LEISURE & RETAIL


TRANSFORMING TRANSPORT FOR EVERYONE


Ryan Lloyd, Editor of Tomorrow’s FM, spoke to The Stair Climbing Company to establish how we can make public transport more accessible for all.


One of the things many non-disabled people take for granted is an ability to use public transport. As Gordon McCullough, CEO of Research Institute for Disabled Consumers, notes in a recent Innovate UK KTN report: “Ask disabled people and their families what accessible transport means, and you will get a list of compromises, barriers and restrictions that make leaving their homes a challenge. Accessible and inclusive transport for disabled people is a compromise, not a choice.”


For example, did you know 40% of UK train stations are not accessible? Because of this, it is estimated that up to 40% of working aged people with disabilities struggle to travel by train. But it goes beyond just working life. The lack of access to the most basic services in this country stops people living their lives to the fullest; by not being able to get places, people even miss out of the basic necessity of wanting and needing to socialise with others.


We hear it everywhere on the news, X, formerly known as Twitter, and the radio: there are broken promises about


improving access for the disabled – and it’s not only that we’re more astute to it because our business deals with this day-to-day.


In the last three years alone, there have been promises to make all trains in the UK accessible for all disabled passengers. Unfortunately, it appears this idea was shelved and there has been no penalty to the country’s rail operators.


To combat these issues with accessibility, we must first understand how to measure it – and where the issues lie.


So, how do we measure accessibility? There are 15 ways that National Rail Enquiries (NRE) measure accessibility. One of these is whether the station has ‘step free access’ (such as ramps and lifts throughout the station). In London, only 44% of train stations and a third of tube stations have ‘step-free access’. We are determined to change this. It is our mission to strive for 100% access for all disabled visitors. Everywhere.


36 | TOMORROW’S FM


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