KUALA LUMPUR: Merely allowing persons with disabilities (PwD) to use personal mobility aids (PMA) on roads does not guarantee them access to public infrastructure.
The long-term solution, the community stressed, was for the government to make public infrastructure barrier-free and enhance transit connectivity for them.
Former senator Bathmavathi Krishnan said Malaysia should give greater emphasis on improving first-mile and last-mile transit connectivity for physically impaired people.
The government, she said, should roll out door-to-door transit services, such as vans with hydraulic lifts, to bring physically impaired people to and from public transport stations.
"For people in wheelchairs, getting from home to a public transport station can be an ordeal. They have to cross main roads, navigate through crowds and queues at bus stops, before they can reach their destination.
"Providing them with transit services with wheelchair-accessible vans will give them a safe and hassle-free commuting experience.
"Making pedestrian walkways barrier-free is another way to go. Proper upkeep and maintenance are also required for these facilities.
"In some places, tiles at the walkways are often damaged by tree roots.
"This can impede the movement of people in wheelchairs.
"We should also have special lanes at bus stops that allow PwDs to move through the crowd with no hassle," she told the New Straits Times.
Bathmavathi, who is also Association of Women with Disabilities Malaysia president, urged ministries, state governments, and local authorities to implement more inclusive town-planning regulations.
Concerns about the PwD community's access to public infrastructure resurfaced after the Transport Ministry banned the use of micro-mobility vehicles, including mopeds, personal mobility devices (PMD), such as electric scooters, and PMA, on public roads.
Transport Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong, on April 26, said those flouting the regulation would be fined RM300.
The ban, he said, was under the Road Traffic (Prohibition of Use of Certain Micro-mobility Vehicles) Rules 2021, that came into force on Dec 17, 2021.
However, a day later he said PwDs and those with health problems were allowed to use PMA at pedestrian crossings on public roads.
Damai Disabled Persons Association Malaysia president Murugeswaran Veerasamy said the announcement was only a quick fix that overlooked the safety of PwDs.
"The minister's concern about banning the use of micro-mobility vehicles on major roads should be welcomed.
"These vehicles, moving at a speed of below 30kph, are dangerous to be used alongside other vehicles on main roads.
"But the real question is whether the government has prepared alternatives for PwDs to commute.
"Have local governments designed barrier-free pathways or curb ramps for us to move around?
"We need more inclusive town-planning regulations to resolve this problem," he said.
Murugeswaran said local councils must be given adequate allocations to enforce the Uniform Building By-Laws (UBBL) 1984 and to draw up holistic approaches for the accessibility of PwDs.
"Any revamp or upgrade of pedestrian pathways should follow universal design, as prescribed under Malaysian Standard 1184," he said.