APPENDIX 9
Memorandum submitted by the Disabled Persons
Transport Advisory Committee
INTRODUCTION
1. The Disabled Persons Transport Advisory
Committee (DPTAC) welcomes the opportunity to comment on the House
of Commons Transport Committee investigation How Fair Are The
Fares? Train Fares And Ticketing.
2. DPTAC was set up under the Transport
Act 1985 to advise the Government on disabled people's transport
needs. We aim to ensure that disabled people can go where everyone
else goes, easily and without extra cost. We would like to see
this happen by 2020.
3. The absence of accessible, affordable
and available transport means that disabled people are less able
to secure and retain employment, obtain medical treatment, enjoy
a full social and recreational life, or travel with whom they
want, where they want and when they want. Compared to others,
disabled travellers are likely to plan further ahead, use more
effort, pay more to travel, spend more time, experience embarrassment
and stigmatisation, and find themselves more tired at the end
of a journey. This will crucially affect their confidence and
preparedness to travel in future.
4. DPTAC uses four overarching principles
as the basis for its advice to Government, other organisations
and disabled people. These are that:
— Accessibility for disabled people
is a condition of any investment;
— Accessibility for disabled people
must be a mainstream activity;
— Users should be involved in determining
accessibility;
— Providers are responsible for achieving
accessibility for disabled people.
5. These principles are the basis of DPTAC's
response to consultations. In this response we will focus on the
failings of the existing ticketing and fares systems for disabled
people, and suggest some improvements.
SPECIFIC RESPONSE
TO THE
CONSULTATION
Disabled Persons Railcard
6. The general concession for a disabled
person is a reduction of one third for someone holding a Disabled
Persons Railcard, and for one companion. The card costs £14
annually. A child with a Disabled Persons Railcard pays the full
child fare and an accompanying adult receives a one-third concession.
The card is available to a wide range of disabled people, but
only a small proportion of the 11 million or so adults who are
covered by the Disability Discrimination Act.
7. Some 70,000 disabled passengers possessed
a Disabled Person's Railcard, and used it to make 1.8 million
passenger journeys in 2004-05. This generated £10.5 million
income for the rail industry. However, the Disabled Persons Railcard
offers no discount to travellers purchasing season tickets, special
offers from train companies such as Apex, excursions or charter
trains. The exclusion of season tickets is particularly unfair
to those disabled people who are seeking greater independence,
self reliance and to contribute to the state through full or part
time employment.
Other concessions
8. Some disabled people are entitled to
other concessions. For example, a person registered as visually
impaired and not in possession of a Disabled Persons Railcard,
who travels with a companion, is entitled to a 34% concession
for both people, rising to a 50% concession for a day return ticket.
The same person travelling alone however receives no concession
whatsoever. However, that person would , unlike a Disabled Persons
Railcard holder, obtain the 34% reduction, including for their
companion, when buying a season ticket. Travellers who have to
stay in their own wheelchair for the journey receive this same
concession for themselves for single and return tickets, but not
in respect of season tickets.
9. This complex arrangement means that it
is difficult for a disabled person to know what is the most cost
effective way for them to travel. DPTAC recommends the introduction
of a simpler and clearer system.
Training and competence of ticket office staff
10. Given this level of complexity, it is
perhaps not surprising that some staff issuing tickets are not
aware of the fare options available to disabled people, and therefore
are not well placed to advise them. For example it has come to
our attention that some staff at London stations selling network
rail tickets do not appreciate that a disabled person holding
a Freedom Pass receives free travel in the London area, and so
only pays (at a two thirds or half rate depending on their disability)
for the non-London part of their journey. A companion simply receives
the one-third reduction for the whole trip (unless they are in
possession of a railcard of some kind themselves). As a result,
it is not uncommon for disabled people to pay different amounts
on different days for the same journey, depending on the competence
and training of the staff on duty on a particular day.
11. We are also aware of occasions when
ticket issuing staff do not know how to use equipment, such as
induction loops, that have been made available to assist communication
with disabled people.
Ticket machines
12. For some years, ticket issuing machines
have provided facilities for holders of some concessionary passes
such as students to obtain discounts but have often failed to
do so for disabled people. Recently we have seen considerable
improvements in the availability and distribution of ticket issuing
machines that can deal with Disabled Persons Railcards (though
not with the other disabled people's concessions we have described).
13. However, significant numbers of machines,
including some newer ones, continue to present problems to some
disabled people because of the design and positioning of the screen,
controls and audible prompts. In addition, they may not offer
all the discounts to which disabled people are entitled.
Telephone booking and information services
14. There remains some inconsistency in
the delivery of the range of information and ticketing services.
Some call centres do and others do not sell tickets. An increasing
number, but by no means all, are free to call, but some remain
local or national rate numbers. Consistency of provision and the
availability of free telephone numbers would be helpful to all,
particularly to disabled customers, for some of whom other options
such as the internet, may not be available, as we explain in paragraph
17 below.
Link between telephone booking and Assisted Passenger
Reservations Service
15. The Assisted Passenger Reservations
Service provides support to passengers who need help boarding
and disembarking at stations. It would greatly benefit disabled
people if they were able to book their tickets and any assistance
that they needed at the same time with a single call. At present,
the two systems are not linked in this way by most rail service
providers. Even when the Assisted Passenger Reservations Service
and the ticket ordering system are linked, we are aware of instances
where the helpline was not able or prepared to provide assistance
a disabled person having to cope with a substitute bus service
that was not accessible to them.
On train booking services
16. Train operating companies vary in the
way in which they make discounts available to those who purchase
their tickets on the train rather than at stations or in advance.
Some companies will not offer tickets with discounts for disabled
people on the train, unless the ticket office and issuing equipment
at the station of departure are not operational. In practice it
may be much harder for a disabled person to get to a train station
in time to purchase a ticket in advance, so this may lead to discrimination
against disabled people.
Internet booking services
17. In order to encourage greater use of
the internet for booking, some train operating companies only
sell some discounted fares on the internet. This can help disabled
people to secure bargain tickets. The internet rail ticket booking
systems that we have tested do permit a disabled person to book
with a Travelcard. However, some do not permit the reduced price
ticket entitlement without a railcard that we have explained in
paragraph 8 above that some disabled people are entitled to. In
addition there are cases where people, including disabled people,
using certain computer hardware or software, are not able to make
use of the on-line booking system and the discounts if offers.
Website accessibility
18. We are also concerned about website
accessibility for some disabled people. The website for the Disabled
Persons Travelcard (http://www.disabledpersons-railcard.co.uk/)
is an example of good practice. Each page offers options to change
the font and colour of text, to hear the contents of the page
and to navigate using selected keys. It also conforms to Bobby
and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
19. Many train operating companies do not
offer this level of accessibility in their on line ticket ordering
systems. This is consistent with the findings of the Disability
Rights Commission's 2005 wider investigation into website accessibility[6]
which recommended that "service providers using websites
. . . should urgently improve the accessibility and usability
of the services they provide through the medium of the Web."
Conclusion
20. DPTAC welcomes a number of improvements
to the accessibility of ticketing systems. However we must draw
the Committee's attention to the further work that needs to take
place to create a simple system of concessions, uniformly administered
throughout the railway system, and accessibly available through
all means of ticket purchase.
3 October 2005
6 http://www.drc-gb.org/publicationsandreports/report.asp Back
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