Few Progresses in Accessibility on Vienna's Shopping Streets

According to the Disability Equality Act, barriers have been prohibited since 2016, which includes step-free access to buildings and shops. The ÖZIV Federal Association has been regularly analyzing the accessibility of shops on shopping streets since 2014. In 2024, renovated shopping streets in Vienna were examined. No improvement was found: in 202, 41.7 percent of shop entrances were step-free, in 2024 only 35.5 percent, which is also due to a limited sample.

Accessibility on Vienna's shopping streets regularly fails due to building permits

In 2024, however, 47.7 percent of shop entrances had one step, 11.8 percent had two steps, and the remaining five percent had three or more steps. On the other hand, Mariahilfer Straße established itself as a model street: from 2014 to 2024, the proportion of step-free shop entrances increased from 64 to 79.9 percent. The last places were taken by Lerchenfelder Straße (only 17.7 percent step-free shops) and Josefstädter Straße (23.6 percent without steps).

"It is disappointing that there has been virtually no progress in terms of accessibility since our first study in 2014," said Rudolf Kravanja, President of the ÖZIV Federal Association, in a statement on Monday. All parties involved were urged to take appropriate initiatives. In most shops with one step, accessibility could also be relatively easily achieved. "From conversations with shop owners, we know that ramps and structural changes in terms of accessibility regularly fail due to building permits," reported Kravanja from practice.

(APA/Red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.