Bus scheme helps people with hidden disabilities have more dignified journeys - CILT(UK)
Search
Search
You are here: Home > News > Latest News

BLDC24 Wide Skyscraper advert




  



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 


LATEST NEWS

Bus scheme helps people with hidden disabilities have more dignified journeys

02 October 2019/Categories: CILT, Industry News, Active Travel & Travel Planning, Bus & Coach, Transport Planning


Public transport can be a daunting for people with disabilities, let alone those with conditions invisible to the untrained eye. 

That’s why First West of England have started advertising cards which allow passengers to effortlessly explain what help they need.  

Messages on them include: ‘Please be direct, I have autism’, and ‘Please be patient, I’ve had a stroke’, helping bus drivers understand how to assist. 

This means passengers – many of whom might have communication difficulties – wont have to declare their conditions to everyone else on the bus. 

Other phrases on the ‘Extra Help to Travel Cards’ ask the driver to let them know when to get off at their stop and to help count their change.

It comes after Martha Pugh-Jones, 18, was sworn and shouted at on her way home from school for sitting on a First Bus priority seat in Bristol.

She has chronic fatigue syndrome and a condition called Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome which causes abormal heart rates if she stands for too long. 

But despite wearing a blue hidden disability badge passengers on the bus refused to accept that she had a medical condition. 

She wrote to First Bus and the Mayor of Bristol earlier this month, asking them to follow in the footsteps of Manchester and London. 

Buses in the two cities have labels on priority seats reminding customers not all disabilities are visible. 

First Bus said they would start promoting the cards on social media, having only let specific disability groups know about them before.

On its website the company said: ‘At First West of England, we understand that not all disabilities are visible and that everyone deserves a safe and dignified journey. 

‘We know that for some of our customers, travelling by bus can be a little daunting, so we’ve been working with many disability groups around the UK to design some cards that you can print out and show your driver as a way of discretely asking for a little extra help if you’d rather not ask them out loud. 

‘For example, maybe you’re a little unsteady on your feet so need time to get to your seat before the driver pulls away from the stop or you lip read so need the driver to face you when they speak.

‘Whatever the help you need, these little cards will either already have an appropriate message for you to use, or you can fill in one of the blank ones with your own request for help.’

Source: Metro

Print

Number of views (1816)

Tags:

Theme picker

Registered Office:

Earlstrees Court, Earlstrees Road, Corby
Northants, NN17 4AX
Main Switchboard: 01536 740100

Company Registration Number: 2629347 
(A Company Limited by Guarantee)
Charity Registration Number: 1004963

© The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport