By Johnny Sharp

Zero and low emission transport modes represent an important goal towards which progress is being made, but if less physically mobile individuals face daunting obstacles when trying to use sustainable transport, they’re more likely of rejecting these greener ways of getting around.

In July last year, CIHT published the report ‘Creating a public realm for all’, which served as a guide for transport professionals to identify and address challenges faced by disabled and older people. Led by Professor Nick Tyler, Director of UCL’s Centre for Transport Studies, it sought to offer insights into the challenges certain people face while navigating streets, and how it could be made more accessible for them.

CIHT’s Head of Policy and Technical Practice, Justin Ward, who was also involved in the report, was further encouraged by work done by the House of Commons Transport Committee, who in March 2025 published a study entitled ‘Access Denied’, which also aimed to highlight the relatively unpublicised realities of travelling with disabilities or other prohibitive factors.

Knowledge is power

Those reports fed into a new CIHT Learn course, also named Creating a Public Realm for All, which is inviting members to educate themselves in the issues involved in making active travel more accessible. 

“I think awareness is fundamental,” says Ward, “and also training. The Transport Committee report stated in their recommendations, ‘It is not sufficient for training to be delivered on disability awareness, accessibility, and preventing discrimination: the training must be of a guaranteed minimum standard and proven to be effective in improving outcomes.’ 
“That’s where we come in – the CIHT course is a self-paced, interactive and bite-sized e-learning module-based course, and it’s really got some great expert input.”

He points to Professor Tyler’s track record in this area: “He's really played a pivotal role in in designing environments that are more inclusive. So that ensured that the content of the CIHT report, and the course that is based on it, is really first class. 

“And once we developed the course, we really doubled down on the input from people with lived experience, and drawing on expertise from people who've worked in progressing inclusion and accessibility through disability awareness. We then got very positive feedback from expects like Ann Frye, and Transport for London’s Michael Barratt.”

So far, the course has received excellent feedback from members, who have awarded it an average mark of 4.8 out of 5. By 3 July, 145 members had already enrolled, despite the course having only been available since 13 May. 

It’s also helping address problems that have since been explicitly identified in the corridors of power. On 13 June, the government responded to the Access Denied report by committing to several measures, such as to “improve accountability for accessibility failures” and “elevate the voices of disabled people in shaping enforcement strategies”. 

Ward feels that the CIHT course meets one recommendation particularly well: “The response recommends we ‘showcase and scale up exemplary practices in training, monitoring, and redress.’ So, I think we’ve already made a strong contribution towards addressing the issues that have been raised.”

Access the course Creating A Public Realm For All now.

Image: senior gentleman and woman talking on a tram. Credit: Shutterstock.