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Disabled train passengers left disconnected in age of digital smart card use

11 Comments

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11 Comments
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Why aren't their IC cards already equipped with a discount, like children's IC cards when they go through the turnstiles?

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Definitely not wheel chair friendly in Japan. Often you get in, but then have to go to a counter to get your card fixed to get out and go a round about way to find a smooth path to an elevator.

Disabled or the caretaker don't pay road tax as well but must go to a manned booth at a toll stop and show their handicapped card. Hassle.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Fake disability certificates would allow scams for sure if there swipe cars.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

My heart is bleeding for JR - not

2 ( +3 / -1 )

I have sympathy for the disabled and understand the smart ticket gate problem, but that does not mean they are completely justified in everything they say.

Time wasted trying to find the elevator in an unfamiliar station? Wouldn't that be a one-time thing only? Is it the station's fault if I go out of the wrong exit for where I'm going?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Under the current system, staff can verify eligibility before giving the discount. With smart cards, anyone can get a hold of a reduced fair card and use it as their own since there's no verification upon use. JR could lose a lot of money to such scams.

1 ( +6 / -5 )

I think the translation should be "physically challenged". Get with it, Kyodo.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Disabled Access, has gotten a whole lot better, over recent years, within Tokyo for Disabled people - however there's still a vast amount of room for improvement.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Yeah sure this is the biggest challenge to the disabled.

Today's all digital, all online has made the lives of many disabled worse than the bad old days.

Many of the severely disabled, the visually disabled, cannot work a PC with keyword even less a smartphone.

But more and more in person or even an actual person on the other end of a phone are no longer available, what they get is a message telling them to go to xyz website.

This is not just a Japan thing actually Japan can be far better than most western countries because it moves so slowly and is still highly dependent on doing so much in person at city offices, etc...

But what was supposed to help many with disabilities are often designed by people with no concept of what it is like to have a certain disability.

My favourite example is the settings up of direction help that would automatically tell the visually impaired where they are and tell them which direction they need to go based on these locations sensors placed around the city.

Someone seemed to have forgotten that people that cannot see also cannot use a smartphone with touchscreen or even download the app.so they usually don't own a smartphone but an old flip phone with push buttons.

It is amazing how disconnected some are.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

This article is typical liberal bs.

Just because something has improved for one group does not mean another group has been treated unfairly. Travel time has sped up for most people. Travel time has not slowed down for the people mentioned in the article. It has not changed. There is a huge difference.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

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