an Accessibility Checklist with recommendations to help taxi drivers improve the quality of the services they provide to customers with disabilities and reduced mobility.

Stig Langvad, EDF executive member and the chairman of the EDF transport expert group, welcomed this fruitful collaboration with IRU: “Awareness-raising of transport personnel is an important means for improving the travel possibilities for persons with disabilities and it is also the most cost-efficient way of doing so. In order to guarantee the equal right to transport for persons with disabilities, and their increased possibilities for participation and social inclusion, EDF also calls for future developments of taxi services to ensure they become increasingly accessible. In Europe, taxi services are the most important means for ensuring spontaneous transport for many persons with disabilities or reduced mobility.”

Based on the existing detailed voluntary IRU Guidelines, the checklist contains recommendations for taxi drivers offering services to people who are blind or partially sighted, including customers with assistance dogs, are hard of hearing or have speech impairments, have mobility impairments, including customers using wheelchairs or have hidden disabilities.

Hubert Andela, President of the IRU Group “Taxis and Hire Cars with Driver” concluded, “The taxi industry is willing to shoulder its responsibilities towards all its customers, including by improving its services to those with disabilities and reduced mobility. Such developments also provide a good opportunity for the taxi industry to demonstrate to policy makers that we have all the credentials to  be fully recognised as an integral part of the public mobility chain, and that taxis should be given due consideration in the upcoming White Paper on the future of the EU Transport Policy in the period 2010-2020.”

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    * Download the Taxi Accessibility checklist
    * Read more on IRU taxi accessibility policy

Press contacts:

IRU, Juliette Ebe©le© | +41 22 918 27 07 | Â | press@iru.org

EDF : Aure©lien Dayde | + 32 498 56 61 54 | aurelien.dayde@edf-feph.org