MEDIA RELEASE: High-Level Meeting on accessible transport in Lecco

Lecco, ITALY, 11 July 2022: As partner in the TRIPS consortium, we are proud to announce the High-Level Meeting on “Moving faster forward towards. Accessible and Inclusive Public Transport for All”, organized in the framework of the pre-conference programme to the Joint International Conference on Digital Inclusion, Assistive Technology & Accessibility (ICCHP-AAATE), held on 11-15 July 2022 in beautiful Lecco, Italy.

Freedom of movement is a universal human right and a prerequisite for social and economic participation and inclusion – no matter if you are a person with or without a disability, a senior citizen or have any access need. The challenge for today’s transport systems is to cater to all users, regardless of their physical or financial means, to foster equal access despite the ecological and economic crisis, as well as to respond to and participate in the digital transformation of society.

During the High-Level Meeting on 12 July representatives of different European associations and policy makers will discuss approaches to speed up the conception and implementation of smart, green and accessible transportation for all. It will be an opportunity to explain the TRIPS co-design approach, under which public transport users with disabilities and public transport providers developed together new design concepts to remove barriers and make public transport more accessible, and discuss practical implications of these concepts currently being trialed in seven European pilot cities.

“We are looking forward to discussing the findings and output from our 3-year TRIPS project with a colourful expert panel including representatives from the European Commission, UTIP, AAATE, GAATES, Enable Ireland and the City of Milano”, said Evert-Jan Hoogerwerf, Secretary General of AAATE.

The High-Level Meeting will be concluded with the signing of the Lecco Declaration, a declaration of key principles that organisations can build on to improve their own implementation of accessibility and support the realization of accessible public transport.

Join us: https://aaate.net/moving-faster-forward-towards-accessible-and-inclusive-public-transport-for-all/

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About the TRIPS project:
TRIPS stands for “TRansport Innovation for disabled People needs Satisfaction”. The project aims at making public transport more accessible for persons with disabilities, elderly voyagers and really everyone. The consortium brings together pan- European networks of users (ENIL), transport organisations (UITP), assistive technology experts (AAATE) and municipalities to engage in open innovation on mobility. They are supported by design methodology experts (TUE), systems integration experts (TB) and privacy experts (TRI). Building on this expertise, TRIPS will deliver and deploy a Co-design- for-All methodology in 7 pilot cities – Lisbon, Zagreb, Bologna, Cagliari, Brussels, Sofia, Stockholm. More information: https://trips-project.eu/

Beyond the practical work on the ground, the TRIPS project consortium also carried out two large-scale user surveys with the participation of over 500 people with disabilities from across Europe. This resulted in a first list of policy recommendations for making public transport more accessible – in the short, middle and long term. Link to the White Paper with the policy recommendations: https://trips-project.eu/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/D2.1-TRIPS-White-Paper.pdf