Examination of Witnesses (Questions 500
- 519)
500. If we then move on to Maryland, the argument
is somewhat different, if we can put up 011.[12]
Mr Berryman will explain how the lifts would be provided here
and, although it is costly, it is nowhere near as complicated
or disruptive as works at Manor Park, but the real issue at Maryland
is the one that we have already touched on which is its close
proximity to Stratford and the ease by which people could get
to Stratford who currently use Maryland. If we can put up 004
again, we have Maryland there (indicating) and Stratford there
(indicating).[13]
It is about a 600-metre walk, but, perhaps more importantly for
people with reduced mobility, there are bus routes coming down
here (indicating) going to Stratford and bus routes running from
the east down here (indicating). That is the end of Romford Road
that runs close to Manor Park as well coming down to Stratford,
so for most of the catchment of Maryland they are actually very
close to Stratford anyway and it is very easy for them to get
to Stratford on the buses. The other point to make is that there
is no parking at Maryland, whereas there is parking at Stratford,
so for people coming on Dial-a-Ride or even by taxi or being taken
by a member of the family or a carer, actually Stratford is the
much better and more convenient station in any event.
501. That is a very brief overview. Unless the
Committee has any questions for me at this stage, I was going
to hand over to Dr Maynard for her presentation.
502. LORD SNAPE: Is that a bus-rail interchange
at Stratford? Is it all within the same complex so getting from
the bus to the train for people with disabilities is not going
to be particularly difficult?
503. MS LIEVEN: Getting from the bus
to the train is extremely easy. There is a brand-new, well, I
say `brand-new', it was built at the time that the Jubilee Line
Extension was opened, but a very swish, new ticket hall, bus station,
integrated interchange at Stratford, and I suspect that will be
even further upgraded with the Olympics because of course Stratford
is going to be the main station for the Olympics, so it is an
all-singing, all-dancing, fully integrated public transport interchange.
While Dr Maynard is giving her presentation, I will try and find
a photo of it because I am sure we have one somewhere in the documents.
DR ALICE
MAYNARD, sworn and examined
504. MS LIEVEN: Perhaps we can put Dr
Maynard's presentation up and, Dr Maynard, I am going to hand
over to you to introduce yourself.
(Dr Maynard) My Lords,
I have been asked to talk to you today about the approach that
Crossrail is taking to the provision of access for people with
restricted mobility and I just wanted to talk a bit about that
term `people with restricted mobility'. It is a European term
that Crossrail has adopted and it includes not just disabled people,
but also other people who have difficulty travelling, such as
parents with pushchairs or people with luggage, anyone who is
sometimes called `encumbered'. The terms that I am going to use
in the presentation may actually vary because some of the presentation
is going to address the needs of disabled people directly and
specifically and some will address the needs of that broader population,
people with restricted mobility, and sometimes I will use terms,
such as `mobility impairment' if that is what I mean or `visual
impairment' if that is what I mean, so the terminology will vary,
and I hope I do not make it too confusing. A key focus of this
presentation is going to be on step-free access and this is because
thus far in the design process it has been appropriate to focus
on step-free access. Step-free access benefits disabled people
and other people who experience barriers in the physical environment,
and it is particularly important for wheelchair-users and for
some people with walking difficulties. Those that present an absolute
barrier if there are steps, you just cannot use that particular
facility. Crossrail is fully aware that not all disabled people
are wheelchair users, and will take that into account in design.
I am sorry if I reinforce that particular stereotype at the moment
but that is because of the stage of design. I will come back to
that later in the presentation.
505. Before I begin I am just going to tell
you a little bit about myself and my background. From 1998 to
2003 I was Head of Disability Strategy at Network Rail, and I
was responsible for developing a strategy to make the rail network
accessible, which involved working with industry regulators, train
operators and disabled people.
506. Since 2003 I have been running Future Inclusion.
Future Inclusion's transport clients include: Transport for London,
London Underground, Network Rail, some of the franchise bidders
in the former Strategic Rail Authority. We have undertaken a range
of projects for them looking at disabled people's transport needs
and their inclusion in mainstream transport provision. My own
personal transport experience as a user and as a consultant incorporates
most modes, but in particular rail, bus, tram and underground.
