Guide Dogs greets journey to free bus travel for disabled people in England

Guide Dogs greets journey to free bus travel for disabled people in England

The scheme, which offers free off-peak bus travel to disabled people, will also be welcomed by many blind and partially sighted people in England who rely on scheduled buses to travel independently.

However there is still some way to go on the journey to truly accessible transport for all:

Sue Sharp, Head of Public Policy and Campaigns for Guide Dogs, explains: "We are disappointed that the new scheme does not widen concessionary travel opportunities to include peak times of the day. There is also no concession for those who need to travel with disabled people who are unable to use public transport unaccompanied.

“In the future, we would also like to see the statutory concession extended to all modes of public transport, not just buses, and for there to be reciprocity between the schemes across the UK.

Whilst the new scheme will help give many blind and partially-sighted people greater independence, Guide Dogs says that for their journey to be fully accessible, audio and visual (AV) passenger information systems should also be installed on all buses and coaches used on local and scheduled services.

There is a legal requirement for all new trains across the UK to have AV announcements, and Transport for London has committed to introducing these announcements on all its buses by 2009. Equipment is already up and running on two of TfL’s major bus routes, but it remains the only area in the UK that has pledged to introduce AV information across its network.

Guide Dogs, which leads on transport issues for blind and partially-sighted people, will continue to campaign the Government to review its position on these important issues so that all modes of transport can be fully accessible for all its users.