TfL doubles funding to make stations accessible
Transport for All
Transport for All welcome Transport for London’s announcement that it will double funding for making stations accessible...
Transport for All welcome Transport for London’s announcement that it will double funding for making stations accessible from £75 million to £150 million.
Mayor of London Boris Johnson had previously committed to ensuring that 50% of London’s rail and Tube stations will have step-free access by 2018, which would increase travel options for disabled and older people.
This funding is much needed; though all DLR stations have step-free access, three quarters of Tube stations and half of Overground stations do not.
TfA members frequently use an additional mode of transport, such as a bus or taxi, and bear the cost of doing so, as a result of an inaccessible station near their destination.
The overall amount of funding needed to make all necessary adaptations to all stations with poor access is not currently known. Nor has information been released detailing which stations this funding will be used to improve.
Nevertheless, the funding boost will help to make journeys quicker and easier for TfA members, and Faryal Velmi, Director of Transport for All responded to the announcement by saying: “We are delighted that TfL’s station accessibility fund has been doubled to £150 million. At the moment, three quarters of the Tube lacks step-free access, and remains out of bounds to thousands of disabled and older Londoners.
“We look forward to more details about how this accessibility fund will work and which stations will benefit from it.
“We urge the next Mayor to ring fence and turbo-power TfL’s step-free funding programme and so that disabled and older people are able to travel with the same freedom and independence as everyone else.”
TfA member Paul Toovey lives in an area with many inaccessible stations. “I’m thrilled that the fund is increasing as I live in Hillingdon, right near the start of the Metropolitan and Piccadilly lines, and in that area the nearest station which is step-free from street to train is Wembley Park station. For all the other stations in the Uxbridge area you either need a manual ramp, or they’re not even step-free from the street to the platform.”
