残疾人可免费乘坐公车

To better implement the free bus ride policy, bus companies in Beijing have made many preparations. For example, Beijing Public Transport Holdings Limited Company has modified some of its buses to accommodate physically disabled passengers. Li Lifeng, the company's publicity department director, says each modified bus has three seats for disabled passengers.

"Currently, we have 4,462 buses equipped with facilities for disabled persons. These days, we've made sure that all these facilities work well. For example, we have been maintaining the wheelchair ramps on the buses, the safety belts to hold the wheelchairs in place on the buses, and LED screens."

Li says most of his company's buses do not require disabled passengers to step on, making it much easier for them to board and get off.

The operational team from the No. 1 bus line of the Beijing Public Transport Company has gone a step further. Zhou Yumei, head of the team, explains.

"We have organized training for our drivers and conductors to provide better service to disabled passengers. The training included many skills such as sign language and how to better read the minds of disabled persons."

Chen Ligong, a disabled person who uses a wheelchair, says he will consider taking the bus more often because of the changes in public transportation.

"When I took buses at a younger age with my crutches, I remember it was very hard, because it was difficult to get on the bus. Therefore, I tried not to take buses since then. But now after the buses are modified, I won't be afraid of traveling by bus."

While the new policy and the modification of buses encourage disabled persons to use public transportation, some experts on disabled persons' rights say more could be done.

Yang Jia is the visually impaired vice chair of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

"For persons with disabilities, they have different disabilities. Each of them has special need. So it is about technology, accessibility, as well as visibility. Now we are on the bus, but when we wait for the bus, how can we tell which is which, because there are so many buses. So we need to have some devices, which can tell you which bus is coming. In Guangzhou, they already have these special devices that are no bigger than the mobile phone in your hands. They can tell you which bus is coming, so you won't get on the wrong bus."

According to the measures of China's Law on the Protection of Disabled Persons, the Beijing municipal government must make efforts to improve various aspects of disabled persons' lives.

For instance, the measures speculates that state-owned organizations, public organizations and state-owned enterprises in Beijing are expected to set aside more than 1.7 percent of their jobs for disabled persons. Public parking lots are required to reserve 2 percent of their parking spaces for the disabled.

Ding Xiangyang, Beijing's vice mayor, says the local government pays several billions of yuan each year to help disabled persons in the city, including constructing and maintaining disability friendly facilities in public places and private residences and providing millions of disabled persons with social security.

For CRI, I am Zhang Wan.