Legislation passed 20 years ago by the federal government (Disability Standards for Accessible Public Transport) called for all stations and stops to be fully compliant with accessibility standards by the end of last year.

But that target – which covers services like access paths, ramps, toilets and tactile tiling — hasn't been met.

"Across the country, we would be at best 50 per cent compliance to those standards," said Susie Pascoe, CEO of Sterling Infrastructure — a company that delivers services across Australia's rail network and assesses the accessibility of stations and walkways around trains.

In NSW, a third of train and ferry stations aren't independently accessible, while that figure is around 40 per cent for Queensland Rail and Western Australia's train stations. In Victoria, 73 per cent of tram stops don't meet the accessibility standards.

The federal government is working on reforms to the 2002 legislation, set to be released later this year.
A spokesperson for federal Infrastructure Minister, Catherine King, said the government was "fully committed to further removing discrimination for people with disability".

"The most recent review … in 2021, found that there have been major improvements and investment in accessible public transport," the spokesperson said.

Ms Pascoe works with operators to achieve the targets. She said the issue with meeting the requirements came down to cost. "It is unrealistic to expect that every station across the country can be made fully compliant in every part. The cost of doing so is unachievable," she said. "[It's] really important to understand … what the prioritisation looks like. What does good look like, not what does perfect look like."

Article sourced from ABC