No Disabled Access at Canning Bridge

Canning Bridge Rail Station is a significant hazard for disabled passengers. Just getting to the station is difficult enough for the rest of us. Disabled people find it almost impossible. One must brave the traffic to get in from the Fremantle side or climb a steep path and negotiate a number of steps and kerbs on the western approach.

There is no suitable drop- off point so drivers just block the left- hand lane while delivering or collecting their disabled passengers on the Canning Highway level. This creates yet more hazard for other road users.

Having got to the top of the station it then gets worse! There is a lift to the south- bound platform but for people heading to Perth City, there is just the set of stairs. The lift- well for north- bound travellers has no equipment in it at all. This makes wheelchair access for City workers impossible and other means of ascent and descent just plain painful.

Oh, there is a lift to the Perth platform, but to get to that facility one must cross the traffic to the centre island; this is only for those who enjoy sweat and adrenaline.

Surely we can do better.

South Perth Train Station

Yesterday evening saw a Community Workshop at the SP Bowling Club, to hear updates and community comments about the proposed station. Consultants presented summaries of work to date, around such topics as:

• Opportunities for travel to the Zoo, without cars
• Proximity to the City
• Landscape and built form
• Transport and parking
• Heritage
• Safety and security
• Development demand and expectations
• Zoning
• Building height
• Mix of residential and commercial
• Environmental issues

There was spirited discussion around:

• No residential on ground floor of high rise
• Building over the station, perhaps to house the WA Natural History Museum
• Integration of cars, public transport, walking, cycling, commercial, tourists, residents
• Power, water, sewerage, telecommunications, storm water
• Proximity of bird sanctuary and eco tourism potential
• Wind effects and wind power
• Car- free zones? Less parking, not more?
• Behaviour management of travellers
• Traffic flow management

I believe that this location presents us with a fantastic opportunity  to celebrate a wonderful location, with vistas of the Swan River, UWA, incoming weather, Kings Park and so on. We can make this the finest station in Australia.

You can make public comments here on the blog by clicking Comments below
and by email to the consultants to kristina@smco.com.au