Two million pounds worth of funding will be made available to small bus operators across Great Britain with the aim of making bus services more accessible for disabled passengers.
The funding from the Department for Transport will be allocated by the Real Time Information Group (RTIG) for investment in audible and visible on-board information.
It is hoped the move will ensure more passengers can board more buses with greater confidence, knowing where they are and when to get off.
The launch of the fund coincides with the It’s everyone’s journey campaign, the first stage of a new government-backed initiative to highlight the part we can all play in improving disabled people’s experiences when using public transport.
The department is now calling on charities, transport operators, and commercial organisations to join the campaign, helping to raise awareness of the needs of disabled travellers and share some of the improvements being made to make travel easier for the one in 5 disabled people in the UK.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said, “It is unacceptable that people still feel they cannot travel by bus, because of a lack of basic route and destination information on board local bus services.
Accessibility Minister Nusrat Ghani said, “Transport is at the heart of how we live our lives, and I am determined that we remove any barriers faced by disabled people.
“Every passenger, regardless of where they travel in Great Britain, should be able to do so confident that they have boarded the correct vehicle and are travelling to the right place.”
