Disability & public transport. Working for you?

[Rosemary_1706]

Today the BBC ( London) is running a 3 part series exploring how public transportation is working for the disabled. With my wheelchaired mother and alone, I have seen buses not able to get the ramp down, and instances where children in push chairs prevent the disabled getting on the bus. What have been your experiences? What can Carers UK do to support our plight for equal access?

[Chris From The Gulag]

Some links to go with Rosemary's post :

Transport For London ... Statutory Watchdog :

http://www.londontravelwatch.org.uk/home/

Transport For All ... a leading pressure group for the disabled to access public transport :

http://www.transportforall.org.uk/campaigns/

Guardian article ... Supreme Court Decision ... Access for wheelchair users on public transport :

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/201 ... reme-court

Not forgetting OUR own campaign for free public transport for carers ... 16,000+ reads :

https://www.carersuk.org/forum/news-and ... ?start=140

Carers UK ?

A mere bystander.

My experience ?

Pushed mother everywhere ... no roll on , roll off buses or trains in my day ... Shoeburyness ( Essex ) / Oulton Broad ( Suffolk ).

My manor ?

Worksop ... buses okay BUT spaces reserved normally full of mothers with pushchairs ... the single deck cattle truck variety better than the double decked variety.

Trains ?

Nope ... still the old Pacer variety ... not even a ramp to the guard's cupboard.



As for London Underground ... The Tube ... a complete and utter nightmare for ANY wheelchair user !!!!

[Chris From The Gulag]

London Underground ?

The following link to the CityMetric site ... tube map for wheelchair users ... is a must :

https://www.citymetric.com/transport/wh ... chair-1811

As you will see , not as truthful as the authorities make it out to be ?

Another one from the Guardian ... same theme :

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017 ... yone-elses

Alan Benson, chair of Transport for All and an electric wheelchair user himself, says many disabled and older Londoners are “locked out” from using the tube. “With avoidable lift closures due to staff shortages and repairs that often take up to six months, even those stations that are accessible become unusable,” he adds. “It stops us from getting to work or university, to see friends and family, or just to live our lives like everyone else.”

[Chris From The Gulag]

As a spin off , an article from The Metro back in 2015 :

https://metro.co.uk/2015/04/26/how-to-n ... e-5157533/

How to navigate London in a wheelchair without losing the will to live.

Some excellent tips ... for those using public transport and the occasional black taxi.

[Rosemary_1706]

Always a fountain of information Chris. Access is not a problem for me but I do become annoyed when mothers with pushchairs object to folding it up and carrying their child so a person in a wheelchair can board the bus.

[Chris From The Gulag]

Shame it's not a fountain of Adnams Broadside ?

Yep ... young mothers with pushchairs ... a bane of my caring days ... travelling in convoys blocking the pavement for faster travelling wheelchairs ... same for buses ... even saw an overflowing guard's van with 'em onboard back in ... 1999 ?

Still , mustn't be prejudist ... must we , gentlemen ... and pushers of wheelchairs known as carers ?

[Rosemary_1706]

I admit to having looked that up! More used to Samuel Adams brew from my days in Boston! Massachusetts that is.

[Chris From The Gulag]

Boston ?

Learning fast ... and quite surprising given the number of micro brewers.





As for the rest of our former colony , stick to the liquor !

[Rosemary_1706]

Not to be confused with Sam Smith's from up north, or south if, like me, you've spent any time in Durham! OK, I know I'm getting off topic but I am getting thirsty here!

[Chris From The Gulag]

At least it's not mouthwash that comes out of Burton-on-Trent ?

Morning for upsetting readers ... young mothers with pushchairs / inhabitants of B-o-T ?

Back to the thread ... despite what the Authorities make out , travelling on public transport for many wheelchair users ( And other disabilities ) ... and their accomaning carers ... can be a nightmare ... even at the best of times.

Air travel ?

Don't ask ... enough in the recent news about that ... wheelchairs users being stranded on planes ... some fireman's lifted down.

Famous scene from The West Wing series ... President Bartlett ... ?