How we will make
transport in London
more accessible
Part 1 - About our plans
and these booklets
An EasyRead version of
‘Taking Forward the Mayor’s Transport Strategy
Accessibility Implementation Plan.’
March 2012
This booklet is part of 3 booklets about
the Mayor’s Transport Strategy (MTS).
The booklets are:
Booklet 1 About our plans and these booklets
Booklet 2 What we have done so far on public
transport
Booklet 3 What we will do in the future on the
roads, parking and other transport
This is an EasyRead version of the
Transport for London (TfL) report.
It says when, where and how we will
make transport in London more
accessible for disabled people.
For more details please see the full
report here:
www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/
publications-and-reports/
accessibility-implementation-plan
Also how we make sure services are
accessible and we treat people fairly
and equally:
www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/about-tfl/
corporate-and-social-responsibility/
eqality-and-inclusion
Each year we check how well we are
doing.
What is in this Booklet
Page
1. Listening to what you think
1
2. Our work and plans (The MTS)
3
3. The difficulties people face
9
4. Making your whole journey accessible
11
1. Listening to what you
think
Last year we asked disabled people,
travel groups and the public what we
should do to make transport more
accessible.
We used their ideas when we wrote
this report.
People said we need to think about:
1. Making access to transport easier
for people using wheelchairs,
buggies carrying heavy things and
so on.
2. Making transport information
easier to understand and more
accurate.
3. How staff treat you.
1
4. How passengers treat each other.
5. Having enough staff.
6. Staff training.
7. Door to door transport like
Dial-a-Ride.
2
2. Our work and plans
(The MTS)
Transport in London is one of the
oldest systems in the world. It is also
very big and is not always accessible,
especially some parts of the Tube and
rail.
A lot of money has been spent on
making transport in London more
accessible in the last 10 years. This has
been led by the Mayor’s transport plan,
called the MTS for short.
The MTS tries to do 6 things:
1. Have transport that helps
business and copes with more
people.
2. Makes people’s lives better.
3
3. Makes London safer.
4. Gives people better ways to travel.
5. Be greener and more reliable.
6. Support the Olympics and
Paralympics.
4
The MTS has 130 areas of work that
need doing. 5 of these look at access.
These are areas 40 through 44.
Area 40 - making access easier by:
z
having step free access
z
better access in town centres and
near accessible stations
z
making sure that new transport
services really are accessible
z
and that this work is done fairly
across London.
5
Area 41 - information that is:
z
more available
z
better
z
up to date.
Area 42 - having staff who are:
z
polite
z
helpful.
6
And a service that is:
z
safe
z
friendly.
Area 43 - having more staff who are
there when they are needed to give
help and support.
Staff who understand the access
needs of disabled people and who help
make a good journey.
7
Area 44 - still have door to door
services like Dial-a-Ride.
This report tells you about some of the
work that has been done to make
transport easier to use for disabled
people and others.
A lot of money is still being spent on
some work at the moment, like
Crossrail.
But we know there will not be so much
money in the future. So we need to
spend it as well as we can.
This report will help with other plans
on what to do next.
8
3. The difficulties
people face
The difficulties disabled people face
when using transport are all very
different.
People using wheelchairs face
problems with steps.
But they also have very different needs
depending on the type of wheelchair
and whether they are pushed, electric
or moved themselves.
There are lots of people who have
difficulties moving around. It is
important to look at when this
becomes an access problem that
needs sorting.
As well as difficulties moving around
there are also access problems faced
by people who cannot see or hear well.
9
There is not just one way to make
transport accessible for everyone.
There are a huge number of ways and
they can cost a lot of money.
One of our jobs is to spend money in
the best ways possible, getting the
most from it.
There are also more older people now.
We have to make sure that transport
meets their needs as well.
There are also people who do not have
a disability but can also have problems
moving around because they are
carrying heavy things or pushing a
baby buggy.
The changes here are making
transport easier to use for them as
well. This might mean people use less
cars and more public transport.
10
4. Making your whole
journey accessible
The idea behind these plans is to make
the whole journey, from start to finish,
accessible. We have called this the
‘Whole Journey Approach’.
The most common problem is when
people need to change. For example,
to go to another platform or get off a
tube and onto a bus.
If we can make transport more
accessible for more people they will
use it more.
Asking disabled people how the
journey was for them helps us find out
about the places and things that could
be better. As we explain later, we do
that a lot.
11
These are some of the things people
are less happy with are:
z
getting on and off buses
z
getting to the Tube and train
platforms
z
crowded platforms
z
staff not around when you need
them
12
z
maps and information on trains
z
train stations not repaired
z
feeling unsafe at train stations
z
not enough information or staff at
train stations
13
z
walking and driving around London.
The work we speak about in this report
needs to be done to make the whole
journey more accessible and help
make sure people are happier with
their journey.
But it needs everyone in all the
different jobs and different types of
transport to work together.
14
15
16