Introduction

The Accessible Travel Framework (ATF) – entitled “Going Further” - was developed by Transport Scotland 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.

Accessible travel can enable people to enjoy equal access to full citizenship. The conversations originally held, were about identifying, and removing disabling barriers which prevent people travelling, or serve to make their journey an unpleasant experience. It was recognised that the project was about more than transport, and included access to vital services such as employment, education, and healthcare.

The ATF provided a national vision and outcomes for accessible travel and a high-level action plan to tackle the key issues facing disabled people. Its vision was that:

“All disabled people can travel with the same freedom, choice, dignity and opportunity as other citizens.”

This original vision was supported by four outcomes:

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

In 2022, Disability Equality Scotland (DES) was approached by Transport Scotland to conduct a review of the impact of the ATF. This review has been commissioned as part of a research and evaluation project funded by Transport Scotland, to monitor the progress of the ATF and its priorities.

The role of the review was:

  • To develop an understanding of the monitoring and evaluation work of the ATF.
  • To use the valuable feedback and data that DES gathered frequently from our membership base as evidence and a vital resource.
  • To develop a richer and more up-to-date understanding of the priorities of disabled people traveling in Scotland currently and;
  • To reflect on how the work of the framework could be monitored in the future and consider how it is currently being monitored, evaluated, and reported on.

Disability Equality Scotland has – wherever possible – used information and ‘lived experience’ testimony from disabled people in the production of this review - which contributes to our continued advocacy for accessible travel for disabled people.

Ensuring that the current experience of disabled people in Scotland is at the forefront of each stage of the ATF’s implementation, planning and reflection, this report draws on testimonial data, project reports and data made available by Transport Scotland. The project has been guided via active engagement and consultation both within the team at Transport Scotland, and externally via a short life project working group which contained representatives from Transport Scotland, the Mobility and Access Committee for Scotland (MACS) and Disability Equality Scotland.

The research for this review was conducted from August 2022 to March 2023 and was informed by data gathered from the Transport Scotland project archives within Disability Equality Scotland, information provided by Transport Scotland, information provided by disabled people in Scotland, and from external sources of data, such as the Disability & Transport; Scottish Household Survey report (2021).

We can also see that this is a time of change and development for the ATF’s delivery plan structure, as we have now reached a pivotal moment, with only three years left in the original framework’s lifespan, as the ATF concludes in 2026.

The stated aims of this review were:

  • To use the lived experience testimonies of disabled people in Scotland, to consider potential impacts, priorities, and changes to experiences of travel in Scotland.
  • To collate qualitative data from disabled people in Scotland in relation to their experiences of transport.
  • To consider how the ATF has been initiated and developed, since its publication in 2016.
  • To collect recent data that relates to the priorities of the ATF, where possible highlighting what could be developed further based on that data. Where needed the report shows gaps and recommendations on how to develop the monitoring and evaluation work.

Due to the scope of the project, this report does not cover every mode of transport and every identified priority, or work stream, within the span of the ATF. Instead, it took its lead from Transport Scotland’s Annual Delivery Plans and their outlined priorities published in 2019 and in 2021, and also the topics and issues that have been continuously raised in recent years by disabled people.

Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic

This report acknowledges that the Covid-19 pandemic had - and continues to have - a profound and lasting impact on the aims and work packages relating to the ATF.

This is reflected in travel trends throughout the pandemic and indeed up until more recently. The Disability and Transport Survey shows that travel usage has not gone back to its pre-pandemic levels for disabled people traveling in Scotland (across all modes of transport).

Some of the lasting effects of the pandemic on the experiences of transport and travel in Scotland for disabled people have been:

  • Discrepancies in information.
  • Lack of up-to-date information and.
  • Cancellations/delays to services.

All of these have been raised in multiple different engagement exercises throughout the pandemic, including the most recent poll series on accessible travel and modes of communication. These negative impacts on travel experiences have led to a lack of confidence and an impact on trust in transport and travel.

It is also crucial to consider that there have been a variety of significant changes to the landscape of travel and transport since the ATF was first drafted and published in 2016, including: industrial actions; a cost-of-living crisis; and staff shortages. Some of these recent shifts in the social landscape are reflected in the recent National Transport Strategy 2 (NTS2) which was published in 2020.

As the priorities of the ATF shift and grow and new delivery plan models are developed there needs to be conscious consideration and prioritising of the development of accessible, active, and sustainable travel, and clear projects and action plans put in place to ensure the priorities of the NTS2, and the ATF align and support one another – whilst placing the disabled individuals needs at the centre of any decision making.