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DPTAC response to Eddington Transport Study on longer term links between transport and the UK's economic productivity, growth and stability
Introduction1. The Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC) welcomes the opportunity to comment on the Eddington Transport Study on longer-term links between transport and the UK's economic productivity, growth and stability. We believe that meeting the transport needs of disabled people is an important and integral part of the process of ensuring that we have a national transport system that promotes the UK's economic productivity, growth and stability. 2. This response incorporates comments made to the Eddington Transport Study by DPTAC representatives at an event held with members of the Commission for Integrated Transport on 22 November, and at a meeting held on 8 December to discuss with stakeholders how transport impacts on labour markets. 3. The Government set up DPTAC under the Transport Act 1985 to advise it on the transport needs of disabled people. Our aim is to ensure that disabled people can go where everyone else goes and that they can do so easily and without extra cost. We would like to see this happen by 2020. 4. DPTAC has identified four overarching principles on which to base its advice to Government, other organisations and disabled people. Those principles are that:
5. These principles are the basis of DPTAC's response to consultations. In this response, we set out some general issues before making comments specific to this consultation. General commentsDisabled people in the population6. DPTAC's principal concern is to ensure accessibility for disabled people. By this we mean inclusive transport systems that are easy to reach, use and understand by all, in safety and comfort. 7. Disabled people account for some ten per cent of the population, about 11 million adults, one in five of working age, and 770,000 children. While higher numbers of children are being born and living with impairments than ever before, levels of disability do increase with age: 8% of those aged 16-17 years have a current long-term impairment, compared with 33% of those aged 50 to 65. This proportion of the working population will increase, as retirement ages advance and people work for longer. 8. Of disabled people overall, in broad terms:
9. Currently 985,000 people live with learning disabilities. 796,000 of these are adults aged 20 or over. The adult figure will increase to 855,000 (plus 7%) in 2011 and 891,000 (plus 11%) in 2021. In addition, some 7 million adults have literacy problems. 10. Disabled people are not an homogenous group with identical needs. The needs of people with mental health problems or learning disabilities are distinct from those of wheelchair users for example. Even among people with similar impairments, needs vary; for example, profoundly deaf people will not benefit from induction loops. 11. Disabled people live throughout the community. One in four households has a disabled resident. The need for access for disabled people is not limited to specific areas, but is present throughout the wider transport system. Population trends in disability12. We have seen that older people are more likely to be disabled. In broad terms, over the next 30 years:
13. Over the same period that will bring about these changes in the population profile, the overall population will increase by about 9%. 14. The Department for Work and Pensions estimated in 2004 that disabled people have a spending power of around £80 billion each year. Planning strategically to design transport facilities that meet the needs of disabled people is likely to further increase this amount, as more disabled people become creators of the national wealth, rather than consumers of its state benefits. 15. Meeting the transport needs of disabled people by providing inclusive transport will be of considerable economic benefit to the country; both allowing them to exert this spending power and enabling them to become or remain part of the country's work force. 16. The mobility of disabled people is also a precondition for the achievement of a wide range of government objectives such as independent living; full participation in civil society; and the maintenance of good physical and mental health through access to recreational and cultural facilities. Some of these links were brought out in the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit's report "Improving the Life chances of Disabled People", and in our response to it. A strategic approach to designing inclusively17. There is enormous scope and opportunity to improve accessibility for disabled people but it will require a strong and continuing commitment at all levels. 18. Accessibility for disabled people is often only considered in terms of detailed design. DPTAC believes this is no longer sufficient. Considering accessibility for disabled people must underpin strategic decisions, investment and policies, with evidence of how diversity was considered in making decisions. We also seek evidence of joined up action by all parties involved in transport service provision. This may require education, training and continuing professional development in disability issues for those involved in the planning, design and management of transport systems, as well as at the front line. 19. It is not only disabled people who benefit from this approach. There are currently a further 18 million people who would directly or indirectly benefit. These include older people, families with small children under the age of five, carers, friends and relatives who accompany people with disabilities, and tourists and others whose first language may not be English, Indeed it is fair to say that all members of society benefit to some degree from what we can call "inclusive design". 20. An inclusive approach to design creates transport that can be used by everyone, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity or disability. This makes facilities truly functional, efficient and sustainable. Inclusive design recognises and accommodates differences in the way people use transport and provides solutions that us enable to take part in mainstream activities equally, independently, and with choice and dignity. 