Political will and ring fenced funding are crucial to ensuring accessibility for disabled and older people is fully taken into account when developing new transport interchanges, campaigners said last week.

 

Attendees to watchdog London TravelWatch’s seminar ‘Interchange Matters’ on Thursday heard from champions of accessible transport in the capital, who urged increased focus on mobility impaired travellers.

 

“There is no excuse in 2016,” commented campaign group Transport for All director Faryal Velmi. “Every single new transport interchange we build needs to be fully accessible with step free access.”

 

She said interchanges can be a big source of frustration for disabled and older Londoners, adding that it is vital to involve these groups in the development and design process for new projects. “They are the experts in knowing what works for them,” she said.

 

Chair of the Rail Delivery Group’s London Scheme Council Julian Drury of train operator C2C added: “In the planning of future facilities high levels of investment need to be put aside for accessibility right at the start.”

 

Delegates also heard about the value of ‘quick wins’ such as changing the lighting in stations to be friendlier to visually impaired travellers and ensuring good quality signage to aid wayfinding.

 

On the panel were Faryal Velmi, Royal National Institute of Blind People campaigns officer Natalie Doig and Age UK policy & campaigns manager Gordon Deuchars. The panel also discussed the importance of having staff who know how to provide good customer care to disabled passengers.

 

Since the seminar Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has announced plans to invest £200M in step free access on the London Underground over the next five years. This will bring the total number of step free accessible Tube stations up from 70 to more than 100.

 

(Photo: David Iliff and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence)