After their first protest failed to bring about the desired result, a group of disabled people took to the streets again to air their grouses on the inaccessibility of public transportation.

The protest, held in conjunction with the International Day for the Disabled yesterday, saw some 20 wheelchair-bound individuals carrying placards along a busy section in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur.

Barrier-free Environment and Accessible Transport Group (Beat) coordinator Christine Lee said there had been no firm commitments from the government-owned transportation company Rapid KL since the first protest held more than two months ago.

Previously, Beat was assured that Rapid KL would form a committee to look into the needs of the disabled.

Since then, Lee said two meetings were held with Rapid KL officials where they were told that the company is expecting a shipment of disabled-friendly buses soon.

However, there are only 100 such buses coming in and this forms a very small portion of the company's entire fleet.

Unemployment rate

At present, only the Putra light-rail system caters to the needs of the disabled but its feeder buses do not.

"We are being stranded because Rapid KL operates an integrated transportation system," Lee lamented.

This, according to another barrier-free lobbyist V Murugesaran, was hampering efforts by the disabled to seek employment.

Citing a news report on Malaysia's high employment rate among the disabled, he said the disabled could not take advantage of the situation because public transportation rendered them immobile.

"With the rising cost of living, we have to depend on public transportation to get to work. We want to live independently, not on charity," he stressed..

The group is scheduled to meet Women's and Family Development Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil on Tuesday to deliberate on the creation of a barrier-free environment.