Transport-related Social Exclusion Among Persons With Disability in the Accra Metropolitan Area

Abstract

Access to public transport is essential as it connects people to various life enhancing opportunities but not everyone in the general population enjoys the same level of ease when engaging transport services. Persons with disability (PWDs) who form about 15% of the world�s population making them the world largest minority group are among those who face severe accessibility challenges. Unfortunately, measure of the ease in using transport services have been dominated by objective accessibility approaches which largely project the travel needs of the general population. This study uses a subjective accessibility approach, which seeks to amplify the voices of PWDs and ascertain the influence of both cultural and behavioural dimensions to transport exclusion, an area that the objective measures have ignored. A sample of 50 PWDs, 10 transport operators and 4 key stakeholders were reached through convenient, snow balling and purposive sampling. Research instruments employed include an interview schedule and an auditing scheme. Data from the interviews were transcribed, edited and coded using MaxQDA. Results from the study reveals that low fares attract PWDs to trotro services but the conditions of trotro buses and behaviour of operators presented a major obstacle to PWDs. A major strategy to escape these challenges is the reliance on Uber but higher fares limit PWDs� ability to use Uber service frequently. Transport operators acknowledged the noncompliance of their vehicles to the dictates of provisions in Ghana�s disability Act but were hesitant to modify their services given the higher cost associated with this modification. Finally, stakeholders did not find PWD�s transport concerns critical to their survival hence the low attention given to this issue.E