Mobility for all

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) recently announced it would adopt the Accessible Travel Policy (ATP) for all rail systems, marking the pivot toward mobility for everyone especially commuting senior citizens, persons with disabilities (PWDs) and pregnant women.

- JOE ZALDARRIAGA

Under Department Order 2025-024, railway operators must train frontline staff on disability awareness and gender sensitivity, provide wheelchair boarding assistance and help points, make audio/visual announcements clearer and set up feedback channels and regular accessibility audits. These standards will be integrated into projects like the North-South Commuter Railway (NSCR) and the Metro Manila Subway (MMSP), ensuring that accessibility will not become a mere afterthought but a design requirement from day one.

This comes as a very welcome and pleasant development as we start the new year. For years, many of us, especially seniors, have watched our public transportation system evolve with equal parts hope and exasperation. Those of us who remember when commuting was simpler can’t help but feel that what used to be a manageable routine has now become an exhausting, if not degrading, ordeal.

Older Filipinos have long dealt with a transport system that practically tells them to stay home. Broken elevators, steep stairs, faint announcements and messy curbside drop-offs turn simple trips into unsafe and exhausting challenges. Even getting to the palorn can mean real pain. For someone with mobility challenges, these gaps do not just create inconvenience — they create barriers.

This is why the Accessible Travel Policy is a desperately needed shift in priorities. It focuses on operations and maintenance — the unglamorous, everyday details that actually shape a commuter’s experience.