Rio 2016 Reveals Paralympic Challenges -- On the Scene

(ATR) Rio de Janeiro has a Paralympic plan in place.

Rio executive secretary of government coordination Pedro Paulo and transport official Rafael Picciani outlined the city’s logistical plans for the Paralympics on Monday - the 100-day to go milestone.

"The experience that is the Paralympics has big significance for the city, so that it can be an inclusive city, so it is very important,"Paulo told reporters at a briefing.

Paralympic lanes will come into force in thesame areas where Olympic lanes are used starting Sept. 5, two days before the Games’ opening ceremony. The city has also made available more than 100 taxis to accommodate those with disabilities during the Paralympics.

More than 2,600 roads in 59 neighborhoods throughout the city have been integrated with ramps and tactile flooring to help those with visual impairments, he confirmed. All new transportation lines such as the bus-rapid transit, metro line 4 and the downtown light rail system were made to accommodate passengers with impairments. Both Paralympic live sites, Porto Maravilha and Parque Madureira, have been fitted with new sidewalks, tactile flooring, and outdoor barrier-free workout equipment.

After the briefing Paulo told Around the Ringsthe city is discussing measures to make regular city buses accommodate those with disabilities. The timeline to implement such measures is not known.

During the Paralympics, both BRT and metro service will be accessible with the same ticketing measures as the Olympics. Visitors will have to buy a special transit card which can be purchased online, at Rio’s two airports, metro and BRT stations. The card will be valid during the Games and will allow unlimited travel. One day costs $7, three days is $20, and a seven-days pass is $45.

Mariana Mello, head of Paralympic integration for Rio 2016, told ATR that the biggest challenge for the city and organizing committee to prepare for the Paralympics is that there will be no public holidays during the Games with the city’s schools open again. She said Rio 2016 has to plan for a mega-sporting event while "everybody is here in Rio, so the city is full".

For Mello, Rio 2016 has been focused on planning the changes in infrastructure that need to be added to venues between the Olympics and Paralympics to make venues accessible.

"We are planning to have everything ready before the Olympic Games for the Paralympics, but there are still some changes that we need to make to positioning," Mello said. "We are working with the city to minimize the challenges and get it ready. This is going to bring challenges we don’t have during the Olympics."

Paralympic Ticketing

Rio City Hall will distribute 47,000 Olympic tickets and 500,000 Paralympic tickets to civil servants, students and those with disabilities or impairments working with city programs.The programs aim to reward citizens of Rio for their enthusiasm through the Olympics and Paralympics.

City hall has purchased all of the tickets. A total of 137,000 tickets will be made available for civil servants, 196,000 for students and 18,000 for the disabled.

According to Rio 2016 ticket director Donovan Ferreti just under 30 percent of Paralympic tickets have been sold.

That number corresponds to 720,000 tickets sold out of a possible 2.5 million on sale. Rio 2016 still expects a total of 3.3 million tickets to be sold for the Paralympic Games. The 500,000 tickets bought by Rio City Hall are not part of the ticket sales released by the organizing committee.

Written by Aaron Bauer in Rio de Janeiro

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