Originally Posted by
slip and turn
Your question "...how far one goes (and how many resources are devoted) to accommodate a small proportion of the travelling public", if it belonged anywhere, was rooted in the past.
We are talking about Equal Opportunities here for a group which may indeed be a small proportion within the current profile of the travelling public, but they are a growing and significant proportion of the general public who might dream of travelling.
The question remains: should we have these "Equal Opportunities" (why the capitals?) no matter what the cost, and no matter what the disadvantages for the whole community?
Is it more important to have a lift at every Tube station, so that wheelchair users could
in theory get to the station platform, even though it means that fewer Tube stations or fewer Tube lines are built, and even when no wheelchair users actually take advantage of the lift anyway? Or might it be more important to secure more and better public transport for the majority, and work out alternative means of providing for disabled people?
These are not questions rooted in the past, whatever your views about what the answers should be. They are very much questions of today.