Motability launches competition to find partners for £20m inclusive transport evidence centre
The charity Motability is today launching a competition to find partners to run a £20 million Motability-funded evidence centre dedicated to making transport accessible for disabled people.
The ambitious evidence centre will launch in January 2023 and aims to close the “transport accessibility gap”.
The gap sees disabled people make 38 per cent fewer journeys than non-disabled people every year due to problems accessing public and private transport, according to the Department for Transport, a figure that hasn’t changed in a decade.
The plans are being revealed as Motability releases new analysis showing that making transport fully accessible to disabled people would deliver £72.4bn of socio-economic benefit to the UK every year, through improved access to employment, training, education and social opportunities.
Disabled people told the charity that they’d had to turn down training opportunities because they couldn’t use public transport alone, they could no longer use A-roads due to a lack of public toilets and that they couldn’t travel out of their local area.
Problems accessing transport contribute to wide ranging disadvantage for disabled people, including a quarter of working age disabled people citing inaccessible transport as a key barrier to employment.
According to Motability, disabled people are almost twice as likely to be unemployed as non-disabled people, despite applying for 60% more jobs, and nearly half of those in poverty in the UK are either disabled or live with a disabled person.
However, there is a lack of specific evidence about how best to build in accessibility from the start, particularly for new and emerging modes of transport such as electric and autonomous vehicles.
Now, the charity is planning to launch an Evidence Centre for inclusive transport, which it will fund with £20 million over seven years.
The centre will demonstrate what needs to happen for people with a wide range of disabilities to be able to access transport, how existing good practice can be scaled up, and where new innovations are needed – and will convene disabled people with decision makers and transport providers so that findings can be put into practice.
Motability has stated that it will appoint a consortium of expert partners to run the evidence centre, and is encouraging organisations with a wide range of expertise to apply.
Barry Le Grys, Chief Executive of Motability the charity, said: “Being unable to make the journeys they want to has a huge impact on disabled people’s lives, from getting a job to attending medical appointments and seeing friends and family.
“While there are existing solutions to which help make transport accessible, the fact that the accessibility gap hasn’t improved in a decade shows that much more needs to be done so that disabled people can travel across road, rail, air and sea like non-disabled people.
“After extensive scoping, we believe that the scale of the research, innovation and collaboration needed to close the transport accessibility gap merits significant investment.
“We’re looking for partners who can work with us to run the world’s first Evidence Centre for inclusive transport, delivering quick wins as well as longer-term solutions to make transport accessible for all disabled people.”
To apply to run the Evidence Centre and find out more information, visit the Motability charity website.
Last year, it was reported that Coventry University was collaborating with Motability to recruit and sponsor a number of doctoral candidates to undertake research into accessible transport at the university’s National Transport Design Centre (NTDC).
https://thiis.co.uk/motability-launches-competition-to-find-partners-for-20m-inclusive-transport-evidence-centre/https://thiis.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/motability-release-2.jpghttps://thiis.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/motability-release-2-150x150.jpgInvestments & FundingNewsroomReports & ResearchSector NewsThird Sectoraccessible,disabled,Evidence Centre,Motability,transport,vehicleThe charity Motability is today launching a competition to find partners to run a £20 million Motability-funded evidence centre dedicated to making transport accessible for disabled people. The ambitious evidence centre will launch in January 2023 and aims to close the “transport accessibility gap”. The gap sees disabled people make 38...Liane McIvorLiane McIvorliane@thiis.co.ukEditorTHIIS Magazine