- onboard travel announcements to become mandatory across
Britain’s bus network
- industry supported through £4.65 million fund for small
operators to upgrade vehicles
- Roads and Accessibility Minister : “Massive boost for
passenger independence”
Disabled passengers across Great Britain will be able to travel
more confidently thanks to new laws that will boost accessibility
for everyone.
Today (30 March 2023), the Department for Transport is
introducing rules that will require almost every local bus or
coach service to provide audible announcements and visual
displays identifying the route and direction, each upcoming stop,
and the beginning of any diversions.
The government is supporting industry to upgrade their vehicles,
with £4.65 million in funding for the smallest bus and coach
companies, and the changes will be implemented gradually, with
almost all vehicles required to comply by October 2026.
At present, there is patchy provision across the country, with
only 30% of buses outside London providing this information,
which can be a major barrier for disabled people wanting to
travel by bus or coach.
Clear audible and visible information will also benefit
non-disabled people, helping those who are travelling on an
unfamiliar bus route, and giving passengers confidence that they
will not be left stranded at the wrong stop late at night.
Roads and Accessibility Minister said:
Everyone deserves to take the bus with confidence, and this is a
massive boost for passenger independence.
Simple and effective audible and visible information should be a
baked-in feature of a modern bus service to help people reach
their destination, wherever they travel in Great Britain.
To ensure the information provides real-life benefits, the
Department for Transport has worked closely with disabled
passengers, user groups and the bus and coach sector, whilst
giving operators the flexibility to choose solutions suitable for
their services.
The AV aids will include
ensuring audio is available through induction loop systems, and
all new vehicles introduced after October 2024 must also include
visible information which can be seen by a wheelchair user when
travelling in a rearward facing wheelchair space.
Guide Dogs’ Chief Executive, Tom Wright CBE, said:
For so many people, buses are key to opening opportunities to get
out independently: to go out to work, get to appointments, and to
see friends. But for many people with sight loss, bus travel can
prove difficult or near impossible.
At Guide Dogs, we are delighted that the government has taken
this significant step in making bus travel more accessible to
people with a visual impairment. Our research shows that over
half of people with sight loss have missed their stop due to a
lack of AV, and many people
avoid bus travel altogether because buses remain inaccessible.
Today’s announcement, and the financial support behind it, will
open up opportunities for people with sight loss to live
independently.
This announcement forms part of the government’s commitment to
improve disabled people’s experience on our transport system and
build stronger communities, including through our Inclusive Transport
Strategy, which aims to create accessibly equality on the
network by 2030. It further builds on government’s ambition to
encourage people back onto buses after the pandemic, following £2
billion in funding to support the bus sector since 2020.
