Budget 2015: Enabling workers through better buses

Buses are important. They may not provoke such strong feelings as projects involving trains – they can’t potentially reach 400km an hour, and they don’t involve glossy terminuses or buffet cars – but they’re an essential means of travel for many people; there were estimated 5.2 billion bus journeys in Great Britain in the year up to March 2014, compared to 1.3 billion journeys on trains in the same period.

However, at the moment, buses aren’t accessible for many with people with sight loss, hearing loss or a variety of other conditions as they don’t feature audio visual (AV) next stop and final destination announcements.

Unlike trains, where there has been a requirement to install AV on all new trains since 1998, the decision to install AV on buses outside of London has been voluntary. The result is that only 19% of buses in the country have AV, and 97% of those are in London.  We’re calling for the Chancellor to create an AV-specific fund to encourage operators and local authorities to fit AV.

Guide Dogs’ Destination Unknownreport shows that seven out of ten blind or partially sighted bus passengers have missed their stop due to not knowing where they were, making bus travel difficult, stressful and potentially dangerous. The fear of this situation can be enough to put people off travelling altogether.

Accessible public transport is essential for people with limited mobility to be able to live and work independently. A Department for Work and Pensions survey showed that 37% of respondents with a disability found inaccessible transport a barrier to work. This survey echoes the findings of our report, which found examples of people with sight loss missing job interviews, turning down or even losing their jobs because of inaccessible transport.

The economic and social benefits of AV go beyond people with sight loss, to all people with limited mobility, tourists and people who don’t use buses regularly and are unfamiliar with their local routes.

Bus companies that have voluntarily installed AV are experiencing the benefits. Reading Buses has reported increases in passenger numbers after AV was installed, and Trent Barton say that 86% of their passengers find the technology useful on board their buses.

We would ultimately like the accessibility regulations relating to buses amended, but in the interim we would urge the Treasury to encourage the uptake of AV through a specific fund.

We’re aware of the financial constraints on the Government, but AV costs around 1% of a new bus, and the economic and social benefits of an accessible bus network that enables people to work and participate in society are clear.