Transcript No Slide Title

Older People and Public Transport:
Challenge or Opportunity for meeting
the needs of an Ageing Society
UK Assisted Passenger Reservation System (APRS)
Aim of APRS is to offer passengers the option to book and reserve assistance to use the
heavy rail network
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All TOC’s have to offer this service to comply with their conditions of operating
Legal Requirement of operation that all TOC’s produce a Disabled Persons Protection
Policy (DPPP)
http://www.northernrail.org/northern/passengercharter/pdfs/northernrail_dpp_200711.pdf
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APRS forms part of the DPPP
There is generally a requirement to book and reserve assistance at least 24 hours in
advance of travel
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There are in excess of 20 TOC’s in the UK and 7 operate across Greater Manchester
To book assistance, customers can do so by telephone, e-mail or fax
Interfaces
• TOC’s act as point of contact with customers who require assistance
• Advance notice of travel enables the rail company to allocate staff to
meet a passenger at departure station, accompany to train, help with
motorised buggy (at large stations) and assist with boarding onto the
train
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The same arrangement will enable rail staff to meet passenger at
destination station to enable departure or help with the next stage of the
journey (using rail only)
Booking APRS needs only be done once as the TOC will share
information about requirements with other TOC’s for the duration of the
journey
Passengers need to know details of the journey (eg train times and
routes before booking assistance
What is seen to be problematic
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Mobility Scooters (Powered) – variants on usage across UK
network
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/passenger_services/disabled_passengers
/scooters.html
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No ‘one stop shop’ arrangement when booking tickets or reserving
a journey
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Fragmented approach to promoting accessibility features at
stations
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Need to book support in advance – in the event of spontaneous
travel a TOC cannot guarantee staff availability to help
What works well
• APRS empowers people to use the rail network to travel
• It offers a means of support for those who need it
• It gives Passenger Transport Executives some freedom to rely on TOC’s
to provide support to enable disabled people to travel
• APRS applies to all passengers and not just disabled people therefore in
principle this is a potential model of compliance with PRM TSI
Conclusion – the way forward in the UK
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The UK Disability Discrimination Act set an end date of no later
than 1 January 2020 by which date all rail vehicles must be
accessible
To complement this demand on the private rail industry, the UK
Department for Transport have issued new guidance:
http://www.dft.gov.uk/transportforyou/access/rail/railstations/accessiblestationdesigns/co
p.pdf
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It is therefore anticipated that with the end date of 2020, rail rolling
stock will be fully accessible and the new DfT Guidance will
enable disabled passengers to enjoy a better level of access to the
UK rail network
Site Visit – Piccadilly Station
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This facility offers a mobility assistant point and Caitriona O’Brien will give us
more details about how this works from the Piccadilly Station perspective