In a reply to a written interpellation by lawmaker-cum-social worker Nick Lei Leong Wong in June, the Transport Bureau (DSAT) said last month that it will install assistance systems for visually impaired passengers in another 100 public buses this year, a measure that will cover over 40 percent of the total number of public buses in operation.
Lei submitted a written interpellation in June about improving the city’s barrier-free environment, the reply of which was released to the media earlier this month.
The bureau noted that as of June this year, over 350 buses have been equipped with an assistance system for visually impaired passengers, covering 15 bus routes.
In addition, replying to the request in Lei’s interpellation of installing more bell buttons inside the cabin or on the back of seats to facilitate the visually impaired, the bureau said that a considerable number of bell buttons have already been installed on buses according to the conditions of the bus cabins, and the bureau has not considered increasing the number of such buttons for the time being.
According to the reply, the government reviews and enhances facilities and equipment of various land border checkpoints every year, and tactile guide paths and barrier-free facilities have been installed at the Macau checkpoint of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge (HZMB), Qingmao checkpoint and Macau-side checkpoint zone of the Hengqin joint checkpoint, and the government plans to provide barrier-free facilities at the Barrier Gate checkpoint as well to facilitate the travelling of visually impaired persons.
However, according to the reply, staff of the passenger transport companies at the HZMB Macau checkpoint said that visually impaired guide path services are not provided currently.
This image downloaded from Google Play last night shows the logo of the Transport Bureau’s (DSAT) mobile app that helps visually impaired people get information about local buses.
