Including Disabled People in Bristol’s Transport Vision
In this blog, Emma Geen, our Climate and Disability Programme Associate, shares some of the barriers Disabled people face when getting around the city, and why making transport more accessible is essential in meeting Bristol’s climate goals.
‘Stop! Just stop!’
The audience roared with laughter as one person shouted this out at our recent Forum Theatre event on the accessibility of buses in Bristol. Forum theatre is a type of interactive play where the audience can change what happens in scenes. ‘Stop’ is what members of the audience were encouraged to shout when they wanted to pause the play to make a change. Yet that ‘stop’ had several meanings. The scene the person was pausing was when a bus driver ignores a wheelchair user waiting at the bus stop and drives on by. So, the bus itself also needed to stop. Then there was also a third, deeper meaning. The community of Disabled people need the unfairness, cruelty and lack of thought behind the inaccessibility of Bristol’s transport to ‘stop. Just stop’.
The problems are too many to list for a blog of this length, so I shall focus on a few of the most difficult. It will be no surprise to anyone who lives in Bristol that one of the biggest problems is the buses. And within the problem of the buses, there are many issues. There is the lack of wheelchair spaces, meaning that wheelchair users often must wait several buses before they can catch one because the space is full with prams. Couples and friends who are both wheelchair user often complain to me about not being able to go out on dates or outings because they can’t travel together. There’s the unfriendliness and abuse that Disabled people often experience on buses from both bus drivers and fellow passengers. There’s the fact that the Disabled person’s bus pass only works after 9am, making it impossible to use for those who start work earlier.
After the buses, the problem Disabled people share most often is the pavements. Many of Bristol’s pavements are very poor quality. They are cracked or bumpy. Tree roots grow through them. Recycling bins block them. Cars users park on them. There aren’t enough dropped kerbs to allow a wheelchair user to get down from the pavement and cross. All this means that many Disabled people are unable to use the pavements and are either forced into the road, to use their car instead of walking/wheeling, or to stay at home.
Even when Disabled people drive it is still difficult. There are issues with the Clean Air Zone, there is a lack of blue badge bays, and a lack of parking close enough to shops and services. Though we should encourage people to drive as little as possible, some Disabled people will never be able to make this choice and it’s very important that we make sure that these people can still get around their home city.
These are some of the issues highlighted in the Community Climate Action Project’s Transport Vision. The document was created together with local community groups and transport partners to push for the transport needs of Bristol’s community of Disabled people, refugees and migrants, and people from parts of the city that are often left out of transport decision making. The aim of this ‘vision with a difference’ is to push for positive change and raise awareness of the diverse transport needs across our city. It paints a vision of a Bristol where Disabled people can move around the city, freely, easily and without fear. Buses have two wheelchair spaces so couples can travel together, the pavements are smooth and unblocked, and shopmobility equipment is easy to access.
After hearing about this work, people can get confused. They understand the accessibility issue, or often will with encouragement, but don’t see the link with climate change. Yet if we want people to be able to care for the planet by driving less, and instead walking more, cycling more, and using the bus more often, then these things have to be accessible, safe, affordable and easy to use for everyone.
Government statistics put Disabled people at 24% of the population. If our cities are so inaccessible that a quarter of the population are unable to make more sustainable choices it will be impossible for Bristol to reach its climate goals.
Inaccessibility needs to stop, just stop, and Disabled people need to be given the green light on transport if we want the city’s work on climate change to go full speed.
View the film of Emma’s Forum Theatre event
Also available with BSL translation and audio description
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