21. Inclusive transport planning does not attempt to meet every single need, but considers people's diversity and breaks down unnecessary barriers and exclusions in a manner that benefits us all. This is significant because although society and individuals have invested heavily in enabling people to manage their personal circumstances effectively (e.g. by providing aids and adaptations for disabled people), many people remain unnecessarily 'disabled' by ill-conceived facilities and services. 22. DPTAC welcomes the commitment that the Government has made to accessibility being a condition of public money being spent in support of its Ten Year Plan Transport 2010, and its similar commitment in respect of the Wales Transport Framework. 23. Private and public investors of any transport or built environment project need to know whether investment plans meet the need of disabled people. They will also need evidence that people at all levels of responsibility understand how to provide accessibility for disabled people effectively to prevent a waste of resources. Key issues in the consultationProvision of accessible public transport vehicles24. The absence of public transport vehicles that are accessible to disabled people has significant effects on their potential to contribute to the national and local economy and public transport vehicle design can keep disabled people out of work. 25. The requirement for all buses to have low floor access will not come into effect until 2017. A deadline of 2020 applies to corresponding (but wider ranging) provisions for rail vehicles. Even by these dates, there will be no requirement for any buses to have in place audiovisual information systems. This is likely to prevent many people with sensory impairments from reliably travelling to work by bus. 26. However if these failings are put right then more disabled people will be able to work, rather than just consume benefits. More disabled and other people can use public transport, and design, investment, management and operation focus on providing services that people want to use. Concessionary fares27. The changes to concessionary fares that will take effect in England in April 2006 will still prevent disabled people in England from using their concession before 9.30 in the morning and after 23.00 at night, or outside their local authority area. This is likely to severely affect the usefulness of the concession for disabled people wishing to enter or re-enter the world of work, as well as those who become disabled from remaining in it. It will have similar consequences for disabled people undertaking education and training, with knock-on effects on their employability and contribution to economic growth. 28. This does not appear to be consistent with the government's intention of reducing dependency on state benefits such as disability living allowance. DPTAC considers that the Eddington Review should pay as much attention to investment in current funding of this nature as it does to capital investment in transport, as it can have such as important consequences for the employment of disabled people. 29. Similar perverse incentives, as well as confusion as to the availability, accessibility, extent and validity of fare concessions apply to other modes of transport. In this connection we would commend to the Eddington Review our evidence to the House of Commons Select Committee on Transport on rail fares, as well as work that we have commissioned on the costs and benefits of extending concessionary fares to community transport. Both are annexed to this evidence. 30. Concessionary fares illustrate a wider mis-match between the availability of capital and revenue funds which limits what local authorities can achieve in genuine transport development, as opposed to sustaining existing provision. This mis-match might be addressed through road user charging, broader use of development funding or greater use of well-being powers. Road user charging31. The Eddington Review may have occasion to consider the issue of road user charging. The Secretary of State for Transport has said that he wishes the UK to move towards a national system of road pricing. He has also stated that the new Transport Innovation Fund in England will be directed to those local authorities that include traffic demand management measures such as road user charging in their submissions. DPTAC recognises that disabled people potentially have as much to gain from this as anyone. Disabled drivers and passengers will benefit from reduced and more reliable journey times. Disabled passengers will also benefit from investment in public transport and disabled pedestrians and those who live near roads will benefit from reductions in atmospheric pollution. 32. However, transport has been shown to be more expensive for disabled people, as well as being less accessible. Even with the improvements in access likely to result from the provisions of the Disability Discrimination Acts of 1995 and 2005 change is certain to be slow because of the lengthy time scales involved. Therefore, for the next decade at least some forms of public transport will remain difficult or impossible for many disabled people to use, meaning fewer choices and a continuing disproportionate reliance on the motor car for this group as a whole. The private car therefore remains a vital means of transport to many disabled people, either on the grounds of cost, or because they need either door-to-door transport or the added reliability that the car can offer. DPTAC therefore believes that any road user charging scheme must be shown to have a positive effect on meeting the transport needs of disabled people, with no increase in costs to them, before it is introduced. Conclusion33. DPTAC welcomes the Eddington Review. Three areas where the Eddington Review's recommendations could particularly emphasise this link are the provision of accessible transport, concessionary fares for disabled people and the introduction of road user charging. Neil Betteridge Date: 17 January 2006 |
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