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Metro de Medellin Ligth Rail Handicapped Disabled Experience - Updated with Photos March 11, 2008

Using a three wheel electric scooter and my wife walking. Starting point: Sheraton Four Point in El Poblado.
Due to number of family we had already hired private transportation but wanted to to investigate access of the Metro de Medellin rail system. Public transportation is our always our irst choice when travelling. We vistied the following stations:

Poblado Avenue
Parque Berrio

Following is a log of our trip to and from Paraque Barrio which is a good place to buy tourist items and see Parque Berrio Plaza.
Walked to the nearest train station: Aguacatala. Fred couldn’t get there because there were no sidewalks accessible and there was a lot of construction work. Then we decided to try the other side of the el Poblado Avenue and walked all the way to Calle 10, made a left turn there and walked to the train station named el Poblado.

Once we got there we rode the train to the station called Parque Berrio. There we had lunch (soup, pollo sudado, salad and rice with fruit juice) inside the passage Veracruz in the basement they have a little restaurant. The food was great and the prices were $4,000 Colombian pesos, each lunch). We walked around and took the train back to el Poblado. Got off and walked to the hotel but we used a different avenue: Las Vegas. This was not a good idea because the access basically became non-existant..

Once to El Poblado station, used the nice rail lift to get up to the cross walk over to the station.
Photo of us walking east on el Poblad Ave towards Calle 10 (about where the church up ahead is). Sidewalks/cross walks all nicely redone including curb cut outs. Very nice.

I didn't get a photo of Calle 10 going south towards the station because after the Exito I had to leave the sidewalk and use the street. But here is the nice little plaza/park at el Poblado Ave and Calle 10.
el Paboloado Ave. Using the rail lift up to the paltform. I was able to do all operations very easily all on my own. An attendant can walk along side for those that require help with the controls.

Then used another rail lift down onto the platform.
The the distance from the platform into the train (to me, not actually measured) appeared six to seven inches from the train. I have a somewhat powerful scooter but with only ten inch circumfance wheels so I managed to get stuck between the train and the platform. No fear many Paisa's quickly grabbed my scooter and hauled me in.

There are also Metro de Medellin police on each platform that you could ask for assitance. We shoulld have asked someone at the station as they may well have had ways to accomodate my entry.
The following photo is from the top of the stair lift headed to do some sightseeing in Paraqu Berrio.

Oh the return trip while we managed to do it I only recommend for the adventurous. We took Las Vegas and tried to go in the back way. We are not familiar with Medellin and should have taken the same path back because there we at least knew what to expect. But it was an adventure.
We vistied Laurels, because the barrio is flat access was generally easier. It looked like I could easily travel from about anywhere in Laurels to the station. From there we can check out all the other metro station stops including he cable stops. Metro do Medelllin was great.
Train Platform, all neat and tidy

By azunoman on Mar 6, 2008, 15:44 in Travel tips.

adrimm says on Mar 6, 2008, 17:33:

Interesting that the BRT system will be more accessible than the metro was (and probably not much slower).

With the number of people who are going to be losing mobility in North America (ie. baby boomers), in the next couple of decades, you'd think that they'd be building Colombian/Brazililan inspired metro-bus/transmilenio/calimio/megabus-type transit systems all over the place.

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mranderson says on Mar 6, 2008, 18:12:

I've seen guys in wheel chairs cross the gap between the platform and train without any problems and without help from the other paisas. Maybe they were just good at it or had some strong arms. They have to wheelie over the gap. Is it really 6 to 7 inches?? I thought it was only like 4 but I guess I never really pay attention.

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tejasmarcos says on Mar 6, 2008, 18:17:

medellin would be a nightmare in a wheelchair. it freaks me out all the time trying to walk around this city. they really need to put in more infrastructure for pedestrians period, including the pedestrian bridges to get you over the traffic filled roads.

azuno - seattle had some awesome pedestrian bridges as well as infrastucture for wheelchairs. some of the best i have ever seen.

trying to walk a straight line on sour mash and cheap wine...

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Gator says on Mar 6, 2008, 18:20:

"more infrastructure for pedestrians period"

They have, don't you see the little shrines and holy water stations just before you start to cross?

"Credidi pretio parvo emere et magno vendere tibi in animo fuisse!" .

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DodgerDogs says on Mar 6, 2008, 18:25:

Colombia is not handicap friendly . Most towns have nothing for handicap people.
Colombia is a great country but spends more on statues and such than on access for
people with disabilty's .
Try Santa Marta or Barranquillia's zona central they will run over a wheelcahir bound person.

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.Martin Luther King:

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azunoman says on Mar 7, 2008, 12:05:

mranderson--"I thought it was only like 4 but I guess I never really pay attention.

You could be right, how about a quick measure next to you are out and I can change my post. It probably was shorter but to me it probably just looked like a bigger gap. Wheel chairs have much larger circumference tires than my scooter. I don't have the upper body strength to use one tile grout stops me...:)

et.all...Can someone post the address of the people in charge of the metro? I would like to write them a thank you letter as well as to point out the gap. I only know about the German's involvement after I paid a visit to the Berlin Bar in Zona Rosa. My wife can compose in Spanish for me. I love my chica!

