Assessment of Adjusting the Public Transport in Poland to the Needs of Handicapped Persons at the Threshold of Accession to the European Union

Abstract

The aim this paper is the analysis and appraisal of the actions realized in Poland to the handicapped persons in the transport sector. The author is interested in the problem of overcoming the transport barriers by the handicapped persons since the 1980s. At the last conference TRANSED 2001 in Warsaw, the author presented the most important actions which have been undertaken in Poland in the years 1980-2000. For the past 20 years the handicapped persons have been in Poland a subject to various recommendations and directives which execution does not run in a satisfactory way. In spite that legal regulations including the Constitution concerning the handicapped persons have been based on the western standards, but , their execution in practice differs from those patterns. The aim of the author is to balance the solutions introduced in the transport practice which facilitate movement of the handicapped persons. The main ground of the analysis there are actions in the rail and car transport. The author will present solutions of the railway, which are necessary and possible to execute the recommendations of the European Union. Poland will be the member state of the European Union already in 2004, so will have to adopt and adjust its legal system to the requirements of the Union. In the paper the author has discussed the most important EU regulations in this field, among others Council Recommendation No 98/376/EW of 4 June 1998 on a parking card for people with disabilities. The author describes and assesses specific Polish solutions concerning the parking card (its specimen and the parking fee). The paper presents the latest demographic forecast for Poland which signals the deepening of the process of ageing the society and connected with it need for adjusting the public transport for the elderly and handicapped persons.

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