Light rail fail: Blind man says he was left terrified after riding on new $2.9billion tram network because it has no stop announcements and failed to halt even though he pressed an emergency button FIVE TIMES
- Graeme Innes was left stranded after boarding a tram near Wynyard on Monday
- The 64-year-old blind man said he couldn’t hear stop announcements on board
- He said he pressed two emergency buttons five times but received no assistance
- Mr Innes will consider making a discrimination complaint against Transport NSW
Blind man Graeme Innes (pictured) said he was left terrified on a tram in Sydney on Monday afternoon
A blind man was left terrified while riding on one of Sydney’s new trams because there were no announcements and it failed to stop – even after he pressed an emergency button.
Former Australian disability discrimination commissioner Graeme Innes said he was left stranded after boarding a tram near Wynyard station in the central city on Monday afternoon.
The 64-year-old said he was considering making a discrimination complaint after he couldn’t hear any stop information and pressed two different emergency buttons five times and received no assistance.
‘I just had a frightening experience on light rail car 1011 which terminated at Central at 2:15,’ he tweeted.
‘There were no audible announcements of the stops. I pressed two different emergency buttons five times and received no response.
‘I reported the issue to a staff member on the platform… Depending on the response I received I will decide if I am alleging discrimination complaint.
Mr Innes said he couldn’t hear any stop announcements and pressed two different emergency buttons five times and received no assistance (stock image)
‘On the second trim there are no stop warning announcements, so I have to stand at the door waiting for the stop to be an announced when we arrive. Otherwise, I will not have time to get off. This is not good enough.’
Mr Innes has legal history with Sydney’s transport network, winning $10,000 in damages in 2013 after calling for RailCorp to improve their station announcements.
Mr Innes said he would consider making a discrimination complaint after his harrowing experience
RailCorp spent $420,000 in legal fees fighting the case against him.
‘I’m appalled that any corporation running public transport would think that it is appropriate to spend money of that size fighting a person with a disability rather than fixing the problem,’ Mr Innes said, as reported by Sydney Morning Herald.
Light Rail Chief Operations Officer Brian Brennan apologised to Mr Innes in a statement given to Daily Mail Australia.
‘We sincerely apologise for Mr Innes’ experience travelling on the Sydney Light Rail network yesterday,’ he said.
‘The network has been designed to be comfortable, safe and accessible for all customers. Each vehicle is fitted with systems to enable automated audio announcements at each stop in addition to help points, regrettably in this instance the system did not function properly.
‘The issue has been identified and technicians are working closely with Transdev and its partners to repair this fault and continuing to monitor the performance of the automated announcement system across the network.
Light Rail Chief Operations Officer Brian Brennan said all vehicles are fitted with systems to enable automated audio announcements at each stop
‘Employees will proactively make announcements until I am confident the issue has been resolved.
‘We will engage with Mr Innes directly later today to provide an update of our investigation and sincerely apologise for his experience. We will continue to work with Mr Innes and other customer groups to ensure that our services are accessible for all.’
Sydney’s light rail system opened in December, with the final cost of the project blowing out to $2.96billion, which was $1.3billion more than the opening cost.
The network has been plagued by several breaking down trams, causing traffic nightmares for commuters.
Travellers have complained at how slow the trams are, moving at an average speed of just 11km/h, which is twice as slow as the regular bus system and slightly higher than the average person’s jogging pace.