News Edam-Volendam, Landsmeer, Purmerend and Waterland

Alderman Harry Rotgans has placed a “Keep the line clear” tile on Tramplein. The slab should help prevent bicycles and scooters from being placed above the white guideline. This hinders the free passage of people with visual impairments who use this line.

The tile was donated to the municipality of Purmerend by the citizen platform Total Accessible Purmerend (TTP) and comes from the Bartimeus Foundation, which works extensively with and for these target groups.

Eyes and ears in the city

The municipality of Purmerend regularly consults TTP, which is the eyes and ears of the city when it comes to accessibility in public space. This bottleneck also became visible during a joint inspection late last year.

Improve accessibility

In recent years, the municipality has received various signals regarding accessibility issues in the town center of Purmerend. The accessibility of the city center was also discussed on several occasions within the company committee and the municipal council.

In response to recent signals – brought to the attention of TTP – the Municipality of Purmerend, together with TTP, recently carried out an inspection in the town center to test accessibility. As a result, various accessibility issues have been formulated.

Some of the issues are large and complex and are included in the Inner City program as part of the wider development and renovation of the centre. Another part of the problems can be resolved relatively easily with a number of adjustments in the public space.

Other measures to follow

In June 2022, the accessibility program was discussed positively by the city council and amounts were approved during the budget discussion to fund various accessibility projects from 2023.

For example, the municipality will conduct additional research on outing guidelines for the blind and disabled across the city. The accessibility of stops will also be increased through a number of measures.