Acessibilidade inclusiva em interfaces de transportes

The overarching goal of AllAboard is to promote PT through service accessibility to all, creating an inclusive service. AllAboard focusses on users with special mobility needs, including people with temporary or permanent physical impairments (e.g., using a wheelchair or crutches), elderly people with reduced physical capabilities, and people with baby strollers, luggage, shopping trolleys, or similar. Visual or cognitive impairments are not under AllAboard’s scope, as the development and testing of accessibility solutions for these groups requires different and specific approaches [14,15,16]. Despite focusing on users with physical mobility constraints, AllAbroad addresses the perceived accessibility that is related to both physical and non-physical barriers at transport hubs. A broad view of accessibility barriers related to all PT service components (e.g., purchasing/validating a ticket, finding travel information and boarding platform, etc.) is crucial to tackle current societal changes (e.g., ageing population, migration, digitalization) and prevent social exclusion. Consequently, the following specific objectives are defined: O1. Identify the population groups with special mobility needs. O2. Identify physical and non-physical barriers impacting the accessibility to PT of those groups. O3. Map and hierarchize the requirements to mitigate or eliminate the negative impacts of those barriers and maximize the positive impacts of the solutions. O4. Develop simulation tools and protocols to support service prototyping considering solutions that comply with the defined requirements. O5. Develop a structured framework, composed of an accessibility assessment tool and guidelines to assist PT service providers in improving service accessibility and overall experience at transport hubs. These objectives feed each other in a sequential way. First, identifying the target groups (O1) and the physical and non-physical barriers (O2) will allow to develop customized accessibility solutions through co-design processes focused on the needs of each group (O3). Then, the most relevant solutions will be tested and validated in simulated environment using the tools and protocols from O4. Finally, the AllAboard accessibility assessment tool and guidelines will consolidate the project outcomes considering the passengers’ profiles, their needs, and validated accessibility solutions. Besides aligning with UN’s SDG (see 4.3.3), AllAboard aligns with the objectives outlined by the European Commission (EC) to support the creation of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMP) to face increasing urbanization [17] and ensure liveable, inclusive and safe cities for all. According to the EC [18], a SUMP is a “strategic plan designed to satisfy the mobility needs of people and businesses in cities and their surroundings for a better quality of life. It builds on existing planning practices and takes due consideration of integration, participation, and evaluation principles.” The SUMP approach represents a shift in transport planning activities towards promoting people-centric mobility, having as primary objective “accessibility and quality of life, including social equity, health and environmental quality, and economic viability” [19]. This includes shifting from an infrastructure-based approach to a combination of infrastructure, market, regulation, information, and promotion, thus requiring an interdisciplinary perspective such as the one proposed in this project.