Motability has launched a competition to find partners to run a £20 million evidence centre funded by the charity and dedicated to making transport accessible for disabled people.
Motability plans to open its Evidence Centre in January 2023 and work with people with disabilities, disabled people’s organisations, transport providers and policy makers to develop solutions to make transport accessible for everyone.
Launching the project with the publication of the charity’s latest report “The Transport Accessibility Gap”, Motability chairman Charles Manby MBE said: “To understand the transport needs of disabled people, and thus effect change, it is imperative that we are guided by those who have lived experiencing disability.
“We have consulted a wide range of individuals and experts across the disability community. We have also sought input from leading academics and stakeholders in the transport sector.”
The report says the transport accessibility 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.
Motability also quotes its own 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.
The report says 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.
It added that 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.
Motability found that disabled people are almost twice as likely to be unemployed as non-disabled people, despite applying for 60 per cent more jobs, and nearly half of those in poverty in the UK are either disabled or live with a disabled person.
But the charity also found 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. The Evidence Centre for inclusive transport, will aim to address that, with Motability providing £20 million funding over seven years.
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 find out more about the project visit https://www.motability.org.uk/
