ISTANBUL
All city buses in Turkey have to become disablility-friendly in order to continue providing service, a law passed by the Turkish parliament late Tuesday requires.
The motion says companies and owners with buses that do not provide access to the disabled will no longer be granted a license to operate.
Requirements for disabled-friendly buses will be outlined at a later date, stipulates the legislature.
In the country's busiest city, Istanbul, there are more than 6,000 public and private buses.
The Istanbul’s transport authority told The Anadolu Agency that the city's public buses were disability-friendly.
Ismail Yuksel, the chairman of the organization representing private bus companies and owners in Istanbul, said that the recently-bought buses were all are disability-friendly. He added that owners of older buses would have to make necessary modifications.
Around 12 percent of Turkey’s population (approximately 8.5 million people) suffer from some kind of disability, says the Istanbul-based Physical Disability Foundation.
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