Madam, – A new report by the Citizens Information Board, Getting There: Transport and Access to Social Services, highlights some of the difficulties people, particularly those living in rural areas, have in accessing public transport.
While people who are registered as blind are entitled to a free travel pass, this is of no benefit in an area where there is no public transport, forcing people to either pay for expensive taxi journeys or to rely on friends and family for every journey they take.
With rural transport schemes under threat from budget cuts, people who are blind or vision-impaired living in rural areas are finding it increasingly difficult to access GPs, chiropody services, banking, shopping, day-care services and essential ophthalmic services.
The Health Service Executive provides transport for an older person from their home to a hospital, but in many areas ophthalmic services are not located within a hospital setting and the transport service therefore does not extend to eye care. Last year in Donegal, one NCBI service user spent €150 on a taxi from his home to his community ophthalmologist, but received only a rebate of €25 from the HSE.
The number of blind people in the Republic aged 55 years and over is likely to increase by 170 per cent between 2006 and 2031. The increase in the number of people who are vision-impaired for the same period is estimated at 180 per cent.
Accessible public transport is of vital importance to older people with low vision, enabling them to remain independent. If we do not plan now for the future transport needs of our ageing population, fewer and fewer people will be “getting there”. – Yours, etc,