A Wake-Up Call for Transport Accessibility
Insights from the Transport Committee Report
You can listen to the main article in this newsletter here:
It was more than 30 degrees in the committee room of Portcullis House when I gave evidence to the Transport Committee in the summer of 2023. I was exhausted afterwards, and since last week, it looks like it was all worth it.
I was delighted when I read the report "Access denied: rights versus reality in disabled people's access to transport" of the Transport Committee last week. Last year, it looked like it was all for nothing because of the elections. Kudos to the Transport Committee for using the evidence from the previous parliamentary session and publishing this report. It’s one of the best reports on accessibility and equality in transport I have read in the past years because it is genuine and doesn’t window-dress. It also gives clear guidance on what to do now.
The Committee's report is a powerful call to action, ensuring that transport systems are inclusive and accessible for everyone.
The Gap Between Rights and Reality
The report highlights a stark reality: despite having a robust legal framework compared to other European countries, the UK's transport system still fails to provide equal access for disabled people. This is not just about physical barriers; it's about systemic failures that affect every aspect of travel, from planning to execution. The Committee notes that the situation has actually worsened, with increased barriers and decreased confidence among disabled passengers.
Key Challenges
Here are the Key Challenges mentioned:
Complexity and Fragmentation: The current legislative and regulatory framework is overly complex, making it difficult for both users and providers to understand their rights and obligations. This complexity leads to confusion and a lack of accountability.
Inadequate Enforcement: Despite numerous regulatory bodies, proactive enforcement action is often lacking, leaving disabled travellers without effective recourse when faced with access failures, e.g., failed assists. This is strongly connected to the under-resourcing of responsible regulators.
The burden on Individuals: The onus is too heavily placed on individual disabled people to advocate for their rights, navigate complaints processes, and seek legal action—a daunting and costly task.
Recommendations for Change
The report outlines several key recommendations to bridge the gap between rights and reality:
Unified Complaints Systems: Establish a streamlined approach to reporting accessibility issues and discrimination, ensuring that complaints reach the right bodies and are followed up effectively.
Legislative Review: Streamline and clarify transport accessibility legislation, specifying providers’ standards, including those currently under the Public Sector Equality Duty.
Enhanced Enforcement: Ensure all regulatory bodies have consistent resources and powers to enforce accessibility standards across all transport modes.
Inclusive Transport Strategy: Develop a new strategy with clear metrics, actions, and timelines to achieve equal access by 2030, integrating accessibility into all transport policy decisions. That includes a roadmap to accessible stations and rolling stock.
The Role of Staff
The availability of staff is crucial for ensuring that disabled passengers receive the assistance they need. The report highlights how important adequate staffing levels are to prevent failed assists and heavily criticised the plans to close railway ticket offices in 2023.
A New Era for Accessibility
The establishment of Great British Railways offers a unique opportunity to embed accessibility as a core principle in transport policy, states the report. This includes ensuring that accessibility considerations are embedded firmly into decision-making processes and that there is meaningful involvement of disabled people in policy development.
Overall, this is an excellent report that recognises accessibility as a fundamental human right, not just a customer service issue. I hope it gets the attention and action it needs.
Some interesting links
The amount of time lifts on the London Underground have been closed due to a lack of staff has almost doubled in the last year. Lifts were out of action for 6,197 hours in 2024 compared with 3,301 hours in 2023 and 2,480 in 2022. By the way, if you want to check quickly if the lifts are working, we built a website over a decade ago because I was tired of clicking through the TfL pages instead of seeing it at a glance.
Remember “United breaks guitars”? Well, they are after ventilators now.
An Australian woman is suing Uber in the Federal Court, alleging drivers broke disability discrimination laws by refusing to pick up her guide dog on dozens of occasions.
“Inaccessible stations not only hinder disabled citizens from getting jobs, going to doctor’s appointments and travelling freely through the city, but also send a message to the community as a whole that they are undeserving of basic transportation.” - Opinion piece on New York’s public transport.
Something to watch
Inclusion will never be possible if the decisions that shape the world are made only by a few, for a few. From having a say in everyday personal choices to being involved in writing laws and policies, disabled people demand a seat at the table where the decisions are made. This is the topic of this year’s World Down Syndrome Day. The station planning part of the video made me laugh.
There is also a version with audiodescription.
Some final words
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Who is writing this newsletter?
I’m Christiane Link, and I improve the customer experience in aviation, transport, and travel. I worked as a journalist for over two decades and travelled extensively for business and leisure. I’m a wheelchair user.
Work with me
Whether you're a Customer service director, a Head of Customer Experience, a corporate Accessibility manager, a DEI leader, a transport planner, or a disabled employee resource group member, I can help you to make your organisation more inclusive. You can book me for speaking engagements or hire me as a consultant for your accessibility or DEI strategy, communications advice and other related matters. I have worked for airlines, airports, train operators, public transport providers, and companies in other sectors.
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