Accessible transport: legal obligations
Transport for All
Our response to the Transport Committee's inquiry into Accessible transport: legal obligations
Read our response
Summary
Current legislation does not ensure accessible transport for all due to weak language, limited implementation, and inadequate legal consequences. In order to properly enforce existing legislation, the penalty administered for breaches must be of similar significance as the breach itself. In order for operators to uphold their legal obligations to make transport accessible, adequate staffing levels are critical. Complaints and compensation can work well for individual disabled people, however the processes are often long, complicated, emotionally draining, and inaccessible. Some transport sectors do not have adequate consumer protections in the first place. Accessibility provisions vary across the country, and disabled people face significant barriers on every mode of transport. Regulators do not have significant enough powers to enforce the legal obligations of their particular mode of transport. The current legal obligations for transport are minimal, and guidance often does not have any legal standing whatsoever, making it ineffectual. We do not have any examples of best practice, and any guidance developed should be coproduced with disabled people. Whilst we initially welcomed the Inclusive Transport Strategy, we are disappointed with its lack of progress, and feel that the strategy itself could have gone further.
