Public transport and disabilities, in addition to insulting injury. Appeal to Minister Enrico Giovannini
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Italic ignorance of the rights of people with disabilities finds maximum expression in public transport, as well as in schools (1,2).
To the damage of incivility is added the insult of the Transport Regulatory Authority (ART) which establishes, in 2021, a minimum compensation of 4 euros for inefficiencies.
We ask the Minister for Transport Enrico Giovannini to seriously strengthen ''the minimum content of passenger rights for handling complaints'. With particular regard to the most fragile people. (3)
Italy - Europe, reduced mobility and theoretical rights
The resolution ART 28/2021 requires the managers of railway and bus transport services, including through stations and digital platforms, to guarantee a system of easy access to complaints by 1.1.22. So that all users can report disservices easily and quickly.
The European legislator moreover, it has affirmed - for over three decades (4,5) - a series of duties for the managers of public transport by rail and road. In particular:
- 'non-discrimination and compulsory assistance for people with disabilities or reduced mobility'(bus regulation, EU regulation 181/11, art. 1.1.c),
- 'the protection of disabled persons and persons with reduced mobility when traveling by train and their assistance'(railway regulation, EC reg. 1371/07, art. 1.1.e).
Disability or reduced mobility
EU regulations mentioned above define as "person with disabilities" or "person with reduced mobility"a person whose mobility is reduced in the use of transport due to a physical disability (sensory or locomotor, permanent or temporary), disability or mental impairment, or for any other cause of disability, or for reasons of age, and whose condition requires adequate attention and adaptation to its specific needs of the service provided to all passengers'.
Disruptions on buses and trains in Italy, complaint rights
The Transport Regulatory Authority (ART), in its resolution, defines the rights of complaint in the following terms:
- passengers / users must be able to submit complaints in English, as well as in Italian,
- complaints must be able to be presented through different channels (site website, Email, registered letter, paper form,
- information on how to find the complaint form must be clear,
- the deadlines established for responding to the complaint are peremptory,
- the user has the right to compensation in cases of non-response or delay.
Complaint, due response
The response to the complaint it must be exhaustive, according to the provisions of the Transport Regulatory Authority. That is, he must report all the reasons for the complaint specified by the user, and specify whether the complaint is accepted or rejected, but also:
- any right to receive compensation or reimbursement,
- the measures implemented to resolve the reported disservice,
- the remedies that the user can activate in the event that the response received is not satisfactory,
- a reference number for any request for clarification on the response received.
Joke indemnities
The indemnity it will be up to the user automatically, where due. And it will be commensurate, please note, not to the costs incurred by the user - who in cases of disability and / or reduced mobility is among other things a fragile consumer, as clarified by the Antitrust (6) - but only to the price of the travel document and limited to the transport service. In a joke measure, no less than:
- 10 %, in the case of a reply provided between the 91st and 120th day of receipt of the complaint,
- 20 %, in the event of a reply not provided within the 120th day of receipt of the complaint.
Compensation, no solution for short distances
No sum it will in any case be due if the amount of the compensation is less than 4 euros. In this way, users of short distances, those who suffer daily and systematic inconveniences, are penalized once again.
The disabled, the elderly and frail people often do not have alternative solutions to public transport due to socio-economic hardship and the unavailability of the personal mobility tools that local authorities have a duty to provide them (7,8).
To these people all that remains is the possibility of a second-instance complaint, which, moreover, is neither easy to access nor promptly resolved.
Accessible trains and railway stations, the Italian mirage
The reg. CE 1371/07 - the so-called railway regulation - established the duty, forrailway undertakings and station managers', to guarantee'compliance with the TSIs [technical specifications for interoperability, ed.] for people with reduced mobility, the accessibility of stations, platforms, rolling stock and other services for people with disabilities or reduced mobility'(Article 19, right to transport).
Trains and stations railway lines in Italy, however, remain a mirage for people with disabilities and / or reduced mobility, as we have seen. (9) 83% of Italian railway stations are not accessible, the remaining 17% still have architectural barriers. (10) Capital cities of provinces such as Varese and Viterbo, tourist resorts such as Senigallia lack accessible stations. And the availability of seats for the disabled is limited to 0,2-0,4% on Frecciarossa trains.
