Accessible Travel Framework

Going Further was the first national Accessible Travel Framework for Scotland. It was created in 2016 from conversations between disabled people, their representatives and people who work in transport across Scotland with the purpose of:

  • supporting disabled people’s rights by removing barriers and improving access to travel, and
  • ensuring disabled people are fully involved in work to improve all aspects of travel

We know that accessible travel can enable people to enjoy equal access to full citizenship. The conversations we held back then were about identifying and removing disabling barriers which prevent people travelling, or serve to make their journey an unpleasant experience. We are aware that this is about more than transport, and includes access to vital services such as employment, education and healthcare.

The Framework provides a national vision and outcomes for accessible travel and a high level action plan to tackle the key issues facing disabled people. Its vision is that 'All disabled people can travel with the same freedom, choice, dignity and opportunity as other citizens.'

This vision is supported by four outcomes:

  • more disabled people make successful door-to-door journeys, more often
  • disabled people are more involved in the design, development and improvement of transport policies, services and infrastructure
  • everyone involved in delivering transport information, services and infrastructure will help to enable disabled people to travel, and
  • disabled people feel comfortable and safe using public transport – this includes being free from hate crime, bullying and harassment when travelling

Over the last five years improvements have been made, but we are aware there is still work to do to fully deliver the ambitions within the ten year framework. That’s why we have moved to an Annual Delivery Plan, co-produced (over the last year) in the same way as the framework, so we can be clear about our priority aims each year going forward and the progress we are collectively committing to achieve. It also aligns to the review of Scotland’s National Transport Strategy - setting out a 20 year plan to meet the vision that “Scotland will have a sustainable, inclusive and accessible transport system helping to deliver a healthier, fairer and more prosperous nation for communities, businesses and visitors”.

National Baseline Survey

Disability Equality Scotland were to develop a national survey around the Accessible Travel Framework activity to obtain an instant picture of disabled peoples’ views on specific aspects of public transport. The aim was to gather baseline information on experiences of accessible travel.

Read the findings from the National Baseline Survey with disabled users of public transport, which took place between May and June 2017.