Making Bus Travel Accessible for all

Nikki, our CEO, attended an accessible transport policy roundtable discussion on the Bus Services Bill.

The Bus Services Bill is currently going through the House of Lords and will soon reach the House of Commons to be debated by MPs.

This roundtable, chaired by Baroness Grey Thompson gave organisations an opportunity to share their views on accessible bus travel while it’s still possible to influence the legislation.

The bill aims to give local authorities in England control over bus services and includes details on how bus travel accessibility should be improved.

There are 4 main parts of the bill that address accessibility.

• Requirements enabling travel by persons with disabilities” – Allows authorities to specify accessibility features that bus services operating in their area must provide to allow disabled people to travel “independently, and in safety and reasonable comfort”. The Bill states that this might include providing a disabled person with an alternative means of transport, for example, if the bus’s wheelchair space is already occupied.
• Bus network accessibility plans” – Requires authorities to publish a bus network accessibility plan outlining the support available for disabled people to help them use local bus services, say in their judgment how accessible local bus services are, and describe any actions they intend to take to improve accessibility.
• Safety and accessibility of stopping places” – Gives the Secretary of State for Transport new powers to issue guidance about the design, location, construction and maintenance of bus stops and stations to make them easier and safe for disabled people to use. This includes setting out how authorities should secure the input of other stakeholders to the development of bus stops and stations. It would also require the Secretary of State to consult with the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee before issuing or revoking the guidance or making substantial changes to it.
• Training about disability” – Introduces a requirement for bus services staff to undertake training that both improves their awareness of disability and supports them to assist disabled passengers. Staff would be required to do such training at least once every five years. It would create requirements for operators to keep records on the training undertaken by staff, publish information relating to their compliance with accessibility training rules and provide information to the government if asked. Finally, the Bill would allow local transport commissioners to specify penalties that can be imposed on operators who fail to comply. Unlike the other accessibility measures in the Bill, the training sections would apply to Scotland and Wales as well as England.

The discussion from the roundtable will be written up and shared with MPs ahead of any further discussions on the bill.

The general consensus from the meeting was that the bill doesn’t go far enough in terms of the accessibility suggestions. For example, the section on bus stops structure is only guidance, we felt this should be enforceable by law. We’ll keep you updated as things progress.