British Youth Council
Select Committee enquiry
Transport Select Committee
The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) is very excited
to be able to provide some evidence to this enquiry. We provide a
number of services to visually impaired (VI) people such as
computer support, employment support and also have a very
active campaigning function.
One of our key areas of work is around the issue of isolation and
how services such as transport can be enhanced to remove some
of the barriers which are faced by blind and partially sighted
people.
The evidence in this paper is taken directly from the views of
young people who come into contact with us either as members or
campaigners.
Young People's experiences of using transport
We believe that blind and partially sighted young people face very
specific problems with accessing public transport and it is
frustrating that some of these can be resolved without
considerable spending on enhanced infrastructure.
It is important to distinguish at this point between those who travel
in London and people trying to access transport outside London.
Transport for London who are responsible for overseeing the
buses, Underground and some overground services have made
considerable improvements during the past decade. There are
now announcements on Tube trains and buses something which
Sam aged 13 is thrilled about 'I can now travel normally on a bus
with my friends instead of having to rely on them to tell me when it
is my stop…' similarly Ashok notes that 'I used to worry so much
about getting my bus to college as people and the driver have
forgotten to tell me when is my stop…now I am able to know this
for myself…'. Sometimes however, these are switched off and not
all young people are as confident as Simone who states 'I tell the
driver I need this and he must put them on…'
However, this is in stark contrast to travel outside London where
very few buses have announcements and hence blind and partially
sighted young people must rely on the good will of fellow
passengers and/or the driver remembering let them know when it
is their stop. The results of this can be an increase in isolation as
young people feel unable to travel alone or an increase in
spending as taxis become used more than would be the case for
non visually impaired young people. Clearly such limited
confidence often goes on into adulthood with the majority of our
members reporting that they rarely go out alone and are thus
dependent on the timings of others.
As with all groups information is key but even more so with blind
and partially sighted people. There needs to be much greater
information at bus stops as very often we receive reports of buses
not stopping because they haven’t been seen either quickly
enough or at all. Therefore what is needed is some audible form
of information at stops, some young people at a specific
convention suggested this could perhaps be achieved via
smartpone technology.
It is also very important to note here how certain types of
behaviour can be taken differently. Normal boisterous behaviour
with pushing, shouting, name calling Etc can be much more scary
for a VI young person than would be the case for a non-VI person.
And as often is the case the perception can be worse than the
reality, however, the result of both is that fewer young people will
be willing to travel independently.
Concessionary fare schemes
There is a good deal of confusion and variety in how local councils
apply these schemes which can work against blind and partially
sighed young people. As a means of getting young people 'out
and about' a companion pass is vital in reducing a young person's
isolation and helping to enhance their independence. Another
means to enhance this independence would be to ensure that it is
not time limited. At the moment some councils (and an increasing
number) are restricting the use of concessionary passes to after
9.30 which would make it very difficult for a visually impaired
young person to get to college. Companion passes would be
helpful here as for the first few times a visually impaired young
person would need to be shown a route and gain confidence
before taking on this journey for themselves.
We believe that these problems become increased when
broadened out in terms of actually getting to the station or bus
stop. Very often the pavement environment is unfriendly for VI
people with lots of obstacles such as advertising boards outside
shops, tables and chairs outside cafes and household bins/rubbish
all to be navigated even before a young person attempts to start
their public transport journey.
Training for staff
It is very clear that considerable differences exist in both the level
of training but perhaps more importantly how this is then applied.
This point relates to one mentioned above around bus driver
behaviour, while there is much good advice given to drivers about
how to 'deal' with a visually impaired person we still receives
regular complaints. These are along the lines of not waiting until a
person has sat down Simone again says '…I have a guide dog so
only have one free hand, however, am very forced to walk down
the moving bus to find a spare seat…'. Again as mentioned above
young people have told us they would be more confident to travel if
they could rely on a bus stopping at the stop rather than having to
be 'hailed'. This again is down to training and is like the first point
frustrating as there would be little cost attached to addressing both
of these points.
Travel on railways especially national travel can be a scary
experience too. While companies do offer 'assisted travel'
schemes we do hear of people being 'forgotten' about and hence
either missing their train or relying on members of the public to get
to the right platform.
Conclusion
We believe that there are still a number of barriers which prevent
blind and partially sighted young people from accessing public
transport. We feel this is made even more frustrating by some of
these problems easily being resolved if current practises are fully
adhered to and would ask that providers pay much more attention
to solutions which come directly from disabled people which are
the direct result of their own experiences.
For further information please contact Richard Holmes
Regional Campaigns Officer RNIB 020 7391 2112
richard.holmes@rnib.org.uk