An organisation promoting accessible transportation has kick-started a campaign to demand government compensation for the inaccessibility of Bangkok’s Skytrain system for people using wheelchairs.
On 30 January 2017, Teerayut Sukhontawit, President of Transportation for All (T4A), announced the launching of a campaign to collect signatures in support of a lawsuit against the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) and Bangkok Mass Transit System (BTS).
The lawsuit was filed by a group of 98 people with disabilities who travelled to Bangkok Civil Court on 20 January 2017.
The 98 plaintiffs are each demanding 1,000 baht in compensation for each day that has passed since 21 January 2015, which was when the Supreme Court read the landmark verdict that all BTS stations must be accessible to people using wheelchairs.
According to the ruling, the BMA and BTS were supposed to finish installing elevators and other facilities at all BTS stations within one year of the ruling. Despite work going on for months, the ruling has not been fulfilled.
“There are about two million people with disabilities in Thailand. We should get about 100,000 names at least. The more the better. These things are written clearly as laws. Thai people have to create new standards for the country together,” said Teerayut.
The Civil Court will hold a hearing to examine the lawsuit on 30 March 2017.
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