Accessibility

We recognise that access to public transport services is often fundamental to customers’ independence. We work with both national and local disability groups and continue to invest in making our services more accessible.

Accessible travel policies

Our divisions publish individual accessible travel policies and guidance documents on their websites, these are often available in a variety of formats including Braille, audio, large print and easy read upon request.

Avanti West Coast

First Bus

Great Western Railway

Hull Trains

Lumo

South Western Railway

 

Awareness and communication

Our teams ensure that the information regarding our services is up to date and passengers requiring assistance are aware of any limitations or temporary restrictions.

Avanti has launched a dedicated communications channel called ‘Travel Companion’ using WhatsApp to provide disabled customers with instant help during their journey in a first for the UK rail industry.

Navigating our networks

To make our networks easier to navigate we partner with a range of route, timetable and station, vehicle and network mapping services. For example, Lumo offer an innovative 360degree tour of their fleet to help passengers plan journeys.

In First Rail many stations allow passengers to contact a passenger assistance team, or use the Help Point (where available) to speak to someone who can help. Once on board a train onboard staff can assist with any customer related matters and make contact with the driver or destination stations. There are handover protocols in place between operators to ensure passengers can get assistance with onward travel.

Designed for accessibility

In First Rail many of our vehicles are built to be fully compliant Persons of Reduced Mobility – Technical Specification of Interoperability (PRM-TSI) regulations and will include features like wheelchair user spaces and accessible toilets. Full details of our vehicles accessibility can be found on each divisions website.

In First Bus all buses are built for easy access, making it quicker and simpler for wheelchair users or people with pushchairs. With more bus stops now being adapted to be more accessible, it’s never been easier to travel.

Across the Group of our divisions websites, such as Lumo, SWR, GWR and the FirstGroup careers website, include accessibility features including changes to fonts, colours and sizes, text to speech functionality, ReciteMe, dyslexia software and translation tools. Some sites are designed in line with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and are audited by a wide range of users to ensure usability.

Passenger assistance

We offer passenger assistance on our services for passengers with special travel requirements. Assistance can be booked in advance via our division websites, contact numbers or in some cases using the Transreport App.

Our divisions publish data on passenger assistance on their respective websites. For more information please click the relevant link below:

Avanti West Coast Passenger Assistance

Great Western Railway Passenger Assistance

Hull Trains Passenger Assistance

Lumo Passenger Assistance

South Western Railway Passenger Assistance

Priority seats

Across our networks vehicles have designated priority seats, often situated near doors, that can often be booked in advance or made available to passengers who have additional requirements.

Wheelchair user spaces

In First Rail all of our vehicles have wheelchair user spaces for wheelchair, mobility aid and scooter users. Our station or on-board colleagues are trained and able to provide assistance to passengers and provide ramps where required. Often these spaces can be booked in advance using our passenger assistance services.

In First Bus all our buses have a dedicated area for wheelchair users that is clearly marked. Other passengers are required to give up the space for wheelchair users. We have adopted the bus industry’s standard Mobility Scooter Code of Conduct, a clear and concise guide to the carriage of mobility scooters on local bus services, reducing confusion and uncertainty for users and helping to prevent situations of disagreement and conflict concerning accessibility.

Non-visible disabilities

We’ve partnered with Hidden Disabilities to introduce the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower scheme and with the Thistle Assistance scheme on our networks. These are designed as subtle ways of recognising that someone has a hidden disability and may require some extra help on their travels. It comes in the style of lanyards, wristbands and wallet cards with easily recognisable logos. Our teams are briefed to be aware that the cardholder may need additional support, help or a little more time because of this.

We also offer passengers journey assistance cards available in a physical or digital format to indicate to staff that a passenger may require additional help or assistance.

Hidden Disabilities

Blind and Vision Impaired

Assistance dogs are always welcome on our services and on some services we offer customers the ability to print a card, available on respective websites, that we created to alert other customers to the dog's presence under a seat and offer water bowls and stool bags.

In First Rail we use technology to try and make interactions with our services easier such as at Avanti who offer customers access to Be My Eyes – a free app offering video support at a moment’s notice from sighted volunteers and professionals who lend their eyes to solve tasks. At Lumo the branding design and colours were chosen with colour-blindness in mind to make it easy to find.

First Bus has signed up to the RNIB Charter to assist passengers with vision impairment.  This means that if you are waiting at a bus stop the driver will stop, even if it is full, unless you have clearly signalled that you do not want the bus to stop and advise which route the vehicle is operating. We also offer bus timetables in large print, Braille or a talking timetable.

Passengers with autism

We offer training to staff and have put in place different initiatives to help make train travel accessible and comfortable for autistic passengers such as an autism guide and a 360degree train tour at Lumo.

Sensory support

GWR offers passengers with sensory needs travel sensory packs containing items like fidget toys, stress balls, travel assistance cards, guidance and more.

Staff are trained to deal with sensory overload emergencies and emergency ear defenders are available at staffed stations on the GWR network.

A soundbites YouTube series has been designed to give passengers an understanding of the types of sounds they may encounter when travelling.

Deaf passengers

Travellers who are deaf or have hearing loss often struggle to hear station announcements and communicate with staff, which can make it harder to plan and carry out journeys. We have put in place various initiatives across our networks to make journeys more accessible including:

·       SWR have tialled Artificial Intelligence technology totem poles and screens at stations which translates live journey information into British Sign Language (BSL)

·       Avanti partner with InterpretersLive! a service that provides a live video interpreter on-demand, 7 days a week

·       Lumo have partnered with the Text Relay service and Relay App to help with passenger assistance bookings

Disabled persons railcard

First Rail supports the National Rail Disabled Persons Railcard scheme that offers users 1/3 off train travel. This is available to people who are disabled or have a progressive medical condition. To find out more please click below.  

Disabled Persons Railcard

Try the train

We're keen to make the railway accessible to all, especially helping individuals overcome the barrier of limited confidence. At SWR we’ve set up a volunteer team of over 35 Community Ambassadors to help support passengers to give the train a try. Passengers learn about the help available, buying tickets, where to find information and how to keep safe. They then board a service together for a short, accompanied return trip.

On Board Catering

On selected routes we offer on board catering which can be purchased on board or in advance.  We have partnered with specialist suppliers that can cater for most dietary requirements and have carefully selected seasonal product ranges to suit most needs. The range of products that we offer is inclusive, sustainable and local, but please bear in mind that our selection varies and may be subject to change. To make purchasing more accessible some services offer a bespoke app such as LumoEats.

Accessibility during disruption

When services are disrupted, our teams will do everything possible to ensure that our disabled passengers are able to continue with their journeys, proactively taking your needs into account in our contingency plans and the service we provide on the day. Further details can be found in the respective accessible travel policies.

Feedback

In order to make our services better we seek feedback from our passengers. Contact information for feedback can be found on each divisions website.

We proactively engage groups to improve our services for example at Avanti we run a twice-yearly, in person or virtual, regional accessibility panel across our network. The aim of our panels is to ensure that plans and improvements are shaped by disabled customers, making rail travel as accessible as possible. 

Monitoring and Progress

Across the Group we set targets for accessibility and monitor progress publishing progress and updates in our Annual Report and as part of the Annual Service Quality Reports:

Avanti West Coast Annual Service Quality Report

Great Western Railway Annual Service Quality Report

Lumo Performance Report

Hull Trains Performance Report

South Western Railway Rail Service Quality Report

Discover other ways we are making travel more accessible

Avanti West Coast Accessibility

First Bus Accessibility

Great Western Railway Accessibility

Hull Trains Accessibility

Lumo Accessibility

South Western Railway Accessibility