The National Centre for Accessible Transport highlights barriers for disabled people
Research from the National Centre for Accessible Transport (NCAT) has highlighted the important role accessible transport plays in ensuring disabled people can travel and take part in everyday life.
Findings from the ‘Understanding and Identifying Barriers to Transport’ report showed that 92 per cent of disabled people encounter barriers when using at least one mode of transport.
The report also found that 79 per cent of disabled people travel less often because of transport barriers, 67 per cent avoid spontaneous journeys, and 84 per cent experience longer journey times due to accessibility challenges.
The research also highlighted that barriers are rarely isolated and often accumulate across the whole journey, from streets and pavements to vehicles, information and assistance.
These include poorly designed pavements and kerbs, obstacles such as advertising signs and parked cars, barriers when boarding vehicles, inconsistent staff assistance and unreliable step-free access.
Accessible journeys support independence and people’s ability to travel for work, social activities and participate in everyday life.
Since its launch, the centre has built a growing evidence base to improve accessible transport across the UK, engaging thousands of participants and producing research and tools used across the sector.
Established by the Motability Foundation, NCAT was created to address a long-standing gap in understanding how transport systems impact disabled people’s journeys and where accessibility could be strengthened.
Previous analysis suggests that closing the transport accessibility gap could generate benefits worth an estimated £72.4 billion each year, reflecting the impact of enabling more people to travel and demonstrating the wider social and economic value of accessible transport.
Emma Partlow, Chief Executive Officer of NCAT, said: “Accessible transport is essential to participation in everyday life. Through our research, we have worked with disabled people, researchers and transport professionals to build a stronger understanding of how transport systems are designed and experienced.
“Our work brings together evidence, lived experience and innovation to support stakeholders in improving accessibility across the transport system.”
Over its first three years, NCAT has engaged more than 8,600 participants in research and engagement activities. It has also published 17 major studies examining accessibility, with 178 tailored recommendations to help strengthen accessibility across the transport sector.
