Call for good practices: ‘Good Practice in Accessible Transport for Persons with Reduced Mobility – Flanders in Europe’, 13 October 2014
The Flemish Expert Center on Accessibility Enter aims to enhance mobility options for persons with reduced mobility by improving accessibility of transport options in Flanders. The Flemish Government is taking steps to establish a more accessible, complementary and integrated Flemish transport system covering the whole region, for both accessible public transport as well as adapted door-to-door transport. The introduction of Mobility Centers for Adapted Transport to help attain this goal is currently being studied.
The conference will serve a double purpose. Enter will present the current situation of accessible mobility in Flanders. Enter would also like to broaden its perspective by evaluating where the region situates itself in relation to European benchmarks by taking a closer look at existing initiatives. This way mutual inspiration in good practice at home and abroad can be found.
The examples of good practice in the conference will be grouped by four main themes:
- Information services: Enter is looking for good practice in user-tailored information about accessible and adapted door-to-door transport options and new ways of offering up information such as innovative apps and web applications specifically for persons with reduced mobility.
- Accessible Public Transport (including stops/stations): This theme groups all innovating initiatives for a better accessibility of public transport, going from accessible buses and trains over accessible stops and stations to integral and inclusive policies and actions.
- Operational and strategic transport management: Transport management in this area concerns initiatives at a strategic level to optimize the integration of different transport modes in order to tackle the lack of transport solutions for persons with reduced mobility. The operational level is about an efficient organization and cooperation between different transport providers for a better user service. Which experiences on a practical level with an integrated approach for public and adapted door-to-door transport and/or cooperation between professional and volunteer transport services exist in other countries?
- Mobility and Public Welfare and Healthcare collaboration: The vision on welfare and healthcare is evolving: the socialization of healthcare, the choice for inclusion, the sharp increase in (in-home) care needs... The availability of accessible transport is a key element in appropriate answers to rising requests. More than ever the policy domains of Mobility and Public Welfare and Health have to join hands. We need inspiring examples of efficient approaches in this area, such as the organization of group transport to care institutions, the integration of public transport etc.
Have you got examples of good practice at home and abroad belonging to these themes? Do you know an interesting contact or are you yourself an expert in one of these domains and thus a potential speaker for our conference?
Enter has set up a submission form for good practices under the following link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CGP_AT
An internal conference committee will review all submissions and will make a selection of suitable topics and speakers.
Contact: Liesbeth Op de Beeck, project worker Liesbeth.opdebeeck@entervzw.be
For more information on Enter visit: www.entervzw.be.