The UK’s National Centre for Accessible Transport (ncat) and the Research Institute for Disabled Consumers (RiDC) will launch an open-source interactive tool that provides crucial evidence of the transport challenges disabled people face across the UK.

Recent research by ncat found that 92 percent of disabled people faced barriers when using at least one mode of transport, with inaccessible streets and pavements being the biggest obstacles in public spaces.

Additionally, 77 percent of respondents said these barriers negatively affected their physical or mental well-being, and 75 percent reported feeling stressed when travelling.

To share the findings of this research, ncat is launching an innovative open-source dashboard designed to inform industry professionals and policymakers. This searchable interactive tool provides crucial evidence of the transport challenges disabled people face across the UK.

The open-access dashboard showcases the transport experiences of 1,195 disabled people, including members from the Community of Accessible Transport (CAT) panel. Users can search by categories, such as access needs, impairment, transport modes, region, gender, and age. The database also includes 1,274 searchable comments from participants about their experiences.

To see the results of the research that underpins this database in full, or to access easy-read, BSL, or large-text versions, visit the ‘Understanding and Identifying barriers to accessing transport’ project outputs page.

ncat has also published the outputs from a further piece of research that looked at what barriers disabled people face when using the streets in their localities.

Key findings from ‘The barriers to streetscape access project’ delivers evidence from over 400 respondents, including recommendations to prioritise the maintenance and improvement of pavement surfaces, especially near key locations like GP practices and shops.

Legislating for the inclusion of disabled people in new street space designs and ensure feedback is acted upon and ensuring adequate maintenance of facilities for disabled people to keep them usable were also included in the recommendations.

Additionally, revamping issue-reporting to local authorities to improve feedback processing and communication about actions taken and establishing an accessible streets ombudsman to ensure proper processing of complaints from disabled individuals, was included.

Final recommendations include legislating standards for temporary paths and ramps at roadworks, notifying residents of disruptions to aid planning, and implementing public awareness campaigns to educate the community on disabled people’s needs and promote better behaviours regarding pavement use.

To see the results of the Streetscapes research in full, or to access easy-read, BSL, or large-text versions, visit the ‘The barriers to streetscape access’ project outputs page.

Both these sets of reports, along with the Transport Barriers Database, as well as other research thatwill be published over the coming weeks, will be invaluable to potential applicants to ncat’s first funding programme, Scaling Innovation, which is open now for applications.

Evidence from these reports will also be used to guide policy decisions through the Accessible Transport Policy Commission, which was established to be a bridge between ncat and policymakers.

A survey RiDC and Which? last year revealed disabled consumers’ experience poor accessibility when booking tickets and attending some live events.

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