Dial-a-Ride: From Door to More
We teamed up with AgeUK London to investigate the experiences of Dial-a-Ride users, including the importance of Dial-a-Ride as well as improvements that could be made to the service.
Background
We’ve teamed up with Age UK London to investigate the experiences of Dial-a-Ride users, including the importance of Dial-a-Ride as well as improvements that could be made to the service.
We are now excited to publish “Dial-a-Ride: From Door to More”, a report outlining the positive and negative experiences of 14 Dial-a-Ride users and highlighting potential areas for improvement.
From our research, it is evident that the Dial-a-Ride service is highly valued by disabled and older Londoners for whom it provides a sense of independence. At the same time, our research also revealed frustrations with the service due to long waiting times, late arrivals, distance restrictions, and inefficient routes. We will use the insights gained from this research to campaign for improvements to the Dial-a-Ride service and to ensure that this service continues to exist for those who need it.
Caroline Stickland, CEO at Transport for All said: “The Dial-a-Ride service is life changing for its users. It provides a life-line for many people, we heard time and time again from our interviewees that without the bus they would not go out – shopping, meet friends and family or go to social events. But there are many flaws in the service that lets it down and can easily be improved.”
Access the full report
Transport for London responds…
In September 2022 Transport for London (TfL) responded in writing to all of the report’s recommendations. We are pleased that TfL are announcing some positive changes following the campaigning of Dial-A-Ride members together with Age UK London and Transport for All.
The key changes are:
- Additional staff to reduce call waiting times.
- A new scheduling system to reduce inefficient journeys.
- Involving Dial-A-Ride members in the design of a new booking and scheduling system.
Despite these positive changes, we are disappointed that TfL has not seized the opportunity to make more of the changes that ourselves and the Dial-a-Ride members we work alongside wanted to see. These changes would have had a profound impact on Londoners who rely on door-to-door transport. Both our organisations are concerned that the responses received do not always indicate a sense of urgency from TfL.
Summary report
We have produced an updated summary version of our original report, which includes an outline of TfL’s response and extracts from our meeting at City Hall.
