Outcome Indicators for Accessible Travel Framework
Overview of the Accessible Travel Framework
The Accessible Travel Framework was developed to work alongside (1) the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, ratified by the United Kingdom in 2009, and (2) the National Transport Strategy (NTS), specifically the pillar focussing on reducing inequality.
These two documents underscore the standard of rights and treatment of disabled people and provide a strategy to remove barriers to accessing and using (public transport) services, as well as improve the overall travel experiences. Thus, the disabled people should be able to (1) make successful door-to-door journeys; (2) easily access help and support, when necessary; (3) obtain and use accessible information to plan their journey; (4) travel comfortably and safely; (5) complete their journeys successfully and be involved in future design and improvement of services, infrastructure, and broader transport policies. These aims are collated into three main outcomes for transport accessibility:
More disabled people make successful door-to-door journeys, more often
Disabled people feel comfortable and safe using public transport
Everyone involved in delivering transport information, services and infrastructure will help to enable disabled people to travel
The fourth outcome is Disabled people are involved in the design, development and improvement of transport policies, services and infrastructure.
The data presented in this section relate to the indicators specified in the Accessible Travel Framework for which measurement is available.
More disabled people make successful door-to-door journeys, more often
Use of local bus services in the past month
The percentage of disabled people who said they had used the bus in the past month in 2024 (38%) was lower than it had been in 2018 (45%). [Time series table 5, Figure 7]
In 2022-24, people whose disability limited their day-to-day activities a little were more likely to have used the bus than those whose day-to-day activities were limited a lot (43% to 36%). [Table 24]
Use of local train services in the past month
In 2024, the train was used in the past month by 17% of disabled people, unchanged from 2023. This was lower than for non-disabled people (35%). [Time series table 6, Figure 8]
In 2022-24, those whose disability limited everyday activities a lot were less likely to use the train (11%) than those whose activities were affected a little (22%). [Table 27]
Whether experienced difficulties when changing from buses to other public transport modes
In 2023-24, over half (57%) of disabled people agreed that it was easy to change from buses to other forms of transport, but the figure was higher for non-disabled people (73%). 9% of disabled people disagreed. [Table 25, Figure 9]
Whether experienced difficulties when changing from trains to other public transport modes
In 2023-24, two thirds (67%) of disabled people agreed that it was easy to change from trains to other forms of transport, but the figure was higher for non-disabled people (77%). 8% of disabled people disagreed. [Table 28, Figure 10]
Factors discouraging public transport use
The top reason disabled people were discouraged from using the bus more often was ‘Health reasons’ (29%). This is much higher than for non-disabled people (2%). The next four reasons were ‘Use my own car’ (19%), ‘No need’ (19%), ‘Lack of service’ (8%) and ‘Public transport is unreliable’ (6%). 15% said nothing discouraged them. [Table 26]
In 2023-24, the top reasons disabled people were discouraged from using the train more often were ‘No need’ (27%), ‘Cost’ (14%), ‘No nearby station’ (7%), ‘Use my own car’ (6%) and ‘Trains unreliable’ (4%). 37% said nothing discouraged them. [Table 29]
Data for the ‘Satisfaction with distance of bus stop from beginning of journey’ indicator were previously collected in the Transport Focus Bus Passenger survey but are not collected in the ‘Your Bus Journey’ survey which replaced it.
Everyone involved in delivering transport information, services and infrastructure will help to enable disabled people to travel
Rating of bus driver – helpfulness and attitude of the driver
In 2024, 87% of disabled people rated the helpfulness and attitude of the driver as very good or fairly good, with 3% giving a rating of poor or fairly poor. [Table 41, Figure 11]
Rating of bus driver – time given to get to the seat
The majority of disabled people (87%) rated the time the driver gave them to get to their seat as good or very good, with 5% giving a fairly poor or very poor rating. [Table 42, Figure 12]
Satisfaction with helpfulness and attitude of train staff
In 2024, three quarters (76%) of disabled people were satisfied with the helpfulness and attitude of train staff and 8% were dissatisfied. [Table 49, Figure 13]
Views on the ease of finding out about routes and times (bus and train indicator combined)
While the majority of disabled people in 2023-24 agreed that finding out about routes and times was easy (79% for bus and 86% for train), they were less likely to agree than non-disabled people. [Tables 25 and 28, Figure 14]
Number of accessible buses
Since 2019-20, 100% of buses in Scotland have been accessible or low floor buses, but the number of buses dropped from 4.4 thousand in 2019-20 to 3.3 thousand in 2024-25. [Table 38]
Number of wheelchair accessible taxis
In 2025, almost half (46%) of taxis in Scotland were wheelchair accessible. The number of wheelchair accessible taxis has been fairly stable in the last few years and was almost 3,900 in 2025. [Table 37, Figure 15]
Views on information provided at the bus stop
In 2024, three quarters (77%) of disabled people rated the information provided at the bus stop as very or fairly good. 13% rated it fairly or very poor which was higher than for non-disabled people (9%). [Table 48, Figure 16]
‘Views on information provided inside the bus’ was an indicator for which data were collected in the survey before the ‘Your Bus Journey’ survey from Transport Focus began in 2023. The ‘Your Bus Journey’ survey does not collect this data in the same way. However, it does collect other relevant data on audio announcements and electronic displays.
