Background
Right now, disabled people make 38% fewer journeys than non-disabled people – a figure that hasn’t changed in the last decade.
This “transport accessibility gap” tells us that there is much more that transport providers need to do to make sure that disabled people can travel across road, rail and air like non-disabled people.
Motability Foundation has launched the National Centre for Accessible Transport (ncat) with the aim of closing the transport accessibility gap.
We believe that the scale of research, innovation and collaboration needed requires significant investment.
We will fund ncat with £20 million over seven years, and have appointed a consortium of disability, transport and research experts to run the Centre.
What the National Centre for Accessible Transport will do
The National Centre for Accessible Transport is being run by Coventry University, in collaboration with charities RiDC and Designability and organisations Connected Places Catapult, Policy Connect and WSP.
This consortium of organisations have been chosen following an open and transparent grant competition process, which encouraged different organisations with different expertise to work together.
ncat will work with disabled people, disabled people’s organisations, transport providers and policy makers to develop solutions which will make transport accessible for everyone.
It aims to:
- Transform the sector’s understanding of disabled peoples’ experiences of transport problems, highlighting issues and opportunities to better serve the inclusive transport market
- Take the opportunity of emerging technology advances in transport and low carbon ambitions to ensure the ‘revolution in mobility’ improves the accessibility and reliability of transport for disabled people
- Convene disabled people and decision makers to drive systems level change, helping realise our vision that no disabled person is disadvantaged due to poor access to transport.
Why now?
Our analysis shows that completely closing the transport accessibility gap for disabled people in the UK would deliver benefits in the region of £72.4 billion per annum.
The results of this analysis can be found here.
The UK is working towards Net Zero carbon emissions which will see more people making journeys through public transport and active travel.
With new technology supporting this change in how we travel, now is the time to make sure that all modes of transport are accessible for everyone.
The National Centre for Accessible Transport launched February 2023. Learn more about the centre and how to get involved.