5 May 2009 Access to public transport - End of the Line

Inclusion Now - Public transport

Access to public transport for young disabled people in Britain continues to frustrate and disappoint service users. In 2009, four years after the passing of the Disability Discrimination Act of 2005, young people with muscle disease travelling on a bus, a train, the London underground network or in a taxi continue to find themselves unable to use services that, by law, should be available to all. 

In response to this, Trailblazers have launched an investigative report, End of the Line, into the state of public transport in the UK.

End of the Line is the first report of the Inclusion Now campaign being organised by the Trailblazers - the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign's nationwide network of 16 to 30-year-olds who are fighting for the rights of young disabled people.

5 Key Findings

1. Wheelchair users have less choice when using public transport and as a result are forced to pay more than their non disabled peers.
2. Young disabled passengers often feel like second class citizens on public transport through a combination of unreliable technology, poor disability awareness among staff and inaccessible stations.
3. Young disabled passengers cannot always access the first bus, train or taxi that arrives at a station or stop.
4. The Assisted Passenger Registration Service (24 hour advance booking) for trains restricts the spontaneity and independence of disabled passengers and fails to provide a reliable service that passengers have confidence in.
5. Non-wheelchair users with mobility difficulties also faced serious problems when attempting to use buses and trains. Bus drivers often fail to park next to the kerb, meaning Trailblazers have a greater distance to climb into the bus. Drivers can pull away from stops too quickly before a passenger is seated and safe.

Action needed:

We are calling on the Government, local authorities
and public transport providers to:

• ensure that accessibility on all modes of public transport including air travel is at the heart of all public transport planning, not merely a concept to pay lip service to
• ensure that, until such time when all trains can
  be boarded and disembarked independently,
  the Assisted Passenger Reservation Service
  is improved to guarantee that all disabled
  passengers receive a universally high standard
  of service
• conduct a major review of accessibility on buses
  and coaches across the UK
• ensure that taxi subsidy cards are available for disabled
  passengers with a discount that reflects the dependence many disabled people have on them

Read End of the Line now

Download other useful facts on Public Transport

Tags: East Midlands, East of England, London, North East, North West, Northern Ireland, Scotland, South East, South West, Wales, West Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber

7 Comments

• David Gale replied on 14 Dec 2008 at 11:44
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  I know im from up North and everything but whenever i use say the London Underground or even the Metros in Newcastle the amount of stairs is a nightmare. Have they ever heard of lifts!!! i cant imagine how wheelchairs can even think of using these facilities. But as usual such things are an after thought!!!

• Bobby Ancil replied on 18 Dec 2008 at 11:12
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  You are not alone on being frustrated by the state of public transport Dave. I'm putting together a draft of our survey that we will be using to rate the public transport of each region in the UK as of January.
  Keep feeding your thoughts in to these comments areas and use those blogs!

• Craig Everest replied on 3 Apr 2009 at 11:21
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  I recently traveled to chafford hundred from east tilbury.When i first departed i was informed that On my return journey i would have to return to east tilbury by going to stanford, swap trains then back to east tilbury. When i arrived in stanford i was told the station was closed and be no one to help me off the train. They only way back was someone from stanford to come with me then help me off.If it hadn't been for a member of staff who assisted me I would have been stranded. If this hadn't happened the journey would have been fine.

• Harry Watson replied on 20 Oct 2009 at 10:54
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  i use an electric wheelchair and visited London in October 2009. i found that although the 24 hour booking for trains is un-fair, having given a months notice the train was great, excellent staff help. also all busses that i used in London were excellent the ramp came out automatically.

• Charlotte Thom replied on 12 Jul 2010 at 16:32
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  I used a underground station in france when i was on holiday. i know that it's not the same as the london one's but i can imagine how it feels! :-(

• Fiona Anderson replied on 9 Jan 2011 at 00:54
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  I use the public buses in Lancashire for spontaneous trips. But a major issue I find is my electric wheelchair will slide about the bus, crashing my legs into seats and poles. Because of this I have to have someone travel with me to stop my chair from going flying.making me less independent and having to work around other peoples schedules to ensure my safety! There needs to be some sort of lockdown on public buses. Plus drivers are always going like a bat out of hell. Its ridiculas.

• Stacey Green replied on 16 Jul 2011 at 08:37
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  I live in a small town just outside of Plymouth. I spent a year and a half fighting to get the local bus route acssesible, whilst trying to get a college education, some days i could be sat waiting for a bus for up to 3 hours. I was told by the bus company that they could not put on a wheelchair acsses route for just one Wheelchair user. The route goes from Torquay to Plymouth, a huge 2 hour bus journey stopping at many towns with many disabled people. The X80, is the main conection in public transport to plymouth, Ivybridge, Totness, Paignton, Torquay and other towns inbetween. After a year and a half battle, The bus company finnaly anounced the X80 route to be wheelchair acssesible, meaning one bus every hour would give one disabled person a chance to get on the bus. At first this was wounderful, finnally after a long fight we had got the route acssesible. But i had made myself pretty sick in the prosses, to many days sitting in the rain waiting for a bus to get to college. After a couple of years i have decided to go back to college and do my A levels, i went to get the bus to my college interview, only to find i could not get on the bus, because a wheelchair user was already on it, so i waited an hour for the next bus, to find i again could not get on the bus due to a wheelchair user being on the bus, a passenger that got off at my stop also exsplained to me, that there was anouther wheelchair user in south brent waiting for a bus, so i knew even if i waited anouther hour, i was not going to be gettting on the bus. So i had to pay out a lot of money for a taxi just to get to my inerview for college. The council have given disabled people bus passes entitling them to free bus travel which is great, but the bus company are not giving disabled people the acsses they need. Allowing only one wheelchair user per bus, per hour means many wheelchair users have to wait hours to get on a bus. god forbid if we actually wanted to go out with anouther friend who is a wheelchair user, how on earth would you get on the bus? like 'able bodied' friends.... you cant.

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