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Research from the National Centre for Accessible Transport found that 79% of disabled people travel less often and 84% experience longer journey times due to barriers like cluttered pavements, a lack of step-free access and poor staff assistance. Outside of London, a lack of connectivity between transport modes means many journeys are impossible to complete on public transport – even for non-disabled people.
This has a huge impact on the wellbeing of disabled people, reducing access to work, health and leisure opportunities. Studies have found that the difficulty of accessing transport contributes to the fact disabled people have lower employment rates – 53.1% in the second quarter of 2024, compared with 81.6% for non-disabled people, according to official figures. Lack of available transport worsens social isolation, stress and anxiety, and creates a cycle of exclusion and inequality.
But fixing these challenges isn’t easy. The UK’s transport network is a complex web of different operators: a single city may have multiple bus companies and train or tram networks, governed by different regulations. Infrastructure upgrades provide opportunities to improve accessibility from the design stage, when it is easier and cheaper than retrofitting old kit and crumbling stations.
In Belfast, the £340m Grand Central Station project includes accessible features such as ticket machines with height-adjustable screens, help in sign language and a sensory nook respite area for neurodivergent people.
In England, Merseyrail’s new fleet of trains have been praised for their automatic sliding step that opens to meet the platform edge for unaided level boarding, as well as wider aisles and a continuous carriage, making it easier to move around.
Challenges to change
For engineers, though, improving the status quo requires a number of considerations. The first is the need to interface with existing infrastructure – our 200-year-old rail network is not easy to make quick changes to, and any significant work might require closing stations temporarily, thereby reducing accessibility in that area in the short term.
Funding is also limited: the government’s Access for All scheme has been running since 2006 to try to improve railway accessibility, but it only applies to specific changes to create accessible routes to or between train platforms. It doesn’t ensure level boarding when a train has pulled into the station.
Tension also arises with net zero goals, for example a move towards the use of e-bikes and e-scooters has stirred controversy due to them blocking pavements.
However, engineers have a key role to play in helping people travel comfortably and navigate our multimodal network. Plenty can be done to harness this expertise, and the Institution’s policy team is working with expert members from the Automobile, Railway and Manufacturing Industries Divisions to find solutions. An IMechE report on inclusive transport, to be published in autumn, will also make a number of recommendations for improving accessibility on public transport.
Read the latest policy reports from IMechE.
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Content published by Professional Engineering does not necessarily represent the views of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.