Bus stops are currently being gradually rebuilt in the district to make boarding and alighting easier, especially for people with physical disabilities. Barrier-free expansion is the order. In Unterhaching, too, the pavement and waiting area have already been modified and adjusted in height at some bus stops so that there are no longer any steps to climb on the way to the bus. However, the raised curbs at the bus stops have now created a dangerous tripping hazard, especially when there is no bus there. At least that’s what the neo-fraction in the municipal council thinks and believes that the problem can be solved with colored markings. But it is not that easy.
Emil Salzeder, one of the two neo-municipal councillors, is primarily concerned about the elderly in his neighbourhood. They approached him because they were already stumbling at the Bussardstrasse bus stop, which had already been converted, and they said: That’s just too high and you can see it too late. For cyclists, too, the rude awakening only comes when they have either hit the tire with it or think they are on a blatant downhill. Salzeder therefore suggested at the most recent meeting of the municipal council: “Let’s just make the edges red. The cyclist who drives towards them will see that too.”
Neos’ application was initially met with a lack of understanding in the administration. The construction department made it clear: “The conversion of the bus stops was planned by an external planning office according to the specifications of the Munich Transport Association MVV and implemented accordingly by a specialist company.” A “clarification” of the curbs with signal colors is not intended. But it would still be good, Salzeder thinks and at least has fellow campaigners in the Free Voters. “If you go down there, you end up in nirvana,” confirmed Christine Helming. The Greens finally suggested discussing the problem with the Disability Advisory Board. That’s what the mayor wants to do now. The cyclists should also be warned by a note in the municipal journal.
But Salzeder takes too long. In a “guerrilla campaign,” as he puts it, he used red tape to create facts at a bus stop to test whether it would do anything. He believes that he is also doing something good for the bus drivers who, according to his observations, regularly ruin the tires on the curbs. The driver of line 220 had already given him a “thumbs up” for the adhesive strips. The 93-year-old Dieter Engelsmann, who had stumbled at this point himself, confirmed: “The ‘grey in gray’ is far too little given the height, larger than a step.” The marking is the least you can do.
The Neo faction is now awaiting feedback from pedestrians and cyclists.
(Photo: Claus Schunk)
Josef Ettenhuber, owner of the bus company of the same name, cannot confirm that the barrier-free expansion of the stops would kill tires or wheel rims or even damage the bumpers of the buses. “It’s a legal requirement and the drivers are fine with it,” he says. However, he also refers to the so-called “Kassler special board”, which should be installed if possible. It’s a rounded curb that’s smooth and curved, guiding the buses into a sort of fairway. In Unterhaching, however, there are no such signs, nor are there any plates with knobbed and ribbed structures for the orientation of visually impaired passengers.