Outside England, most of UK transport policymaking is led by regional administrations. The different transport systems across the UK, and the policy and regulatory processes that shape them, differ between England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.
So, this inquiry addresses each nation separately, and to produce an overview of the key challenges and opportunities for change across the UK. It is focused on how disabled people’s transport experiences and insights can feed into policymaking at the highest level of government.
To read our main findings and recommendations see our Highlights Report above.
To access the Full Report, scroll to the bottom of this screen.
We have also published EasyRead, BSL and Large Print versions of the reports (see below.)
What Did We Do?
Our research had three main components: a scoping stage, policy roundtables, and a call for evidence.
How did we do it and who did we do it with?
We reviewed recent UK-wide research, policy, and legislation on transport accessibility. We engaged with Disabled People’s Organisations (DPOs), advisory panels, and transport professionals to guide this inquiry’s focus.
The policy roundtables were a series of five evidence sessions chaired by Parliamentarians on the Accessible Transport Policy Commission. These roundtables brought together 78 disabled people, disabled people’s organisations, transport professionals and policymakers. The roundtables addressed key policy challenges in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Plus one that focused on UK transport regulatory bodies.
In addition, we put out a call for evidence which was open to anyone who had an interest in transport accessibility. It asked nine open-ended questions on co-production, cross-government coordination, and underexplored issues within policymaking. People could respond as individual or on behalf of an organisation.
What did we find out?
The UK lacks coherent inclusive transport strategies and coordination across nations
Seamless door-to-door journeys are hindered by a lack of integration between different transport modes and services
Accessible transport standards are fragmented and limited
The lack of coproduction in decision making processes often leads to accessibility being treated as an afterthought
Transport regulators don’t have enough powers, capacity and visibility to fulfil their responsibilities around accessibility
What next?
To read the recommendations we have made please download the Highlights or Full Reports.
We have outlined recommendations for each of the departments that oversee transport across the UK.
Our recommendations are formed by a five-year roadmap of strategic and legislative reform and evaluation that centres coproduction.
Highlights Report
To ensure our work is accessible we have published the Highlights Report in BSL, EasyRead, Large Print and as a pdf, in addition to the Word Document below.
Short form Word format
Large print Word format
Insight Report
This version of the report focuses on key insights from our report
Designed Accessible PDF format
Full Report
This is the Full Report published in Word and also as a pdf.