Description
The article considers barriers to the vertical mobility of electric wheelchair users due to defective elevators mainly in rail stations but also in shopping centres, office buildings etc. It refers to the 400 elevators of the Greater Berlin Area rail stations, real-time info about their operating status is provided by the website BrokenLift.org. Families with prams, walkers, wheelchair drivers, or people carrying heavy luggage would also profit from this information.
The Elevate Delta app wheelmap.org provides data about 3.000 elevators in stations, malls or buildings in Germany. Deficiencies of related apps due to partial coverage, outdated information or faulty sensors are discussed. Such deficits lead to forced and prolonged detours of powered wheelers.
The latter suffer (as the electric car drivers as well) from “range anxiety” due to the limited battery capacity. Crowd-sourced data of lay people may fill pertaining information gaps.
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