Public transport’s great, isn’t it? You can pay a few quid to a bus driver and she’ll take you across the city. Or you can get a train to the other end of the country and avoid the stress of driving on the motorway. Put your travel in somebody else’s hands and sit back while you are taken to your destination. Bliss.
However, it doesn’t always work out like that. Public transport can get expensive, you might end up standing up for most of your journey, and, crucially, it is frequently inaccessible to disabled people.
I mean, really inaccessible. London, for instance, is renowned for its masses of buses and underground trains that can take you anywhere for highly subsidised fares. But if you need a step-free journey, you will most likely find yourself on a journey that is three times the length and three times the cost.
Look at this example from Kate Pearce:
https://twitter.com/KatieeePearce/status/1163784787632492550
Even if a tube station is marked as having a step-free option, it might involve a lift that is broken for half the year. And while London’s transport is notorious among disabled people for being so inaccessible, the rest of the country faces public transport that receives far less investment and can be just as inaccessible if you’re a wheelchair user or a person who can’t walk far.
In my city, the tram system is pretty accessible. The trams are level access and there is dedicated space for wheelchair users (even if it is usually full of prams). But the tram network only covers part of the city’s transport needs, so if you don’t live in certain areas, you need to get the bus. Buses only rarely have steps these days, but for a wheelchair user to get on a bus, the driver often has to get out, put a ramp down – doing the same when the wheelie passenger need to get off. This process going smoothly all depends on the driver having a working ramp and, frankly, being in a good mood, despite what the law says.
Train travel can be accessible, with assistance as long as you know where you’re going a day in advance (no spontaneity please!) but even if you could theoretically get on the train, you might not be able to get to the platform in the first place.
Further, to use trams or buses, you also need to be able to get to a tram stop or bus stop and that, for me, is where I started to have difficulties. I just can’t walk far enough to get to the stop, even if the vehicle that arrives is flat and has available seating at the front and, if necessary, people willing to stand so that I can sit down. That’s a lot of “ifs” for just getting to the supermarket or meeting someone for lunch. As my mobility worsened, my reliance on public transport got greater, while conversely its ability to meet my needs reduced and reduced.
Push came to shove and, years since I last drove a car, I figured it was time to take some refresher lessons and get myself back on the road. I felt awful about the environmental implications but I also knew that it was the only way I would be able to actually carry on going to places. Any places.
And this is why, when I see artists’ sketches of what a car-free city might look like, or pleas to local councils to make a city centre car free, I freeze a bit. What that means, too, is that many disabled people would equally be kept clear from the cities they live in.
Sure, a road with lots of traffic looks far better with trees down the centre and pedestrians wherever they want to be. No question. But in cleansing a place from cars, you additionally cleanse it from people who have no other options. People who can’t just walk into town or grab a bus at the end of their street.
Some compromises I have seen also do not work.
- Allow electric vehicles: this is not a car-free option, but it excludes anybody who doesn’t have access to a very new, very pricy car. It also excludes people who don’t live in houses and don’t have places they could charge an electric car between journeys.
- Allow taxis: this is also not a car-free option, and it will also get expensive. It’s far cheaper for me to drive into town and pay for parking than it is to get a taxi there and back.
- Allow people with Blue Badge disability parking permits: this is also not a car-free option. And as the criteria get harder and harder to meet, fewer and fewer legitimately disabled people will qualify
- Allow people with motability cars: again, not a car-free option. In the UK, disabled people who qualify for certain benefits can exchange some of the money they receive for an accessible (Motability) car. These, unlike the cars driven by most of us, are brand new and so electric versions may be a possibility, but to allow only these still excludes far too many people.
So, while car-free city centres, or even streets, may be an attractive option aesthetically, and an appealing option environmentally, overlooking this significant group of people when planning them is discriminatory and exclusionary.
Photo: San Sharma