Metro

Overview of the current status of barrier-free facilities

There are a total of 61 stations in the Prague metro, that is if we count the transfer station on each line separately, totalling 46 as barrier-free. Individuals with reduced mobility, in wheelchairs, and passengers with prams can use passenger lifts or their cascades to enter or exit 43 stations. In three stations, inclined stair platforms are installed as well (Nové Butovice, Smíchovské nádraží and Strašnická) – in principle, these facilities are mainly intended for passengers in wheelchairs and passengers with prams.

In places without barrier-free access, the transport of wheelchair users is complicated if not impossible. It is an unfortunate legacy – according to the then-concept of construction of individual sections, metro stations were built without the possibility of barrier-free access until 1990. Currently, the Prague Public Transit Company is intensively dealing with the issue of barrier-free access to stations, and its target is to have all metro stations barrier-free by 2028.

List of barrier-free stations by metro line

SMS Barrier-Free Status Updates for Routes / Stations – Registration

While 46 of the Prague Metro’s 61 stations are currently barrier-free, things can breakdown and an out-of-service elevator and other types of platform failures can create major problems for our handicapped passengers.

While DPP tries to fix any such breakdowns as quickly as possible, there are going to be times when such facilities are out-of-service. For this reason, DPP has created an SMS system, which can be used to find out the current status of its barrier-free station equipment.

How to set up your SMS information notification account?

Register at www.dpp.cz/registrace.
Confirm your registration by clicking on the verification link that will be sent to you in your email inbox.
On the website of www.dpp.cz (after registering) click on the "Log in" icon at the top right and then go to “My Account” (direct link: https://www.dpp.cz/muj-ucet/editace-udaju).
Next, verify your telephone number (9 digits, SMS are sent only to telephone numbers registered with Czech operators and are provided free of charge) by entering it and then copying the security code, which you will receive via SMS.
Now select either the specific stations or complete metro routes for which you want to obtain SMS updates on the operational status of barrier-free equipment.
To cancel or change your selected stations (or entire routes), just log in to the website again (www.dpp.cz) and change or edit your previously entered information.

What’s next? Jiřího z Poděbrad

The Prague Public Transit Company tries to accommodate passengers with mobility and visual impairments as much as possible and to comprehend their needs. Hence why the order of importance of the implementation of barrier-free access to metro stations is being discussed with organisations that associate wheelchair users, and future modifications with an impact on the movement of visually impaired passengers are being consulted with representatives of SONS (United organisations of partially sighted and blind).

Barrier-free access to the Opatov and Karlovo náměstí stations have recently been open, financed from EU funds within the Operational Programme called Prague – Competitiveness.

The implementation of barrier-free access to the Jiřího z Poděbrad metro station is currently underway, with an expected opening in the middle of 2024.

Feasibility studies are being prepared for a number of other stations, where project preparation has already begun for some of them. These include, for example, the stations Radlická, Hradčanská, Českomoravská, Náměstí Republiky and Křižíkova.

Platforms require a different method of control than lifts

The Prague Public Transit Company most often records malfunctions of inclined moving platforms installed in the Strašnická, Smíchovské nádraží and Nové Butovice stations. A significant part of the malfunctions is caused by the lack of knowledge of how to operate the device, despite being described in detail in the instructions for use. Problems arise mainly with platforms being controlled differently than lifts. The respective controller must be pressed at all times both upon the call as well as the ride. Moving platforms are also a very frequent target of vandalism.

Occasional malfunctions of barrier-free facilities are a chapter in itself. Except for those stations in possessing two parallel passenger lifts, barrier-free access is impossible in case of any malfunction. Suspensions – whether planned or extraordinary due to a breakdown – tend to be the subject of negative reactions from the travelling public.

Barrier-free facilities can be used by everyone

Passenger lift cabins are by standard equipped with control elements and descriptions, with the buttons also having characters in Braille, and there are also acoustic voices in the cabins enabling communication with the operating (station) staff. Passengers (mainly children) misuse the button for calling for help in case of emergency in the cabin; the lift cabins themselves very often bear traces of both "artistic efforts", the removal of which is laborious and never-ending, as well as theft and vandalism (intentional theft or damage to equipment); recently, there has also been an increase in disorderly conduct in the form of cabins getting polluted by homeless or socially excluded individuals. If you witness such behaviour, do not hesitate to call the Police immediately!

Barrier-free facilities are intended for all passengers, but preferably for disabled people and persons with prams.

Access ramps

The horizontal gap between the platform edge and the vehicle boarding edge is an obstacle for easy access of disabled passengers – and wheelchair users in particular – to metro cars (for all metro cars). It is necessary for the lateral swing of cars, given by their suspension and momentary load. On lines A + B, trains are operated consisting of cars of the 81-71M type, which do not have suspensions that equalise the level of the floor of the car with the level of the platform regardless of the load, as well as vertical elevation (the boarding edge of the vehicle is higher than the edge of the platform). The size of the horizontal gap and the vertical elevation in cars of the 81-71M type is affected by the momentary load of the car, the wear of the suspension and the wear of the wheels.

Access ramps, which have already been installed in all metro stations on lines A and B except for the boarding platform at the 2^nd track in the Zličín station where a pilot project of the platform wall is being installed, have become the solution to facilitate boarding. With access ramps, the difference between the height of the platform and the floor of the vehicle is minimised, so passengers can easily get in/out of the metro car. The ramps have always been implemented at the stopping point of the first door, the first car of the train. On line C, the M1 type metro trains automatically compensate for the height difference between the floor of the vehicle and the platform after stopping.