A peak disability organisation says more can be done to meet accessibility needs during the shutdown of the Armadale and Thornlie trainline in Perth.
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00:00Nihalish Chell is settling into her new apartment in Victoria Park.
00:06It was very inconvenient because I was stuck at home.
00:09I couldn't socialise, I couldn't go to my parents' place unless they came to pick me
00:15up.
00:16The 58-year-old was born blind and lives by herself, relying on support workers and family
00:21members but she likes to use public transport.
00:25She says when construction commenced at Carlisle Station in November, no replacement buses
00:30came within an accessible distance.
00:33After appealing to the local and state government, the disability advocate was offered a free
00:38taxi scheme to get around.
00:40But she says they weren't always reliable and she prefers public transport.
00:45It was very difficult.
00:47So I thought the only thing to do then for me was to sell the place and find somewhere
00:54more accessible.
00:56The shutdown is part of the state government's multi-billion dollar Metronet project removing
01:01level crossings to speed up trains.
01:03Seven new stations will be built with the line extended out to Byford.
01:08But there's still 10 months left of shutdowns impacting thousands of commuters.
01:13In Armadale, disability support workers Trish and Michelle say their clients have also struggled
01:19with the shutdown.
01:20A lot of them do rely on that transport and the funding to help with the transport so
01:27with all of that down at the moment they've had to seek alternatives which is outside
01:30of their scope and outside of their budget as well.
01:33The state government says it understands the shutdown has been disruptive but insists one
01:38of the benefits will be improved disability access.
01:42It says it's been working closely with people impacted.
01:45For example working with individuals providing taxi vouchers and working on one on one to
01:51ensure that they have accessibility.
01:53Meanwhile Nihal is learning how to get around her new suburb and enjoying her freedom to
01:59do so.