More than half of blind and partially sighted people fear being stranded, stressed and disoriented during train journeys due to the unpredictability of their experiences with rail passenger assistance.
New research from the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) found three in four blind and partially sighted people say they can’t rely on rail staff for assistance and information, while more than 60% say they are not consistently met by staff at stations when they have booked passenger assistance.
Two thirds of blind and partially sighted passengers say they can’t be confident that train staff will alert them if the destination of their train changes while they’re on it.
Paul Goddard from East Sussex who was registered blind in 2008 and travels regularly to London Bridge, said: “Every time I book assistance through the passenger assistance app when I’m travelling to London Bridge, I'm very anxious because I know the assistance is going to fail. No one meets me.
“You speak to the gate line staff who are often completely disinterested, and don't even look up at you and they say ‘sorry, didn't know you were coming’. And I’m saying to them ‘but it's on the app’. So it’s a complete breakdown in the system as far as I'm aware. You've got connections to make and if you're not met, you're missing the connections.
Then it’s very difficult to claim back the money you’ve lost on those tickets and you can be left completely out of pocket. It's just completely unacceptable.”
Crucially the research found that physical safety remains a serious concern. Once they have located their train, four out of five (82 per cent) of blind and partially sighted people say that the gap between trains and the platform causes them difficulty - incidents can lead to injuries and even deaths.
Erik Matthies, RNIB’s Policy Lead for travel and transport, who has sight loss, said: “Far too many people with sight loss are frequently stuck at stations unable to board or change trains and face the stressful experience of having to seek help and locate platforms and carriages themselves.
“Blind and partially sighted people have to contend with challenging ticket buying methods, inaccessible stations, platforms and on-board facilities like toilets, and inconsistent gaps between the train and platform edges which contribute to anxious, potentially unsafe journeys.
“With the Government’s new Railways Bill, working towards the establishment of Great British Railways, now is a perfect opportunity to address these issues. RNIB is calling on the UK Government and transport bodies to make sure accessibility is embedded in Great British Railways from the very start of its development.”
The research by the leading sight loss organisation - based on a survey of nearly 1200 blind and partially sighted people across the UK - identifies that:
Under half – only 44% – are being reliably met by assistance staff at stations and three in four say they can’t rely on rail staff. Only 27% feel they can rely on train staff to alert them if their train is stopping in a different place to its planned destination.
The research also shows rail companies are too often failing to provide information for blind and partially sighted passengers in formats they can understand; whether that’s on ticket machines, apps or websites, or on signage and guidance for locating and navigating around platforms, carriages and facilities such as buffets and train toilets.
The report found:
- 42% prefer to buy their train tickets from a person at a ticket office – twice as popular as the next most preferred option - 21 per cent who use a smartphone app.
- 68% say they would benefit from tactile wayfinding, which is a tactile and colour-contrasted path on the floor that would direct a person to important station facilities: such as platforms, lifts or a point where they could meet staff.
Rail passengers with sight loss also reported difficulties in:
- opening the train doors – 67%
- finding the carriage they want – 77%
- finding an appropriate seat – 79%
- difficulties in using onboard toilets – 57%
- difficulties in understanding poor quality audio announcements – 55%.
The research takes the form of a new report, ‘Platform for Change: making rail journeys more accessible for people with sight loss’ which can be found online here: https://rnib.in/travel-reports