Audio announcements weren’t available on 57% of buses. Of the disabled people who used them when available, 71% rated them as very or fairly good. Electronic displays weren’t available on 51% of buses. Of the disabled people who used them when available, 76% rated them as very or fairly good.[Table 54, Table 55]
Data for the ‘Views on information provided about train times/platforms’ indicator were not collected in the Rail User survey from Transport Focus. Data on how easy it was to find information when planning the train journey is being collected in the Rail Customer Experience Survey which began in July 2025.
Views on information provided during the train journey
The majority (72%) of disabled passengers in 2024 were very or fairly satisfied with the information provided to passengers during their train journey, while 7% were very or fairly dissatisfied. [Table 52, Figure 17]
Figure 17: Satisfaction with provision of information during train journey (percentages), 2024
Satisfaction with public transport
Disabled people’s satisfaction with public transport fell between 2019 and 2022, then partly recovered and was 60% in 2024, the same as 2023. In recent years satisfaction has been lower for disabled people than for non-disabled people. [Time series table 7, Figure 18]
Disabled people feel comfortable and safe using public transport
Data for the following indicators stopped being collected when the Rail Passenger Survey was replaced by the Rail User Survey, so are not available for this publication:
- Views on toilet facilities on the train
- Views on toilet facilities at the station
- Availability of staff on the train
- Availability of staff at the station
Data for these indicators are being collected again in the Rail Customer Experience Survey which began in July 2025.
Rating of availability of seating or space to stand on the bus
90% of disabled people in 2024 rated the availability of seating or space to stand as very or fairly good. [Table 45, Figure 19]
Rating of comfort of seats on the bus
In 2024, most disabled people (82%) rated the comfort of the seats as very or fairly good. 7% of disabled people rated the comfort as very or fairly poor. [Table 46, Figure 20]
Data for the ‘satisfaction on bus with amount of personal space’ are not collected in the ‘Your Bus Journey’ survey.
Percentage of buses with CCTV
The percentage of buses with CCTV has risen over the years from 82% in 2016-17 to 96% in 2024-2025. [Table 53]
Whether feel safe and secure on trains during the day
In 2023-24, a high percentage (94%) of disabled people felt safe and secure on trains during the day. The percentage for non-disabled people was 97%. [Table 28]
Whether feel safe and secure on trains during the evening
In 2023-24, the percentage of disabled people who felt safe and secure during the evening was much lower than during the day (63% compared to 94%). The percentage was also lower than for non-disabled people in the evening (63% to 81%). [Table 28]
Whether feel safe and secure on buses during the day
In 2023-24, a high percentage (92%) of disabled people felt safe and secure on buses during the day. The percentage for non-disabled people was 95%. [Table 25]
Whether feel safe and secure on buses during the evening
Again, the percentage of disabled people who felt safe on buses during the evening was much lower than during the day (53% compared to 92%). Disabled people were less likely to feel safe in the evening than non-disabled people (53% to 74%). [Table 25]
Rating of personal safety while at bus stop
Over three quarters (78%) of disabled people in 2024 rated their safety at the bus stop as very or fairly good, while 6% rated it as poor or fairly poor. [Table 39, Figure 21]
Rating of personal security while on the bus
In 2024, the percentage of disabled people who rated their security on the bus as very or fairly good was 89%, similar to non-disabled people (90%).[Table 40, Figure 22]
Data for the indicators ‘Views on personal safety while using the train station’ and ‘Views on personal safety while on the train’ weren’t collected in the Rail User Survey. Data on ‘Satisfaction with personal security during train journey’ have been included instead.
Satisfaction with personal security during train journey
Most disabled people (82%) in 2024 were very or fairly satisfied with their personal security during the train journey, but 6% were dissatisfied. The figure for dissatisfaction for non-disabled people was 2%. [Table 51, Figure 23]
