Following your article regarding volunteer guides in Japan, do you know whether the Big Apple Greeter scheme in New York is similar? My wife and I are cruising to New York in September and staying a few days before flying home. As I use a wheelchair, we wonder whether the Big Apple Greeter scheme would be a good idea to show us the sights of New York for a few hours without having to find our own way around, wasting our limited time. Chris and Carol Brown, by email

Ginny McGrath, Times Online Travel News Editor responds: The Big Apple Greeter scheme is great for disabled and non disabled travellers. You can request a greeter at the website, who will meet you and show you around New York, free of charge. There are 300 guides, all volunteers, who among them can speak 22 languages. You need to amke your request at least three weeks before you are planning to visit the city. You can make requests if there are specific sites you want to visit, but the idea is that the two to four hour tour will take you through a New York neighbourhood and show you the sights favoured by your guide. With any luck, you'll find some gems off the tourist trail.

The guides have all been trained to accommodate travellers with disabilities, and there are 50 guides who have disabilities themselves, so may have first-hand experience of navigating the city with a wheelchair. You may also want to request an "Access" guide from the website, which provides telephone numbers for transport, accommodation and attractions.

When it comes to getting around the city, New York City's public buses are equipped with lifts so wheelchair users can travel anywhere in the city. In addition New York's subway stations have elevators, ramps, visual display signs, accessible public telephones, and tactile and audio features.

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