Attitudes of disabled people to community transport:
Research study (carried out Nov - Dec 2002)
Introduction
Methodology
Executive Summary
Knowledge about Community Transport
Community Transport Availability and Usage
Attitudes towards Community Transport
Community Transport Provision and Priority for Improvement
Appendix 1: Sample Profile Information
Appendix 2: Statistical Reliability
Appendix 3: About MORI
Appendix 4: Marked-Up Questionnaire
The Study has also been made available in Adobe Acrobat format for downloading.
The Adobe® Acrobat Reader® can be freely downloaded.
Viewers with visual difficulties may find it useful to investigate services provided to improve the accessibility of Acrobat documents - www.adobe.com/accessibility/index.html
Introduction
The Government is committed to full and enforceable civil rights for disabled people. In the 10 Year Plan for Transport, Transport 2010, the Government stated:
"6.5 The Government is committed to public transport that is accessible to disabled people. The rate and level of new investment in this Plan will ensure that improvements in the accessibility of public transport are brought forward more quickly. Building in accessibility for all disabled people in all new investment is a condition of public money being spent. Local authorities and transport operators should ensure that the transport needs of disabled people are factored into their plans and that the full benefits of improved public transport are accessible to all."
In 2001/2002 MORI undertook a survey of Attitudes of Disabled People to Public Transport. The aim of the 2001/2002 study was to establish the attitudes of disabled people to public transport in England and Wales, in order to represent more effectively the broad range of disabled people when preparing advice to Government.
This survey builds on the findings in 2001/2002 by looking at disabled people's usage of and attitudes to community transport - issues not previously covered in detail.
The specific objectives of this study are to:
- Gauge awareness of community transport as a whole and of specific modes of community transport.
- Quantify usage patterns of community transport by disabled people.
- Understand attitudes towards community transport and those providing the service.
- Identify modal options for using community transport for different journey purposes, compared with purposes that community transport would be liked to be used for if available.
- Determine what would encourage people to use community transport more.
Methodology
The survey was conducted by self-completion, with questionnaires being mailed to respondents, using leads from the 2001/2002 DPTAC survey. All those who had stated that they would be willing to be re-interviewed by MORI were contacted to take part.
In total 222 completed questionnaires were returned, out of 667 originally sent out, representing a response rate of 33%. The fieldwork period was 25th November to 20th December 2002.
Data are weighted by disability and region to provide results broadly representative of disabled people in England and Wales, i.e.
- 6% Wheelchair users
- 11% Visually impaired
- 17% Hearing impaired
- 33% Learning disability
- 65% Ambulant disability
The full weighting is shown in the appendix, along with the full question wording and survey results in the form of a marked-up questionnaire.
Given that respondents were self-selecting, some of the weighting factors are larger than ideally desired, especially amongst those with learning difficulties. Further insight amongst these could be obtained by additional face-to-face interviews if required.
Interpretation of the data
Where percentages do not add to exactly 100%, this may be due to computer rounding, the exclusion of 'don't knows' or 'not stated', or to multiple answers, for example where people have more than one disability.
The term 'net', which is used in the document, is the balance when a negative finding has been subtracted from the positive.
It should be borne in mind throughout this report that only a representative sample of the English and Welsh disabled population has been interviewed, not everyone. Therefore, all results are subject to sampling tolerances, which also means that not all differences between figures are necessarily statistically significant (please refer to the Statistical Reliability section in the appendix).
Publication of the data
Our standard Terms and Conditions apply to this, as to all studies we carry out. No press release or publication of the findings of this survey shall be made without the advance approval of MORI. Such approval will only be refused on the grounds of inaccuracy or misrepresentation.
Executive Summary
The key issues that arise from this research are the lack of awareness and lack of availability of community transport services. In part these may be linked, availability of services may not be as low as disabled people say it is, instead the shortage of information about these services may mean that they are unaware that they exist. The services themselves are rated positively by those who use them; disabled people find them easy to use and the staff friendly. The top priorities therefore should focus on increasing awareness and availability.
This summary provides an overview of the attitudes of disabled people to community transport across England and Wales.
- Overall, awareness and knowledge about community transport is low. The services that are most well-known are Dial-a-ride and Shopmobility.
- Availability of community transport also appears to be low. A quarter of disabled people say that no form of community transport is available in their area. The most commonly available community transport service is Dial-a-ride.
- Related to this, usage of community transport is low. The most commonly used mode of community transport is group transport, followed by community car schemes and community buses.
- The most popular use of community transport is travelling to and from town centres, followed by visiting community and day care centres.
- Disabled people would like to use community transport for more journeys, the most popular being to visit hospitals and doctors.
- Availability is the principle factor which affects whether or not disabled people use community transport. Also important is cost, physical accessibility and flexibility of route.
- Overall, those who use community transport services find them easy to use. In comparison, public transport is less easy to use.
- Community transport staff are seen as friendly and helpful, and have a more positive image profile than bus drivers.
- Obtaining information about community transport services is difficult, and harder than for public transport. Better and more information about these services is also seen as a key aspect that would encourage disabled people to use community transport more.
- Disabled people feel that local government should be responsible for designing passenger transport services. Community groups, public transport operators and ordinary people should also be involved.
Published: 28 June 2004
[ Previous ] [ Contents ] [ Next ]
Top of page
|