507. I was involved in developing good practice
guidance for rail in relation to COST 335, which was the European
project on accessibility to heavy rail systems, where I was a
member of the Stations Working Group and I wrote the report chapters
on: stations, information and training; and in relation to the
Strategic Rail Authority's Code of Practice, which is now the
Department of Transport's code of practice, into which I had significant
input during my tenure at Network Rail.
508. I have also been involved in developing
good practice guidance for bus and rail operators in Ireland,
jointly developing the Irish National Disability Authority's guidance
document.
509. Lastly, I recently competed a doctorate
looking at access for disabled people in the appraisal process
in major transport projects and provided the monetary valuation
for certain access features. This says "currently researching"—in
a sense that it is a lifetime's activity; I am indeed still currently
researching the value of access.
510. My role in Crossrail is as an inclusivity
advisor and I was responsible for drafting the inclusivity policy,
which covers all seven equality strands, including, disabled people,
older people and men and women, and women in particular—three
groups that have particular difficulty on the transport network.
511. I now maintain a watching brief over the
implementation of the policy as the project develops, but I have
got a particular interest in accessibility because of the background
that I have in the transport industry and in particular in rail.
In this respect I complement the work of David Bonnett Associates
who are architectural access consultants to the project. Both
his company and mine have had input into the Crossrail Design
Manual.
512. I am going to talk briefly about the law
because most of you will be familiar with the law that applies
in the rail environment and thus to Crossrail, but I think it
is worth going over it again because of the complexity of it.
513. The Disability Discrimination Act 1995
as amended by the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 applies both
to infrastructure and to vehicles. Stations are covered under
Part III of the DDA and have been since the various Part III elements
of the DDA were enacted between 1995 and 2004; so coverage of
stations came in in stages. Vehicles are covered, as was mentioned
earlier, under the Rail Vehicle Accessibility Regulations which
were introduced under Part V.
514. Although in the rail industry we often
talk about compliance with the DDA, it is actually only possible
to comply with the RVAR, the Rail Vehicle Accessibility Regulations,
as there are no clear standards for station infrastructure with
which we could comply; so we have to grasp the somewhat amorphous
concept of good practice in order to conform to the DDA's requirements,
which is the way that I prefer to word it.
515. The level of service provided to disabled
people has again always been covered in relation to stations under
Part III and now, I can thankfully say, since the DDA 2005 was
brought in it is covered on vehicles as well. So you cannot be
refused or given a worse service on the train simply because you
are a disabled person.
516. The DDA's Part III provisions are anticipatory—that
is to say, service providers should not wait until a disabled
person needs to use their service, but they need to think about
the needs of the range of disabled people who are likely to want
to use the service and respond to them in advance.
517. In addition, since the DDA 2005, we have
a public sector duty which applies to public sector bodies and
requires them to promote disability equality in all their functions.
Planning would be one of these functions, the stage that Crossrail
is at.
518. The public sector duty applies to Crossrail's
shareholders, Transport for London and the Department for Transport.
Crossrail was incorporated into the Department for Transport's
Disability Equality Scheme, which they published a couple of years
ago, and undertook a disability impact assessment of its policies
as part of that Scheme's preparation.
519. LORD YOUNG OF NORWOOD GREEN: You
talked about the difficulty of applying good practice. When you
are applying it what do you use as analogous or comparative—Where
do you look: the UK, Europe or internationally? How do you establish
the benchmarks?
(Dr Maynard) One of the things I discovered when we were
doing the COST 335 work was that the UK is pretty much ahead of
other countries in the world. I would say we are kind of up there
with the best. When I use the term "good practice" I
mean good practice in other sectors actually, so looking at the
kinds of things that might be expected in some of the sectors
that are perhaps a little in advance of the rail industry.
12 Crossrail Ref: P8, Maryland Station-Proposed details
for the provision of PRM lifts (NEWMLB-53_04-011) Back
13
Crossrail Ref: P8, Maryland Station-Local bus services providing
direct links to Stratford Station (NEWMLB-53_04-004) Back
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