On the 4th of June 2021 Sheffield Transport 4 All (ST4A) wrote to the Sheffield City Region (SCR) Mayor Dan Jarvis asking for his thoughts on boosting accessibility as part of the Bus Services Improvement Plan (BSIP). The plan is an essential component of securing funds from government to keep bus services running as passenger numbers recover over the coming years.
Disappointingly ST4A still have not received a reply from the mayor that responds to the accessibility points raised and has brought this to the attention of Disability Sheffield. A copy of the original letter can be download here
Time is getting short now to engage with Disabled people on this matter as government will need to see plans in the early Autumn.
Acting Chair for ST4A James Martin said: “It is difficult to support plans which we have not been involved in and we know from recent experiences more could be improved if proposals were shaped differently.” He went on to say “we are grateful for being approached to support a different bid for funding. However, some aspects caused concern for whether they improved accessibility and a conversation to ask questions and raise VFM questions for the disabled community would make it easier to fully support SCR.”
There are many forms of disability from hearing impairments, to visual impairments, to mobility difficulties, and people with a learning or communication disability. Each form of disability forms its own issues for getting around our city and using buses.
Acting Chair for ST4A says:
“Involving a pan-disability group such as ST4A in proposing and planning improvements makes a big difference. By involving people with a variety of impairments we can ensure proposals meet everyones’ needs. A bad design developed with only one particular type of disability in mind can make life difficult for other forms of impairment and engaging well with the broader disabled community is something Sheffield does well. We’d like to see the Mayor look to use our experience now and consider broadening this approach into the other parts of South Yorkshire providing the excellent support we have received from Sheffield City Council to facilitate meetings”
The lack of any answers in terms of engaging directly with Disabled people is concerning as decisions made without them can have disproportionately negative effects or fail to get a good outcome across a variety of types of disability. Even prioritising of particular locations and improvements in one area can benefit a larger number of travellers to continue using a service when their health condition degrades.
