News

1 October 2024

The team of the Ombudsman Institution approached Vasil Terziev, Mayor of the Capital City of Sofia, to request that a thorough inspection be conducted and measures be taken to make the space in front of the Central Railway Station approachable.

The request was provoked by dozens of reports that people with walking difficulties sent to the Ombudsman Institution. The citizens described the worsened and unkempt site, which, in their words, is dangerous and life threatening, given the intensive operation of the Central Coach Station and the Central Railway Station.

Acting upon an alert, last week the Ombudsman’s experts inspected the site and found that citizens face serious difficulties to move around the square in front of the Central Railway Station and along the subways leading to the Central Coach Station of Sofia and to the Central Railway Station. The experts were firm in their opinion that people had every reason to insist that adequate measures be taken to ensure a friendly environment to people with reduced mobility and with disabilities and to parents with young children in prams.

“The pavement of the square is seriously damaged and the signposts of the walking pathways are timeworn and thus make likely the occurrence of serious accidents,“ are some of the findings of the Ombudsman’s team that it brought to the attention of Sofia’s Mayor Vasil Terziev.

In addition, the experts emphasize that a way that is easy to approach has not been built, as many of the sidewalks do not have the required sloping surface as per the legislation in force, including key sections such as the pedestrian pathways between the Central Coach Station and the Central Railway Station.

Another challenge faced by people with reduced mobility is the unavailability of an elevator to take out citizens who use the metro station near the entrance of the Central Coach Station. The staircase to the station is devoid of access ramps and it becomes an impossible ordeal to go up and down the stairs unless assisted by someone. Further, the inspection showed that the existing elevators in front of the Central Railway Station and at the tram stops do not operate at all, and, the alerts claim, that has been so for many years.

Next, the Ombudsman Institution’s inspection found that the subways to service the area are not adapted to the needs of people with reduced mobility.

“It is necessary to give attention to the fact that a great number of people using the subways are visitors to Sofia or travelers and it is normal that they do not know the area. At the same time, there are no signposts to suggest using elevators, while the subways of the Central Coach Station and the Central Railway Station are used mostly by people with luggage, which is sometimes bulky and heavy and who rush to be on time for their trains, coaches and urban public transport vehicles. It is essential for those citizens to move easily in a friendly environment,” the letter to Sofia’s Mayor reads.

The Ombudsman’s experts insist that non-accessibility, apart from the serious difficulties that it causes to citizens, including people with disabilities, is, moreover, a violation of a number of international and national pieces of legislation – the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities ratified by the Republic of Bulgaria, the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, the Protection Against Discrimination Act (Anti-Discrimination Act) and Ordinance No. РД-02-20-2 of 26 January 2021 on the definition of the requirements for accessibility and universal design of the elements of barrier-free environment in the urban areas and in buildings and facilities.