Criticism of St. Pölten

“If you’re not good on foot, you have to avoid the city center!”

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07.09.2024 06:00

The car-free city center in St. Pölten is supposed to discriminate against the elderly and people with walking difficulties - this criticism, which has sparked debates about the ban on cabs in front of doctors' surgeries, comes from no stranger.

Former Deputy Mayor Alfred Brader (ÖVP), who held this office in the provincial capital from 1996 to 2005, is indignant about the "imposition on people with walking difficulties in St. Pölten city center". The 68-year-old broke his metatarsal bone and has been suffering from severe spinal problems for a long time.

"I wanted to take a cab to my orthopaedist at Riemerplatz. The cab driver told me that he wasn't allowed to do that and let me get out far away," says Brader, identifying serious discrimination against elderly and injured people who are not able to walk well and don't have a disability card. The severely annoyed St. Pölten resident also emphasizes that doctors have always been a major source of footfall in the city centre, which is being driven away: "Because who goes to the doctor? a healthy person doesn't need one anyway!"

Brader was also driven up the wall when he was sitting at the town hall and asked to call a cab because he couldn't make it home on foot: "They cheekily told me to walk from the town hall to the train station! They didn't care about that at the Citizens' Service," says the former deputy mayor, ashamed of such treatment.

City sees need for improvement
Deputy Mayor Harald Ludwig (SPÖ), who is responsible for transport, emphasizes that he does not want to gloss over this difficult issue - and that improvements would be desirable. But: "People with walking difficulties can even use the Pedalente (the bright yellow bike similar to a rickshaw can be used in the city center, note) free of charge. That's exactly why we created this service." More than 2000 journeys would have been made in four months.

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This arrogance on the part of the city of St. Pölten discriminates against older people and people with walking difficulties, driving many doctors out of the city center.

Alt-Vizebürgermeister Alfred Brader (ÖVP)

In principle, cab drivers are even allowed to take people with walking difficulties into the city center. The problem with this - and this regulation has been in place for more than 15 years - is that the driver has to prove that the passenger has walking difficulties. After dropping them off at the doctor's, this results in penalties when leaving the city center during police traffic checks if the driver cannot credibly prove this.

Discussions with the cab guild and police
So why doesn't the cab driver take a photo of the elderly person, the plaster cast on their foot or something similar to prove this? - "That would be a good idea. We will take this case as an opportunity to talk to our cab guild and the police about these things again," Ludwig emphasizes to the "Krone".

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

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