Several activists for the rights of the disabled have given the thumbs down on the accessibility for facilities in the newly-opened Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line.

NGO Petpositive’s president Anthony Thanasayan said that while the MRT facilities for disabled people were slightly better compared to other rail facilities in the Klang Valley, the situation was still a disappointment.

Overall, he said, he would rate MRT 70 out of 100 points and added it was not good enough to worth his trouble to use it in its current state.

“I thought that after all the talks and sessions that we have had, and the awareness we have created over the past five, 10, even 15 or 20 years, they wouldn’t be struggling with basic issues like this.

“It clearly shows that they didn’t do their homework. That stands out very strongly. They just thought that if they followed something from a book, they would be okay.

“By right, they should have called many people to come out here to test out the facilities and be willing to make changes where necessary,” Anthony told Malaysiakini on Wednesday.

Earlier that day, he and Independent Living and Training Centre Malaysia (ILTC) president G Francis Siva and ILTC secretary Gurdip Kaur took a ride from the Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI) MRT station to Sungai Buloh and back, and made a brief stop at the Kota Damansara station.

They were testing to see whether the stations and the MRT trains were accessible to people with physical disabilities...