Euro-MP calls for greater accessibility to public transport

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 27th Aug 2002

Liz Lynne, Liberal Democrat MEP for the West Midlands and Vice-President of the European Parliament Disability Intergroup has called for improvements to be made in the accessibility of public transport in the wake of a report from the RNIB.

Liz Lynne commented, “This RNIB exposes the scandal of a public transport network that is largely dangerous and inaccessible for blind people and which has robbed many of them of their sense of independence. I share the concern that it is only a matter of time before somebody is killed in an accident whilst travelling.

“Train and bus stations can be busy and daunting places for all of us; imagine having to tackle stairs, crowds of people, timetables as well as boarding the train as a blind person. It is little surprise that blind and disabled people feel intimidated by such set ups and as a result of course they will feel excluded from using public transport.”

The report urges the government, local authorities, train operators and the general public to help remove the danger aspect and improve access of these facilities, which are essential to the mobility and independence of blind and visually impaired people. It calls for more public announcements and for the removal of potentially hazardous objects from pavements and platforms.

She added "Significant steps have been made in the field of accessibility to public transport over the past ten years, but this has been undermined by a lack of commitment from the government. During my time in the Commons I fought hard to have public transport included in the raft of measures introduced by the Disability Discrimination Act, to no avail. It is sad that seven years later we have not made as much progress as we should have.”