Ministerial Foreword
Transport plays a vital role in all of our lives. It enables us to access work, education or training, health and social care services, to see friends and family and to take part in leisure activities. The importance of delivering an accessible transport system is greater than ever. Over 20% of Scotland’s population identify as disabled, we have an ageing population, and there is an ever present need to reduce social isolation and loneliness and reduce the inequality gap. There are pressing challenges around increasing the use of public transport and reducing reliance on cars in the face of the climate emergency.
Accessibility and inclusion are at the heart of our second National Transport Strategy. This focus largely sits within the “Reduces Inequalities” priority, where we have committed to providing fair access to services we need, which are safe, easy to use and will be available, accessible and affordable to all.
We need to improve accessible transport options for all disabled people and ensure that all journeys become easier, safer and affordable. It is important that we continue to engage directly with disabled people to ensure they are able to influence and shape policy, bringing their lived experience to the table and recognising the diversity of the disabled community.
This delivery plan sets out the priorities and activities that will be the focus for the next two years, up to 2026 when the Accessible Travel Framework is due to come to a close. An important priority will be establishing what will succeed the Framework to ensure that progress continues toward more accessible travel choices beyond 2026.
I am aware that there will always be more to do in this area, but this is a welcome opportunity for me to highlight recent progress:
- In 2023, new best practice guidance for local licensing authorities and taxi operators on the licensing of taxis and private hire cars was developed, which includes a chapter on accessibility requirements.
- Following the conclusion of the Fair Fares Review in March 2024, we are exploring the feasibility of a pilot project to extend free travel on rail services for companions accompanying eligible Blind Persons Concessionary Travel cardholders.
- From December 2023 Local Authorities have been able to enforce the law banning pavement parking. This should make navigating streets whilst walking and wheeling less hazardous for disabled people and others.
- In 2022, Transport Scotland worked closely with Local Authorities, healthcare professionals and Blue Badge holders to review and re-write the guidance provided to Local Authorities to help them administer the Blue Badge scheme. There are a suite of updated application forms, streamlining the overall application process.
- In a first for concession services in the UK, from April 2024 eligible residents in Orkney and Shetland can use digital ferry vouchers, stored on their National Entitlement Card (NEC). This brings benefits of no longer having to wait for paper vouchers in the post to book or make a journey.
- We are continuing to fund Disability Equality Scotland (DES) to champion the Hate Crime Charter and to deliver training for transport staff and provide promotional materials.
- We now publish a “Disability and Transport” report, a publication intended to provide analysis of transport data for disabled people. This is a step in the right direction to “close the mobility gap” on how disabled and non-disabled people travel. I recognise that this information is essential to see whether our policies and actions are working. We have also introduced a “checking mechanism” through a newly formed Monitoring and Evaluation Group.
View Disability and Transport 2021
The priorities for action in this plan have been agreed through an extended period of engagement with disabled people. This has involved input and advice from the Mobility and Access Committee for Scotland (MACS), one to one meetings and group discussions with Disabled People’s Organisations from our National Transport Accessibility Steering Group. A series of online events and weekly polls hosted by DES have helped us better understand the impact of the pandemic on journeys, including how confidence to travel can be strengthened. DES were also commissioned to evaluate progress on the Accessible Travel Framework to date, which has informed the new approach set out in this delivery plan.
It is important to recognise that many of the priorities are complex issues which sit across multiple policy areas within Transport Scotland and the wider Scottish Government. Many aspects are also reserved to the UK Government, but we are working to push for quicker delivery and renewed focus in these areas. Complex change can take time, constructive and open communication is at the heart of this. Ensuring that accessibility requirements are considered, including co-production with disabled people, should be normal at the outset of any new policy approach or infrastructure planning.
Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to pay particular thanks to MACS, DES, and all the members of our National Transport Accessibility Steering Group, all of whom have continued to support the development and implementation of the Framework, and it’s delivery plans.
I would also like to take the opportunity to thank transport operators across all modes who continue to work towards lasting improvements for accessible travel. And to finish I would like to take this opportunity to say that I look forward to working with you all to further deliver on this important Framework.
Best Wishes
Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Transport