State of public transport services to Ghana's disability population: Lessons from public transport operators in the Accra Metropolitan Assembly

Towards inclusive transport: The responsiveness of intercity bus services to the needs of people with disabilities in Tamale, Ghana

“…The identified negative attitudes towards visually impaired passengers and those who have difficulty walking or climbing stairs are consistent with previous studies that attribute such negative attitudes to drivers' limited knowledge and skills in providing accessible transportation services to PWDs (Abraham et al, 2021;Bezyak et al, 2017;Odame et al, 2023;Thembelihle, 2020;Tillmann et al, 2013). Odame et al (2023) and Abraham et al (2021) have explicitly stated that most transport operators in Accra and Cape Coast Ghana are unaware of the transport regulations in the Disability Act and frequently engage in behaviours that violate these rules. As a result, there is a negative societal perception of PWDs, culminating in a low social image even among PWDs, with the potential to exclude disabled people from accessing transportation services due to insecurity, fear and a sense of rejection by society.…”

“…Other operators explained that they do not reserve seats because if they do, the other passengers or the PWDs will claim they are being discriminated against. The self-adopted strategies used by private transport operators in allocating seats to PWDs are a common occurrence in Ghanaian cities (Odame et al, 2020(Odame et al, , 2023 and point to a weakness in the Disability Act, which fails specify where priority seats for PWDs be placed in buses. Operators must reserve seats closer to the entrance/exit and to the driver so that PWDs can use them when travelling to ease their mobility challenges and facilitate communication with the driver (Mitchell & Rickert, 2010).…”

“…As previously stated, government provision and supervision of public bus transport services has been limited, with informal and private transport companies providing up to 80% of intra and intercity services. This has negatively affected the quality of services provided to people with disabilities, as most private transportation operators lag in providing barrier‐free transportation to commuters with disabilities (Odame et al., 2023; Owusu‐Ansah et al., 2019).…”

“…Whilst PWDs have the right to accessible transport services, whether intra or intercity, it is easy to overlook PWDs' intercity travel needs due to the relatively small number of PWDs who embark on such trips. Current research on the responsiveness of Ghana's public transportation systems to PWDs focuses on intracity travel (Abraham et al, 2021;Odame et al, 2020Odame et al, , 2023Owusu-Ansah et al, 2019) but with little attention to intercity travel. However, empirical research evidence is required for policy attention and appropriate actions to be given to this type of travel.…”

“…As such, this calls for the transport system to be planned and developed to accommodate the particular requirements of PWDs. Whilst the travel demands of PWDs whilst accessing public transport services have been studied in Ghana (Abraham et al, 2021;Odame et al, 2020Odame et al, , 2023Owusu-Ansah et al, 2019), these previous studies covered intracity trips and were limited to specific contexts (university campuses and larger cities in Ghana's southern region) and emphasised the perspectives of drivers/transport operators (Abraham et al, 2021;Odame et al, 2023). However, the intercity travel realities of people with disabilities in northern Ghana have not been studied scientifically.…”