The adoption of go-along interview method in identifying transportation barriers for mobility-impaired travelers

• Published in: AIP Conference Proceedings
• Main Author: Kamarudin H.; Hadi B.A.; Mohandas E.S.; Shahbuddin A.Z.A.-Q.; Musa M.
• Format: Conference paper
• Language: English
• Published: American Institute of Physics Inc. 2023
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85176729517&doi=10.1063%2f5.0167810&partnerID=40&md5=e6a404e7e73dd688469aa5c575ad3eaa

Making the city center physically accessible is crucial to ensure that everyone has equitable access to the city center for various reasons. There should be no discriminatory practices restricting anyone from participating in society. Numerous studies, however, reveal that persons with disabilities (PWD) have fewer opportunities to engage in built environment activities than non-disabled individuals owing to the inaccessible design of buildings, public spaces and transportation services. Despite the fact that PWD's inclusion is tied to physical space, little effort has been made to explore PWD's lived experience in reaching the city center by using different transportation options. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate a go-along interview as one of the key data collection methods for examining barriers faced by PWD in using various transportation modes in Klang Valley. This qualitative study involves twenty go-along interviews with mobility-impaired travelers to learn about their actual experiences traveling using land transportation from around Klang Valley to Kuala Lumpur city center. Mobility-impaired travelers, notably wheelchair users, still need help to reach their destination with the current transportation services. In general, the use of transportation in Klang Valley has several issues, such as the lack of transportation-related facilities and lack of safety concerns from the service providers. The go-along journeys also demonstrated that, besides physical barriers, PWD encounters attitudinal and psycho-emotional barriers, which may lead to exclusion. © 2023 Author(s).