DodgerDogs...."Colombia is not handicap friendly" while this is true I know that the social inequality has been recognized and more and more awareness of this issue is happening. The costs of infrastructure change is huge but awareness is the first step.

adrimm...Once a public bus system is running in Medellin (I hear tell they are rushing it) it will surely hook up with the metro. Getting to the bus stop may be impossible however. What they could do is make sure that the main streets going to the metro have curb cutouts. That would give the wheelchair user a fighting chance.

I wanted to travel the metro and find out which ones if not all are in fact accessible not just the new infrastructure for the metro but the area surrounding it. Because of the difficulty of my first mis-adventure we only used it that one time.

I did however travel all over Laurels and this was by far one of the more accessible area's of town which I think is some due to the fact its geographically flatter than many parts of Medellin. I was sure that I could from about anywhere in Laurels get to the metro without denting anyones car. :) Plus it's close to the stadium, Viva Nacional!...We will stay in Laurels on our next trip.

Ready, Fire, Aim

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mranderson says on Mar 7, 2008, 14:28:

I was on the metro today but didn't have my trusty tape measure. It looks like it's about 5 or 6 inches. I didn't realize you were on a scooter...That sounds much harder. I've honestly never seen a scooter in medellin. Most handicapped can't afford one I'm guessing.

Anyway, there's always police down on the platform so just ask them for assitance before the train comes. And then figure out how to get off.

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Mr. Hollywood says on Mar 7, 2008, 15:30:

Azunoman, I'm so interested in hearing the experience of someone handicapped in Colombia. It's one of the things that has always appalled me about Bogota. There appears to be ZERO attention paid to making the city accessible to people in wheelchairs, And drivers show no respect for handicapped folks crossing streets, either.

I think it's pretty shameful that with so many people in Colombia missing legs or otherwise disabled by the war, landmines, etc, so little attention is paid to accommodating those people.

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azunoman says on Mar 8, 2008, 10:07:

mranderson....The distance in San Fran. Ca. let say is very close. I would have thought that the Germans or whomever was responsible would have applied the same principle. You are right, there was always a Paisa around to lend a hand.
"I've honestly never seen a scooter in Medellin. Most handicapped can't afford one I'm guessing"
..I honestly felt like a rock star. I don't speak Spanish but my wife overheard our taxi driver asking another if they had seen me in the movies. Everywhere I went people were just flat out amazed Of course boys will be boys and anything on wheels that moves fascinates them.

Another real hoot is that were always meeting people who had heard from others that had seen me. Just being there and visiting their city raised a multitude of people awareness levels and showed them how we roll here and that its pretty dayum nice and they would like one or they know someone that could really use one (scooter). More importantly they may have seen their first disabled people who after being included in society make something of themselves and that in fact I am like any other gringo tourist. :)

I rolled away thinking that while things there are desperate you can see in the new infrastructure access like the new part of El Poblado etc. Is it perfect, nope, nor is it perfect here in Phoenix and it has been voted no. 1 city for disabled for several years.

Best thing we can do is to raise awareness levels, learn the laws (I will post later) and keep people aware. Like when the build the new Hooters in Zona Rosa, make it fricking accessible..jajajajaj

Mr. Hollywood...I am waiting to decompress from my trip and put my thoughts in order before I publish my overall experience and feelings about my trip to Colombia. (got photos too)I knew going in that accessibility was going to be an adventure. If I can do nothing else but raise awareness here on this board then I have done something significant for the disabled in Colombia.

I am so very very pleased that when I google "Colombia disabled", this thread shows up. Before our trip there was nothing from an English perspective.

PBH is a fantastic place to start raising awareness. I want to be careful that I don't turn into the crazy nut with a cause in threads where I think accessibility is pertinent...if I do at first I apologize for it now, cause I won't later. paisatours might not be happy with me now but I only mean well.
:)

Ready, Fire, Aim

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adrimm says on Mar 8, 2008, 17:43:

I totally agree that most of Colombia has horrible accessibility problems curb cuts are either absent or too steep, sidewalks are too narrow in the older area, sidewalks are full of potholes, etc, It must truly suck and I greatly admire all those that manage to get around despite the challenges.

But looking purely at the stations, the cross-walk access of transmilenio/megabus/metrobus are great. ... The ramp access stations are too long, but better then nothing I suppose.

While I've periodically seen it larger, the gap is supposed to about 7-8 cm tops, and it usually is in that range. Not only does that make the gap fairly manageable for the mobility-challenged, but it eliminates the need for flip-out ramps that can slow the system down.

Incidentally that is the reason that all of the wheelchairs & strollers board on the front set of doors of each bus in the respective transmilenio/megabus/metrobus systems.. The drivers have more control over getting the gap as small as possible there.

Gaps are an old problem in a lot of transport system... this better known example comes to mind:

http://www.utdallas.edu/mcdermott/2002/london/london12.JPG

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azunoman says on Mar 11, 2008, 09:05:

added some photos...bump

Ready, Fire, Aim

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adrimm says on Mar 11, 2008, 23:15:

Cool, thx for sharing!

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