Disabled people make 38% fewer journeys than non-disabled people.
This “transport accessibility gap” tells us there is much more that transport providers need to do to make sure that disabled people can travel across road, rail, and air with ease.
New Evidence Centre aims to close the gap
In response to this need, we're grant funding a new Evidence Centre for Inclusive Transport with the main aim of closing this gap.
We have awarded Coventry University, working in collaboration with charities RiDC and Designability and organisations Connected Places Catapult, Policy Connect, WSP UK, with grant funding of £20 million over seven years to develop and run the UK’s first Evidence Centre for Inclusive Transport.
What will the Centre do?
The Centre will work with disabled people, disabled people’s organisations, transport providers and policy makers to undertake research and develop solutions to make transport accessible for everyone.
It will transform the transport sector’s understanding of disabled peoples’ experiences of travel, using emerging technology advances to improve the accessibility and reliability of transport for disabled people.
How was the grant awarded?
Throughout an open and transparent grant competition process, we worked with a panel of competition advisors from research, policy, charity, and disability sector backgrounds.
The experts advised us on the competition design and the grant applications received.
The panel of competition advisors were:
- Helen Dolphin MBE runs Dolphin Diversity Ltd where she advises government, public, commercial and professional bodies on how to improve accessibility and is the Chair of the Motability Operations Consumer Group.
- Professor Adewale Adebajo MBE is an Honorary Professor in Musculoskeletal Health Service Research, working both in research and clinically in the field of musculoskeletal conditions, most recently at the University of Sheffield.
- James Lee works in policy, research, and grant management, with charities and local government, advocating for the experiences of disabled people.
- Jonathan Breckon brought his knowledge of creating and developing evidence and ‘what works’ centres.
- David Hunter advocates for inclusive transport and public spaces, working with local councils and the third sector to implement planning strategies.
What’s next?
The Evidence Centre for Inclusive Transport is expected to launch in early 2023.