This is the Goverment's response to Ryan's petition
The Government remains committed to improving access to transport by disabled people. Many improvements have been seen across the transport network in recent years following the introduction of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.
The Public Service Accessibility Regulations have mandated accessibility features on buses and coaches. To this end, the availability of lowfloor and accessible buses has increased to 62% of the fleet in 2007/08, an increase from 06/07 where the figure was 53.7%. The availability of accessible buses will continue to rise as the end dates for the implementation of the Public Service Vehicle Accessibility Regulations (PSVAR) get closer. The end date for bus compliance is 2016 and for coaches is 2017.
The Rail Vehicle Accessibility Regulations 1998 (RVAR) have applied to all new trains coming into service since 1 January 1999 and require new trains to have features making them more accessible to disabled people. Almost 4,700 RVAR compliant rail vehicles are already in service while almost all older trains have been made more accessible as they undergo refurbishment. The standards were set after extensive consultation and with the agreement of the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC), the Government’s statutory advisers on transport issues as they affect disabled people.
In addition, improvements have been made to stations through initiatives such as the Access for All Programme, and over half of rail journeys now originate from step-free stations.
Finally, there are around 35,000 purpose built taxis in operation, which provide wheelchair access. The Government is committed to improving the availability of accessible taxis around the country. This has proven to be a complicated area; however the Department will be issuing a consultation shortly which will investigate the provision of accessible taxis along with the training and behaviour of drivers with regard to users, especially those with disabilities.
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