‘To boldly go where everyone else has gone before’
As No Go Britain brings together the stories of disabled people on the UK’s buses and trains, the director of campaign group Transport for All explains how you can help the push for change.
The heading of this piece was the motto of the Disabled People’s Direct Action Network’s (DAN) “We Will Ride” campaign, which almost 20 years ago saw disabled activists chain themselves to inaccessible buses and trains.
Their passion and activism directly resulted in changes and improvements to London’s transport network, writes Faryal Velmi.
The buses we see on our roads today, with technological advances like wheelchair ramps and audio-visual information for example are a testimony to the struggle of generations of accessible transport campaigners like those above.
Transport for All (TfA) is proud to stand in this tradition as we continue to campaign and lobby for the right of all disabled and older people to travel with the same freedom and choice as everyone else.
And there is certainly much more to win; with the No Go Britain investigation shining a huge media spotlight on the everyday transport problems disabled people still face as we try to live our lives.
Transport for All’s own advice and advocacy helpline takes a wide range of calls from disabled people and older who are fed up with being constantly let down by the way transport services are planned and run.
Read more: No Go Britain - disabed passengers' own stories
Mohammed Mohsan Ali is a visually impaired activist and a TfA trustee. He has been at the sharp end of the Transport for London (TfL) decision to axe staff positions from the London Underground.
He recalls a recent incident: “Over the last 18-20 months, the availability of staff assistance has got so bad, that I’m not able to get help from a member of staff 70-90 per cent of the time I travel”.
“My worst experience ironically happened when I was travelling back from the Transport for All demonstration outside City Hall on 20 March. I walked down to London Bridge station and asked for assistance from a member of a staff. He then assisted me down to the platform to get me onto the train to West Ham, and phoned West Ham to let them know I was coming and ask them to meet me off the train”.
“When I arrived there, there was no member of staff to give assistance. A stranger ended up assisting me, however as he had no experience of walking with a VI person I was injured as he tried.”
“I have big concerns as the Olympics and Paralympics are a few months away”.
Unfortunately Mohammed’s experiences around the tube are increasingly becoming common place. Staff assistance is an important factor when it comes to accessibility – however recently on the tube and the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) that lack of assistance is becoming a worrying trend. At worst it can lead to disabled people losing confidence to travel independently – and so any measure to cut staffing levels on Tube, DLR and Rail stations must be opposed.
TfA also believes that an important part of transforming accessible travel is putting forward our aspirations of what changes we would like to see. In the run up to the mayoral and London Assembly elections in London, we have produced a manifesto for a world class accessible transport network that describes how we would like buses, tubes, door to door services amongst other transport services transformed and improved.
It has never been a better time to actively use our experiences to influence politicians, transport providers and commissioners.
Faryal Velmi is director of Transport for All.
Some of the things you can do:
• Invite your local MP/councillor/local authority head on a trip with you. This is so people in power can see for themselves the issues disabled people have when travelling.
• In London people can do the same with their local London Assembly candidates and present them with Transport for All's accessible transport manifesto. You can download the manifesto here.
• Record your journeys and upload them to youtube.com/nogobritain.
• Get in touch with the A2B for all campaign and see whether you have a legal case against a transport provider if you are constantly being let down.
• Contact your local paper and ask them to write about any barriers you face using local transport. For example, what problems do you face on local buses, or is there a local station which presents access issues?
• Keep complaining! If we don't register our complaints when things go wrong, transport providers have no idea about when services are not working.
• Organise your own flashmob. A lively peaceful static protest is a great way of bringing attention to a particular transport issue - grabbing media and general public attention on the way.
• TfA's advocacy service can help you. Tel: 0207 737 2339. Email: contactus@transportforall.org.uk
