New scientific approaches to evaluating accessibility of routes for disabled persons

Abstract

The article presents the results of the study of the concept of «accessibility». It is shown that the term is used as a property and a figure of speech. In the form of a figure of speech, the concept contains the accessibility property, as well as properties and factors that affect the level of accessibility. Methodological approaches and results of field studies confirming the possibility of evaluating and describing the accessibility in terms of numeric expressions are presented. Field experiments were carried out in Rostov-on-Don and Novosibirsk with the participation of more than 90 respondents. Formalized mathematical definition of route accessibility for disabled is given as well as examples of defining the values of accessibility for certain categories of disabled people. Justification of feasibility of describing the accessibility of routes by means of level scale which excludes the drawbacks of binary system of accessibility evaluation is given. The incorrect usage of object-oriented approach for evaluating accessibility for disabled at different territories and transport systems is confirmed.