The Percy Hedley Foundation Speaks Out

Improving Access to Transport

Disabled people with mobility problems, including those who use wheelchairs, still face serious obstacles to using public transport. This is despite the introduction of the DDA over 15 years ago which required services to make reasonable adjustments to ensure all customers can use their facilities. Furthermore, we believe that these improvements, which benefit all travellers, should become the new standard, and not be seen as something special provided for a minority of travellers.

In relation to train travel, I think there are three main groups of issues - each with clear solutions.

Stations

Firstly is access to stations. Where our trains use old, often Victorian, stations then there can be real difficulties although it is rare that some form of ramp, or individual electric lifts cannot be installed. There are still some of the older ramps that were built before current specifications were introduced, and these can be steep and difficult, or occasionally dangerous, to use. Newer stations, notably those that are part of modern urban train systems such as Tyneside Metro or London Underground, meet today's 21st century standard and show that full access is possible.

Access to the stations, though, is not the major problem. A more common difficulty is transfer between platforms. Bridges or underground tunnels are traditional routes between platforms and rarely are these barriers tackled. Even on a disability friendly system such as Tyneside Metro, transfer between platforms usually involves using local roads with a bridge over the rail track. In some cases this may involve just a few minutes travel but in a significant number of stations this requires a much longer journey and, in practice, a taxi ride is the practical alternative.

Access to facilities within a station has improved where new facilities have been introduced. For example, ticket machines nearly always have a low level version; ticket counters will usually be at an appropriate height for wheelchair users (although manoeuvring a wheelchair against the window so the user can reach across the counter may sometimes be awkward). Some other private facilities can be more problematic. Try buying a coffee or cookie and the high level counter will involve shouting up to place an order and the salesperson having to come round out of the kiosk to deliver the purchases. There is usually some version of a disabled toilet in stations but, where these are located within a standard toilet area, then opening a heavy door to get into the area presents a common difficulty.

Trains

Secondly, access to trains themselves is another area of potential difficulty. The most common solution is for staff to use metal ramps, but this facility has to be booked well in advance of travel so it does not really constitute equal access. The technology to provide easy access is well established, with electric lifts fitting into carriage doorways. Buses have been using similar technology for some years. Rail companies have set themselves targets to introduce these carriages within the next few years (for example National Express hope to have it in place by 2012) but in some European countries they are already common.

Staff Training

One really useful solution is staff training. Where disability awareness has been increased and, importantly, staff members have specific responsibly for leading on disability access, then many travellers have noted a marked improvement in service. A spell in a wheelchair (or, to better understand visual impairment, under a blindfold) can really help staff understand the barriers in their workplace, and make them better able to help a disabled traveller. Sometimes this is as simple as making sure they travel at a suitable pace when pushing a wheelchair user or guiding a blind person; they can spot where notice boards, trolleys, seating, broken equipment are creating a real handicap to a traveller and do something to put it right. One simple example is in train announcements. To announce "this is Benton Station" is not as helpful as "the next station will be Benton", thus allowing a disable traveller, whether in a wheelchair or blind, time to move to a door before the train arrives at the station.

The aim of disabled access should be to enable a disabled traveller to manage their journey on their own, without needing to rely on staff for assistance. But until that standard becomes a reality, the presence of trained staff is an essential part of the system.

Tyneside Metro has introduced a useful scheme which provides training for disabled people in using the Metro. They are given guidance on the facilities available, how to plan accessible routes, and practice in using the trains themselves. This not only increases self confidence but can directly result in more use of the system and so enables disabled people to get out and about more.

Other Disabilities

People with other disabilities face everyday problems with train travel that do not face able bodied travellers. For example, blind people rely on spoken announcements to know when and where trains will depart; this will also keep them informed of which trains are arriving at a platform. On board, they again rely on these spoken announcements to tell them where the train is or, if a train is stopped, whether this is outside or at a station. Announcements need to be clear, and reliable to be of real use.

On most London underground trains, these announcements are now provided for every stop and included in station announcements, and this has made a vast difference to ease of travel for people with visual impairments. That system links high visibility signs with the speech announcements so the same message is transmitted in both mediums, thus helping both people with visual impairments and those with hearing impairments. One advantage of the London underground is that trains tend to be dedicated to specific lines and routes, so the technology can be built in to certain trains. Modern technology, though, should enable all trains, and many buses, to have this facility.

Sound location devices, emitting a regular bleep to identify the location of, say, a door or service counter are being slowly introduced, currently more on a trial basis then as a matter of policy, but may prove to be a valuable addition to help blind people (as they are on road crossings).

The introduction of touch sensitive screens on ticket machines and information points usually hinders access by people with visual impairments. If speech output were available to indicate what was on the screen, this could help but in practice the noisy surroundings make it unlikely to be reliable.

People with hearing impairments need written signs to inform them of train movements and of travel progress. This technology is not particularly sophisticated but it still not available universally. The visibility of signs has improved using guidelines recommending dark backgrounds with lighter coloured illuminated letters, font sizes that can be seen clearly, and reducing glare through shading signs from direct sunlight. The widespread use of written signs, including in high risk areas such as motorways, has resulted in significant research in visibility that benefits disabled travellers.

Modern technology can revolutionise access to information for some disabled people. For example a system has been developed and piloted for travellers who are both deaf and blind. Using mobile phone technology with GPS, a deafblind person can receive vibrations on their mobile phone indicating when their train is arriving at a platform, and alerting them to any platform changes, and informing them of the progress of their train. This development relies on co-operation between computer software engineers, phone service providers and train companies. This type of 'joined up thinking' and multi-agency co-operation has the potential to make dramatic improvements. It is encouraging that there is interest from some universities and computer company research departments, but it is still a hope that such systems will become embedded in train travel practice rather than remain as experimental schemes.

Is the cost justified?

There is still a valid question of whether it can be justified, with limited budgets and relatively small numbers of disabled people, to spend money on improving access through some of the developments disciplined above. My answer is an unequivocal 'yes'.

Improvements help those people born disabled, who did not choose to have their disability and should be able to be full members of our communities. It also helps those people who acquire disabilities through illness.

The UK is due to host the Olympics in 2012 and disabled athletes from around the world will travel here to take part in the games. A number of regional centres have been identified as training centres for able bodied and disabled athletes. It would be immensely embarrassing, even disgraceful, if those athletes were not able to travel to their training centres, and into the Olympic grounds itself, because of inadequate access to public transport.

One group of people who we are increasingly asked to support are the warriors from the armed services, returning form conflicts with permanent disabilities. Surely those people, having served their country, are entitled to be able to continue to travel on public transport. At present many are denied that possibility.

But although improvements are not only of help to disabled people, they will certainly give them access, for the first time, to public transport, but the improvements also assist very many members of the public - people with baby buggies, people with luggage, the increasing number of elderly people - will all be helped by improvements to physical access and information. These improvements should be our new standard, not something specialist provided for disabled people.

Tony Best
Chief Executive Officer
Percy Hedley Foundation
February 2010

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