UK: The Office of Rail & Road has identified ways in which the provision of assistance for disabled passengers needs to be improved, following audits of how five operators are meeting regulatory requirements.
ORR chose East Midlands Railway, Govia Thameslink Railway, Greater Anglia, LNER and Northern as a representative cross-section of the industry.
The regulator found that satisfaction with booked assistance is high, but when assistance fails it can significantly impact on the wellbeing of passengers and their overall travel experience.
ORR says operators:
- should more widely adopt the Passenger Assist staff app, which was found to improve the reliability of assistance on the day, as well as driving continuous improvement over time;
- must ensure that clear communication takes place between departure and destination stations when delivering assistance by complying with the handover protocol, including at peak times;
- should ensure that when onboard staff are required to deliver assistance, as opposed to station staff, effective procedures are in place to allow them to do this;
- need to intensify their work through the Rail Delivery Group to ensure industry systems designed to support accessibility requirements are robust, work for passengers and that the information held in those systems is kept up to date;
- should review their internal accessibility risk-management processes and consider whether these need to be improved to ensure that risks to the delivery of assistance are managed proportionately and effectively.
‘Addressing and focusing effort on the fundamental issues set out here will contribute to creating a more inclusive and accessible travel environment for all passengers’, said ORR’s Director of Strategy & Reform Stephanie Tobyn on March 4.
ORR has shared the audit reports with the five operators, and requires them to inform it of the actions that they will take in response. The regulator will provide an update on progress as part of its Annual Consumer Report in July.
