I have twice seen passengers in wheelchairs, from buses that terminate in Gibbons Street, stop, unable to continue up the hill to Lawson Place. On both occasions passers-by have pushed them up the hill. It’s a steep climb, and I don’t know why terminating buses with wheelchair passengers can’t pull up at the bus stop closer to the entrance.
The new access at the southern end of Redfern station is just as high, and the pathway leading to it from Gibbons Street is just as difficult to negotiate. I can’t see anyone in a wheelchair being able to access the disability access to the station from the Gibbons Street bus terminals.
I mentioned steepness of access for the elderly at the consultations long before the build was begun, only to be ignored. It will indeed be ironic if people who are elderly or use wheelchairs have to be helped to access the lifts at Redfern station. Why are the users of Redfern station, the fifth busiest in Sydney, not afforded the same facilities as people at Chatswood, Edgecliff and other less busy stations?
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Kyran Lynch, Alexandria
