For people living with disabilities, accessing public transport can be a challenging endeavor. Joanne Sansome, who uses a motorized wheelchair every day, is an example of this struggle. She has cerebral palsy and finds it difficult to use public transport due to issues like prams using the accessible spot on buses, which can often prevent her from being able to get on. Joanne says, “Once I had to miss two buses before I could actually get on because of prams.” Before the ramps on buses were changed to manual operation, Joanne would have issues where the automatic function was broken and she had to be lifted off the bus.
While most trains and buses in Northern Ireland are now wheelchair-accessible, Joanne still rarely uses them, instead relying on her parents for transportation. In a statement, a Translink spokesperson said the company is “committed to providing convenient, safe, and accessible services for everyone.”
Similarly, Caroline Dorsett, who lives in Portrush, uses public transport at least once a week but says it can be a “quite undignified” experience for wheelchair users. She recounted how once she was left “stranded in Coleraine” because the wheelchair space on the bus was taken by someone traveling with a pram. Caroline told BBC News NI, “Drivers do their best, but if somebody refuses to move, you can’t get on.”
Even though all of Translink’s bus and rail carriages in Northern Ireland are accessible, not all have low floors to make it easier for wheelchair users to get on from the pavement. Goldline coaches operate with side lifts. The challenges of using public transport are sometimes worse for people living in rural areas. Caroline said, “If I want to guarantee a spot on the bus, then I have to ring first to see if I can get on because if there’s a wheelchair already on the bus, I can’t get on, which leaves me sitting at a bus stop without any shelter.”
The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency’s latest statistics show people with mobility difficulties made an average of 519 journeys in 2021 – 44% less than those without a mobility difficulty. Translink says it has begun rolling out a new fleet of buses with separate spaces for wheelchair users and prams, adding that staff have undergone training as part of its accessibility program.
In a statement, a spokesperson said the company worked with organizations like Inclusive Mobility and Transport Advisory Committee (IMTAC), Royal National Institute of Blind People, Guide Dogs NI, and others to ensure its services were a “welcoming space for those with physical and hidden disabilities.” Joanne recognizes that work is being done to make transport more accessible for people with disabilities and added, “It’s nice to be independent and free, and I’m excited that maybe Northern Ireland will come up to standard.
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