Public transport, disabilities e Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS)
Sustainable Development Goals ( Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs), in the UN Agenda 2030, are accompanied by an action program that envisages, among other things, the development of an inclusive, reliable, accessible and quality infrastructure network for all, with particular attention to the needs of those in situations of vulnerability. (11)
The situation in Italy it is still tragic today, as is the ubiquity of the architectural barriers that the approximately 7 Italian municipalities should have removed through special programming which almost no one has provided, in the 35 years that have passed since the entry into force of law 41 / 1986. (12)
Provisional conclusions
Complaints of users could be a useful source of information, to document at least in part the shortcomings of essential services for sustainable mobility. Resolution ART 28/2021, however, is completely unsuitable for achieving this objective. A real joke for users with disabilities and / or reduced mobility, always resigned to systematic inefficiencies, in the part where joke 'compensation' is expected for the violation of their fundamental human rights.
To Minister Enrico Giovannini we address a request for greater breadth, to eliminate discrimination against disabled and variously fragile people in accessing all public transport services in Italy. With an econometric approach that is well suited to his culture and experience, having regard to the prevalence of disabled people (5,2%) and over-65 (about 22%) in this splendid but still run-down country.
Dario Dongo and Elena Bosani
Note
(1) Dario Dongo. Disability. Metropolitan inaccessibility Rome, yet another complaint to the Prosecutor's Office. Egalité. 24.7.20, https://www.egalite.org/disabili-inaccessibilita-metropolitana-roma-ennesima-denuncia-alla-procura/
(2) Dario Dongo. Genoa, after the Morandi bridge, the architectural barriers. Letter to the mayor and report to the prosecutor. Egalité. 3.8.20, https://www.egalite.org/genova-dopo-il-ponte-le-barriere-architettoniche-appello-al-sindaco-e-denuncia-allamt/
(3) Transport Regulatory Authority (ART), resolution 28/2021.
https://www.autorita-trasporti.it/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/All.A-delibera-n.-28_2021.pdf
(4) EU Reg. 181/2011, cd bus regulation, on the rights of passengers in bus and coach transport. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/IT/TXT/?qid=1618081801276&uri=CELEX%3A32011R0181
(5) EC Reg. 1371/2007, the so-called railway regulation, on the rights and obligations of passengers in rail transport. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/IT/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32007R1371&qid=1618088981837
(6) Dario Dongo. Guarantee on disability aids, the Antitrust affirms the right to immediate assistance. Egalité. 27.7.20, https://www.egalite.org/garanzia-su-ausili-per-la-disabilita-lantitrust-afferma-il-diritto-allassistenza-immediata/
(7) Dario Dongo, Marta Strinati. Disability and poverty, Eurostat report. Egalité. 18.2.21, https://www.egalite.org/disabilita-e-poverta-il-rapporto-eurostat/
(8) Dario Dongo. Personal mobility of the disabled, denied rights and blackouts in Rome. Egalité. 20.10.19, https://www.egalite.org/mobilita-personale-dei-disabili-diritti-negati-e-blackout-a-roma/
(9) Dario Dongo. Trains and disabilities in Italy, stop apartheid! Egalité. 17.8.20, https://www.egalite.org/treni-e-disabilita-in-italia-stop-apartheid/
(10) An example above all is the Roma-Ostiense station, the third station of the capital, where a banal slide on the access platform has been missing for years.
(11) See https://unric.org/it/agenda-2030
(12) Vanessa Ciccarelli. Architectural Barrier Elimination Plan (PEBA), 34 years late in Rome. Reportage. Egalité. 27.3.20, https://www.egalite.org/piano-peba-contro-le-barriere-architettoniche-a-roma-34-anni-di-ritardo-reportage/
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
Attorney at law in Milan and Frankfurt am Main. An expert in family, juvenile and criminal law, she is now enrolled in a university master's degree in food law
