Of the 11.6 million people with disabilities in the UK, a fifth report having difficulty accessing transport. Many avoid travelling altogether, leading to isolation and depression. Making all transport accessible to everyone may seem a challenge but there are two beacons of hope: technology and people.
Disabled people are still being treated as second class on public transport
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Door-to-door transport services, for example, are a lifeline for many but are often costly and clunky, with journeys sometimes difficult to book and vehicles late or cancelled. A recent report (pdf) from the London Assembly highlights the failures. The aim would be a service where people make one phone call to arrange a journey and it seems bizarre that this is such a difficult thing to do.Things are very different in the world of tech startups, so perhaps, rather than trying to change existing systems, we should look to them.
Whatever your view of controversial firm Uber, it does offer a range of accessibility features for people with vision impairments, mobility issues or who are deaf or hard of hearing. These include the UberWAV app for wheelchair users, which appears straightforward to use and involves, on average, a wait [...]