Research shows how transport bodies could add accessibility into vital planning tool

Transport bodies planning station upgrades could take easy steps that would allow them to take greater account of accessibility when deciding where to invest, new research commissioned by disabled people has shown.

The research, published yesterday (Wednesday) by the disabled-led campaigning organisation Transport for All (TfA), shows that a key measure used by Transport for London to measure public access to the capital’s transport network does not take account of accessibility.

But if accessibility factors were included in the Public Transport Access Level (PTAL) measure, it could help a “wide range” of organisations, including transport bodies and developers, measure the impact of their proposals on disabled people, and reach different conclusions about where they should invest.

This could help direct organisations like Transport for London (TfL) to prioritise investment in local areas that have no other accessible public transport options, the research found.

PTAL is used by TfL to rate different locations in the capital on how easy it is for people to access the public transport network, and it takes account of walking distance to the nearest stations or stops; waiting-times; the number of services; and the distance to major rail stations.

But PTAL ignores the accessibility of transport services, and factors such as step-free access, the level of crowding, availability of toilets, and provision of information.

Yesterday’s report, Accessibility Review of the PTAL Index, found that a new Accessible Public Transport Access Level (APTAL) measurement could provide “substantially different” results than PTAL.

Initial research highlighted barriers faced by disabled passengers such as a lack of step-free access; overcrowding; lack of staff; the inability to secure wheelchairs on buses or trains; a lack of priority seating; driver and passenger attitudes; inadequate information; and poor quality pavements and road surfaces.

Disabled people who use public transport and took part in the study told researchers that step-free access was the most important measure to be added to APTAL because for many disabled people “it is the difference between being able to access a station versus not at all”.

The level of crowding was the second-most important measure because “disorientation, noise levels, and difficulty finding space in lifts were acknowledged as affecting a diverse range of people”.

They also looked at access to toilet facilities at stations.

Some potential measures could not be added to the APTAL model for the report because of the lack of suitable publicly-available data.

The research found that including each of the three new measures “significantly changes the score” given to the three central London locations the report examined.

Map-based graphics in the report show how the areas around King’s Cross with higher scores for access to public transport shrink drastically when including accessibility data on crowding, step-free access and availability of toilets, as they do for Soho and, to a lesser extent, Southwark.

The researchers concluded: “Accessibility is complex. However, it is possible to measure some aspects of accessibility in a simple and straightforward way.

“In the future a more accessible PTAL could be used to prioritise investments like station upgrades.”

Deborah Persaud, TfA’s chair, who took part in the research, said: “London should be a city for everyone, but current planning systems effectively bar disabled people from parts of the city.

“It’s time Transport for London added accessibility to planning, so London can start to be truly open to us all.”

Caroline Russell, a Green Party member of the London Assembly, who supported the report, said she hoped it would provide “a much-needed blueprint for improving the way we address and expand accessibility measures in our planning policy”.

Alex Williams, TfL’s chief customer and strategy officer, said: “Our vision is a London where everyone can move around the city safely, comfortably and sustainably, and access to public transport is fundamental to this.

“We are working continually to make our network as accessible as possible, but we know there is much more work to be done.

“We welcome this report from Transport for All and will be carefully reviewing its recommendations.”

TfL said that more than a third of Tube stations across the capital are step-free, while the mayor, Sadiq Khan, has set a goal of making half of all stations step-free by 2030.

In January, the mayor announced investment in toilet provision of £3 million per year over five years across the TfL network.

TfL also said that its new Equity in Motion plansets out more than 80 commitments to make its network fairer, more accessible and more inclusive.

The research for TfA was carried out by Revealing Reality and Frontier Economics, and it was funded by the Motability Foundation charity.

Catherine Marris, Motability Foundation’s head of innovation and policy, said the report provides “new insight into how public transport networks can be made accessible to all, and crucially it is based on user research carried out with disabled people”.

She said the report “adds to the evidence base we have on why accessibility needs to be at the heart of future transport planning, and we look forward to continuing to influence for change in this area”.

Picture: Caroline Russell (left) and Deborah Persaud

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