In Japan, passenger ships are important means of transportation and the vital facilities for islands. Passenger ships should transport disabled persons safely as well. To reduce the barriers for disabled persons in all transportation facilities, "Transportation Accessibility Improvement Law" was entered into force on May 17, 2000. However, installation of barrier-free systems and their appropriate arrangements are difficult for comparatively small passenger ships. We have been engaged in the research on the barrier-free for passenger ships to achieve safe and more comfortable voyage for disabled persons. For these purposes, we have investigated barriers that disabled passengers encounter in existing passenger ships and enumerated their problems. In this paper, tentative results of investigation and other works are presented.
