Dawn Badminton-Capps, Director for England at Bus Users, discusses the outcome of the charity’s recent Accessibility Audit and how the industry could improve
In 2021, as work stepped up on Bus Service Improvement Plans, we joined forces with Disability Rights UK and CPT to make sure disabled people were given a voice. Our three virtual ‘Let’s talk accessibility’ events and a follow-up round-table discussion brought together disabled people, charities, local authorities and operators to find out what the barriers are when it comes to using public transport and what can – and is – being done to overcome them. Some of the issues raised were complex, requiring equally complex solutions such as vehicle re-designs or enhanced technology. Others were breathtakingly simple but had no less impact on people’s lives and their ability to travel.
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Flagging down a bus, for example, is something most of us take for granted but for someone with sight loss it can be the difference between being able to travel or not. One possible solution is an app allowing waiting passengers to alert oncoming drivers but there’s another, far simpler solution: asking drivers to pull in to every stop where a passenger is waiting, regardless of whether they signal or not. The operators already doing this see it as making sound commercial sense as no passenger is left waiting, but it’s not a policy adopted by all.
Accessibility Audit
We wanted to find out exactly what operators are doing around issues like this and encourage them to share their approaches, from the simple to the high tech. In January we launched our first Accessibility Audit, again with support from Disability Rights UK and CPT and while the response was relatively low, the survey identified a willingness among operators to share learning, best practice and advances in design and technology, as well as a desire to learn from others. What the survey also highlighted, however, were areas where some operators are failing to meet even the most basic legal requirements.
Staff training is one such example with 12% of our respondents reporting that none of their staff are trained in accessibility/diversity/inclusion and just 82% reported that all of their drivers are trained. Our respondents are clearly among the more accessibility-aware so the indicators for the wider industry are worrying.
Design and technology painted a more positive picture with reports of enhanced AV announcements, apps and websites, new app functions to identify wheelchair space availability and alert the driver to a passenger’s additional needs, increased wheelchair space and leg-room for assistance animals, low-floor entry space and assistance packs containing communication aids.
When it comes to communicating, operators are heavily focused on online solutions for service updates, bookings, ticketing and payment. While this can improve access for many and undoubtedly speeds up boarding and journey times, it risks leaving behind those without access to the internet or mobile devices. Between 65% and 85% of our respondents used social media, apps, websites and phone services to communicate with passengers yet for passengers, operators reported face-to-face meetings and printed materials still being vital means of communication. Interestingly, a number of operators reported ‘returning’ to printed materials, something we know from the continuous messages on our social media channels will be welcomed by passengers.
Card and lanyard assistance schemes are widely used with some operators reporting that their drivers are required to recognise any form of assistance card presented by a passenger. 65% of respondents are also signed up to the RNIB charter with many more indicating they may do so in the future. But while assistance schemes, training and support services are all vital to improving accessibility, one of the clear messages that came out of our ‘Let’s talk accessibility’ events and our wider work with disabled people is ‘nothing about us without us.’ The need for disabled people to be actively involved in the design and delivery of services is clearly understood by our respondents with collaboration and community engagement at the heart of their work and future plans. On-bus familiarisation, open days, partnership working, research and outreach programmes with councils, schools, colleges and disability groups were all listed among ‘other initiatives.’
Understanding
What this survey shows above all is that improving access to transport is not necessarily about expensive technology or costly design. It’s about understanding the needs of the people who currently use bus services, and removing barriers for those who don’t. We plan to repeat this audit annually so we can monitor trends and continue to share best practice but in the meantime, we have a number of recommendations for operators: work with the community to ensure services are planned and designed co-operatively and genuinely meet local needs; get out and about to promote your work and build confidence in bus travel; make sure information and service updates are available to everyone, in the format they need; train your staff, particularly drivers, in identifying and responding to passengers with additional needs; use assistance cards, lanyards, apps and signage to support passengers and improve their journeys; involve disabled people in the design of vehicles, use technology and infrastructure to avoid expensive re-designs and retrofits down-the-line; engage directly with disabled people and groups to identify and remove barriers to travel; and incorporate work on accessibility into your KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) so you can demonstrate improvements.
Improving access to transport isn’t just good for society it’s good for business boosting passenger numbers, encouraging modal shift, and making bus travel more attractive and more sustainable.
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