Below is shot of the Google Maps page showing Pine Center Mall in Prince George. The Bus Transfer point is in top left (N-W) corner, main entrances are Top Right (N-E) side and opposite (S-W) side of mall
The transfer station itself was just upgraded to shelter all riders who wait for connecting routes to individual destinations.The first time a person arrives at Pine Center they wonder where they easily enter the mall. There are main entrances an approximate equal distance by looking right or left. The closest entrance begins the journey left. Sears has the entrance illusion covered, their access door leading straight into the mall is there facing the Transfer Station, just to the right across the sidewalk.
Upon closer inspection however, I found their doors not to be accessible independently for a person on a chair. These are a double set of doors with no buttons to open and a low vision person may miss it completely due to low contrast. I would likely Walk And Roll further towards the left of the transfer point as the right side hardly resembled accessibility at first glance.
Further down to the right, every part of it on a wide uncluttered mostly covered sidewalk I saw no electric opening doors. I came to the Primary "Main Entrance" along the North- East side, past 2 or 3 entrances into Sears and 2 from RBC. It was the "All Accessible Route but the all the entrance doors were manually operated. WTF Pine Center, are you teasing us mobility users?
No Buttons. So much for trusting the easy way!
Being more able then most who use mobility walkers (*younger too), certainly way more able then those confined to an independent life in a wheelchair for complete mobility gave me an advantage. I accessed the Mall despite their efforts to tease and deny entrance to a percentage of their population. I decided to stop in and enjoy a Tim Horton's' affordable Breakfast sandwich on a 12 grain bagel, Hash brown and extra large coffee black as a reward.. They just got a location in the mall!
Thanks for being there, Tim. You remember us right? PGWalkNRoll has been in many of your stores in Prince George. I personally purchase the same breakfast every time. Hey- could you check out that entrance? A population of left minded individuals have had difficulty entering had to roll all the way around the building to enjoy your establishment. Oh wait a minute "blush". I see the entrance closest to you is accessible, let us check that out. Joann at the MS Office in Prince George had mentioned this door needed closer inspection; it has a button to allow complete access and certain parts of it may interfere access. I could not spot it; my report will be on my other blog soon. It is also down the route I had passed up if I had gone Right from the Transfer Point.
Above is the other main entrance/exit to Pine Center Mall. I had always gone left from the Transfer point due to its' year round accessibility. I cursed Pine Center Mall again and praised them at the same time for making one entrance accessible for the population who look left and go that way perhaps for the weary Christmas shopper. I wondered what Joann's problem with access was, these doors definitely passed every test myself and the city gave it concerning access. The route to the door from the Bus stop concerned me, it hardly seemed accessible to me.
This is a close up of the path that takes me to that entrance, turning right instead of left. That is crushed packed gravel for a short strip; an abandoned shopping cart could prevent access. In order to follow the route to the accessible entrance into Pine Center Mall while travailing via City Transit one turns left as the gravel path ends. One problem I can see is vehicles with rear low protrusions along narrow confined walk areas. This would be a hazard for low vision persons. Most power mobility riders would be blocked for safe access. The side walk is not ramped here to the other side of these vehicles forcing alternate route along heavy traffic access road and intersection starting from the crosswalk.
Past this point one can find an accessible exit from what could be a crowded sidewalk and access a less- congested area of traffic along the way to more accessible entrances to the mall. It is also accessible for those who wish to continue down to the main entrance in relieve safety.
As the sidewalk ended at the end of this spot, one passes a shipping and receiving area for Sears Canada. before accessing a real wide accessible sidewalk area leading into the secondary and accessible mall entrance ( just to the left of Sportcheck). Wait- This entrance here has a Button!
The button opens both doors from this door first, then the inside door opens. It closes in reverse. the Button is on the opposite side of the door that opens. The button on the inside opens the door in reverse order allowing easy exit. BOTH FREAKING DOORS OPEN!!! All double doors should do this. Way to go Pine Center Mall!!!
Since this is not the destination I came to see on this side of the mall, I traveled onward a 100 meter (~300 ft) distance down a wide uncovered smooth walk surface to the automatic doors. I pushed the first door's button and the door opened out. Cool . I had to move out of the way as the door opened expectantly outward. Lots of room to do that, although I don't recall if the door was clearly marked as swinging outward. They should be, although the door was slowly opening. It also just opened the first door, another button inside opened the other door. The opposite was true on the inside door going out. I suppose this could be a security thing with both doors opening independently and it caused no real problem I could foresee it passed my Enter / Exit Accessibility test.
In the winter months I did not notice if the route for the bus to the accessible entrance was kept clear. I trust that the well paid staff of Pine Center that clear the areas around Pine Center had everyone's accessibility in mind as they cleared around those trees and gravel on the first part of the route? I will be checking this coming winter, after we deal with June, July and August!
