Taking the pain out of travel

DISABLED people will be the driving force behind a ground-breaking research centre being created to close the “transport accessibility gap”

The Evidence Centre for Inclusive Transport will look at ways to improve the accessibility and reliability of road, rail and air transport for disabled people

With £20 million in funding, the centre aims to transform the transport sector ’s understanding of disabled people’s experiences and develop accessible solutions

The Research Institute for Disabled Consumers will play a key role in ensuring that disabled people are at the heart of the centre’s work signage for all our hackneys to assist partially sighted and blind passengers to identify the vehicle they are travelling in, for safety reasons

“We provide training for our drivers and regularly check compliance on the use of and availability of ramps We have also worked with drivers on making sure they do not refuse assistance dogs ” balanced social life and get from A to B

“I’m fed up of being told that accessible taxis are only used for hospital and school pickups, with many being cut off in the evening Sadly, it seems disabled people are perceived not to go out at night!”

The charity’s research also shows that availability isn’t the only issue Almost half of those surveyed revealed they had experienced some form of discrimination and stigma from taxi/PHV drivers or operators, suggesting the problem is widespread

Financial incentives

Gemma Hope, director of policy at Leonard Cheshire, said: “We want to see the Government putting forward financial incentives to help cover some of the upfront costs of wheelchair accessible vehicles and increase the supply of zero-emissions compliant wheelchair accessible vehicles on the roads ”

The charity is also calling for mandatory disability awareness training for taxi and PHV staff to help address some of the negative experiences disabled customers have had

Currently, only about half of local authorities require drivers to undertake training on how to support disabled customers

Connecting with 250,000 people

This will include developing and managing a new Community for Accessible Transport, a panel of disabled people which will help set the centre’s agenda by providing evidence and insight through such things as surveys, focus groups and testing

Phil Friend, RiDC’s chair, said: “RiDC has a 50-year history in improving the consumer experience of disabled people

“Our role is to ensure it is disabled people themselves who express what’s needed, so we avoid ‘reinventing a bad wheel’ ”

Paul Herriotts, professor of transport design at Coventry University, said: “We recognise the daily challenges still faced by disabled people in accessing transport in the UK

“We will look to disabled people to help guide and inform our activities and to help shape the future of public and private transport in the UK ”