The Role of the British Department of Transport in Public Transport for Disabled People

In Britain the Department of Transport has been seeking ways of improving transport for disabled people. Surveys have identified travel requirements and problems, and an extensive program of information dissemination has informed disabled people of what services and assistance are available to them. Local buses are being built to be easier for elderly and ambulatory disabled people to use, and staff trained to help deaf and blind people use buses. Wheelchair accessible buses are being used for private hire and for a limited number of special local bus services designed to serve areas where there are many disabled people. There has been widespread introduction of small scale "community transport" services for elderly, disabled or deprived people, and in addition there are now about 100 dial-a-ride services for disabled people. A new generation of taxi is being developed for the major cities which use a specialized vehicle at present. These are accessible to wheelchairs and also easier for ambulant disabled and partially sighted people to use. In conjunction with British rail, which has made about 50 main line stations fully accessible and has almost all trains between these stations accessible, the new taxis promise accessible public transport within and between Britain's major cities. The paper concludes by mentioning some of the issues for disabled pedestrians and motorists currently being studied.