Podaris
Podaris is a transport technology company that develops planning and analytics tools to help transport authorities make better evidence-based decisions.
Through the Scaling Innovation Programme, the organisation explored how accessibility could be measured more effectively by developing EQuAL (Equity and Quality in Accessibility Levels), an open-source metric designed to better reflect disabled people’s experiences of travelling by public transport.
The Challenge
Transport authorities rely on accessibility metrics to inform planning and investment decisions. However, many existing measures focus primarily on proximity to transport services and service frequency, rather than the barriers that disabled people encounter throughout a journey.
For many disabled people, accessibility is influenced by a much wider range of factors, including pavement quality, crossing points, tactile paving, bus stop infrastructure, vehicle accessibility and the wider street environment. When these barriers are not reflected in accessibility measures, there is a risk that transport investment decisions are based on an incomplete picture of how accessible a transport network really is.
Podaris recognised an opportunity to develop a more inclusive approach that could provide transport planners and policymakers with better evidence to support decision-making and investment.
Developing EQuAL
Working in partnership with the University of Liverpool, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA) and Translink, Podaris developed EQuAL as a proof of concept for a new accessibility metric.
The project brought together transport data, infrastructure information and accessibility evidence to create a methodology capable of assessing barriers across the whole journey experience. Rather than focusing solely on the availability of transport services, EQuAL considers a wider range of factors that can affect whether a journey is accessible in practice.
A key feature of the project was its commitment to developing EQuAL as an open standard. This means the methodology can be adopted, tested and further developed by transport authorities, researchers and planners without commercial barriers, supporting wider learning and collaboration across the sector.
Working with disabled people
Disabled people’s experiences were central to the development of EQuAL.
The project established an advisory group involving organisations including RNIB Northern Ireland, Guide Dogs Northern Ireland, Bus Users UK, Campaign for Better Transport, IMTAC and Healthwatch Cambridgeshire. These organisations helped validate the project approach, challenge assumptions and ensure the methodology reflected real-world accessibility barriers.
Podaris also worked directly with disabled transport users, including wheelchair users and visually impaired passengers, to test whether EQuAL reflected their experiences of specific transport locations. Participants compared the outputs against their own journeys and consistently reported that the metric provided a more realistic representation of accessibility than traditional measures.
The engagement process helped identify barriers that transport professionals may not always prioritise, while reinforcing the importance of grounding accessibility measurement in lived experience.
Impact
EQuAL demonstrates that more inclusive approaches to accessibility measurement are both possible and valuable.
While the project does not directly remove physical barriers, it provides a framework for identifying and evidencing them more effectively. By helping transport authorities understand where accessibility challenges exist and how they affect disabled people, EQuAL has the potential to support more informed investment decisions and stronger business cases for accessibility improvements.
The project also highlighted the importance of improving accessibility data across the transport system. One of its key findings was that consistent, high-quality accessibility data remains limited, creating challenges for transport authorities seeking to understand and improve accessibility at scale.
What Happens Next?
Podaris is releasing EQuAL as an open-source standard, allowing transport authorities, planners and researchers to explore how the methodology can be applied in practice. The organisation will continue working with partners to refine the approach, support future implementation and contribute to the development of emerging accessibility data standards.
By combining data, evidence and lived experience, EQuAL demonstrates how better measurement can support better decision-making. In doing so, it provides a foundation for more inclusive transport planning and investment that reflects the realities of disabled people’s journeys.
Find out more about the EQuAL model
To find out more about the EQuAL model and view examples of it in ation please visit the Podaris website via the link here