By Lee Suh-yoon


Moon Ae-rin, a wheelchair user who attended the Paralympics opening ceremony March 9, waited more than an hour in the cold to board a shuttle bus to Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium. 

The private bus that Moon's group, Solidarity Against Disability Discrimination, borrowed could not go straight to the stadium. All visitors had to transfer to a free shuttle from designated locations near the venue. 

However, Moon and her fellow group members soon found out that there was a shortage of wheelchair-accessible seats on the shuttle buses.

"Considering the number of wheelchair users who were waiting in line that day, there were too few wheelchair-accessible shuttles," Moon said. "And even those could carry only four passengers per trip." 

The shuttle Moon took that day was a low-floor public bus borrowed from Seoul, still carrying the names of its original stops on the sides. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said 48 low-floor buses operated on 13 shuttle routes between Paralympics venues. 

Moon was not happy about the arrangement. 

"It makes me mad that the host cities are temporarily borrowing wheelchair-accessible vehicles from other cities that are already short of them," she said.

"They should take the opportunity as Paralympics hosts to increase the number of wheelchair accessible vehicles in their public transport. Otherwise, how will wheelchair users visit Pyeongchang again?"

Moon is one of many physically disabled people who had difficulty navigating the Paralympics venue. 

The Gangwon Provincial Government ran 99 wheelchair-accessible taxis round the clock during the games. 

But, those who tried to use the taxi service said there were not enough vehicles to accommodate the 3,500 wheelchair visitors expected at the Paralympics.

"I called for a taxi at 9 p.m. to get back to my hotel from the stadium but they just told me that there were no available taxis left for the day." said Kim Min-jeong, a wheelchair user who visited the Paralympics on March 13.

"However, I was satisfied with the wheelchair accessibility on-site. I did not have much trouble accessing the restrooms or the Superstore that was selling Bandabi dolls."


'Even less accessibility outside the stadiums'

Although various barrier-free measures were implemented throughout the host cities, wheelchair users still found it difficult to venture outside the venues.

Only 34.3 percent of public buses in Gangwon Province are wheelchair-accessible, according to the most recent 2016 figures listed at the transport ministry. 

The Gangwon Provincial Office added 14 extra low-floor buses on to public bus routes passing through Gangneung Olympic Park, but only for the duration of the Paralympics.

Pyeongchang, Gangneung, and Hoengseong – with the help of the provincial government – undertook a remodeling project of 230 restaurants, 21 accommodation centers, and five public restrooms to improve wheelchair accessibility. 

These 256 remodeled facilities were recently monitored by the Human Rights Forum of Persons with Disabilities in Korea. According to its report, 36.7 percent of privately owned facilities around the Paralympics venue – including restaurants, accommodation, and public bathrooms – had wheelchair accessibility. 

But only 10.5 percent of the facilities could be used without the help of another person. 

"I think the project would have been more successful if the designers had consulted wheelchair users before construction." said Kim Choul, a wheelchair user who participated in the monitoring process last December.

"Some details were overlooked, such as ramps that were too steep for manual wheelchair users to climb on their own," Kim said.