EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Introduction
Barriers in one form or another unfairly prevent many disabled people from using public land transport to go to work, to go to school, to enjoy community activities and to fully participate in society. At the same time, there is growing public acceptance that improving the accessibility of public land transport will benefit both disabled people and all New Zealanders. These are two of the key messages of this report.
A two and half year Inquiry into Accessible Public Land Transport has been undertaken by the Human Rights Commission and the results are outlined in this report. The Inquiry was prompted by the experiences and concerns of disabled people seeking enforcement of their right not to be discriminated against in the provision of public transport services.
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It was conducted under Section 5(2) of the Human Rights Act 1993. The terms of reference sought to assess the extent to which land transport services complied with human rights standards relating to accessibility for disabled people. They also provided for recommendations on legislation, funding, policies and practices; on national accessibility design performance standards; and on national training standards.
Inquiry process
A feature of the Inquiry process was the degree of participation by all major stakeholders, including disabled people and their advocates, transport providers, regulators and funders. This approach allowed for a transparent examination of the extent of accessibility and for the development of solutions-focussed recommendations that are fair, reasonable and practical.
Since the Inquiry was publicly announced in September 2003 the Inquiry process has included research into best practice; consultation with overseas experts and a wide variety of stakeholders; publication of a Consultation Report; a submissions process; public hearings in Dunedin, Wellington and the Hutt Valley, Palmerston North, Hamilton, and Auckland; and several rounds of consultation on the draft final report and the recommendations.
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The framework for the Inquiry was the concept of the accessible journey. The accessible journey covers all the steps needed for a person to get from their home to their destination and return. All steps in the accessible journey are interlinked and are of equal importance. If one link is inadequate, the whole journey may be impossible. Four criteria accessibility, availability, affordability and acceptability were used to examine the problem and consider improvements.
Report content
The Inquiry was characterised by the courage of disabled people reporting their daily experiences with inaccessible elements of the public land transport system and the disadvantages they faced as a consequence. Chapter 2 of the report tells the stories of 12 disabled people trying to use public transport in their everyday lives.
This is followed in Chapter 3 by an analysis of the prevalence of transport difficulties amongst disabled New Zealanders and includes links between disability and the ageing population.
Chapter 4 examines the issues for disabled people including problems relating to infrastructure, information about the accessible journey, getting aboard, mobility aids, wheelchair accessible taxis, premises, design issues, training, public transport in rural and provincial areas and affordability.
Chapter 5 investigates the concerns of and positive steps taken by transport providers and operators. These include successful collaboration with disabled people to increase the number of accessible buses and bus routes. The chapter notes the challenges of funding and engineering constraints in relation to trains and discusses public transport driver training. Transport providers outline the remaining barriers to the totally accessible journey, and discuss the adequacy of infrastructure and the lack of coordination in transport planning and service delivery. Discussion of community transport services and the commercial environment is included in this section.
The various issues faced by regulators, planners and funders are addressed in Chapter 6. The relevant legislation, central government structures, funding challenges, and the role of and issues for regional councils and local authorities, are examined and discussed.
The Total Mobility scheme attracted both support and criticism from a large number of submitters to the Inquiry and the issues relating to the subsidised taxi service for people with serious mobility constraints are outlined in Chapter 7.
Whether or not public land transport services available to disabled people comply with human rights standards is examined in Chapter 8. The report concludes that the manner in which public transport is currently provided and regulated in New Zealand amounts to systemic discrimination against disabled people.
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The Inquiry process allowed the complexity and dynamism of the public land transport system and accessibility issues to be demonstrated and knowledge of the complexity to be shared. It also revealed areas such as robust data collection and cost-benefit analysis where work still needs to be done by stakeholders such as central and local government, regulators and funders to give practical effect to improvements in accessibility.
Key conclusions
Significant numbers of disabled people in New Zealand have acute and on-going difficulties with using public land transport services: buses, trains, taxis and the related services and infrastructure. This is despite the considerable progress that has been made in improving the accessibility of the public land transport system. An ageing population means the need for accessible public land transport services will increase.
The barriers to the accessible journey for disabled people cover information about services, arranging a service, getting from home to the pick up point, using the service to go to a destination and returning home. Disabled people and their advocates highlighted issues of availability, affordability, accessibility and acceptability in relation to conveyances, service information, premises and infrastructure.
A majority of stakeholders wanted stronger leadership and coordination to achieve the accessible journey in relation to both the planning and implementation of public land transport services. The desirability of an integrated approach to other issues impinging on the accessible journey was also identified. These included the funding of community transport, Ministry of Education student transport assistance, and the relationship between provision of service and infrastructure improvement.
Disabled people feel disempowered in terms of participation in public land transport planning, funding and implementation as their needs are not considered to be a core requirement of the current statutory processes. Increasingly disabled people are prepared to challenge discriminatory aspects of the public land transport system.
Comprehensive disability awareness training and disability competence training needs to be implemented for all personnel involved in public land transport planning, funding and provision. Such training aims to result in a more accessible ride for all passengers including disabled people.
Mandatory national accessibility design performance standards for service information, conveyances, premises and infrastructure are necessary to ensure that public land transport services are made accessible in a consistent and compatible way that provides certainty for all involved.
There is considerable transport provider agreement for a timetabled approach to the introduction of national accessibility design performance standards that recognises the reality of funding large capital works and is consistent with the human rights approach of progressively realising improvement. There is also agreement that a number of immediate actions can be taken to improve the accessible journey for disabled people and these involve only modest expenditure.
In September 2005 the Ministry of Transport released its final report on the review of the Total Mobility scheme. The recommendations in that report address some of the same issues and concerns that were bought to the Commissions attention during the Inquiry. The release of the two reports in quick succession presents an ideal opportunity to establish a policy framework that will improve the access and mobility of all New Zealanders.
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The Inquiry noted the variability of rural and provincial public land transport services and the access and mobility difficulties faced by disabled people. Community transport services form a valuable part of the public land transport mix. The regulatory framework and funding for community transport services warrants review to encourage innovative services without compromising safety or fair competition.
Key recommendations
The reports recommendations cover both required changes to legislation, regulations, policies, procedures for funding arrangements and improvements that can be achieved in the short term with minimal expenditure.
The proposed recommendations are aimed at complementing and giving practical effect to the New Zealand Disability Strategy and the New Zealand Transport Strategy. They also align with whole of government commitments to improved accessibility and mobility that will benefit all New Zealanders. Detailed stakeholder consultation has taken place in the framing of the recommendations which are practical, pragmatic and reasonable solutions to the physical, social and economic costs of inaccessible public land transport.
The major recommendations are that:
- There is mandatory provision for the participation of disabled people in all public land transport planning, funding and implementation processes at central, regional and local government levels.
- A national Ministerial advisory committee of disabled people be established to advise the Minister of Transport.
- The committee would have wide representation, adequate resourcing and training and support for its functions.
- The Ministry of Transport develop National Accessibility Design Performance Standards for Public Land Transport and be the lead agency to ensure the implementation and monitoring of the standards, among other functions.
- National Accessibility Design Performance Standards must be accompanied by a timetable for implementation of five yearly steps acknowledging current funding of large capital works and to be consistent with human rights obligations.
- Industry wide training in disability awareness and disability competency is required for all public land transport personnel. Training requirements must be included in driver licensing and contract service delivery.
- The Ministry of Education conduct a comprehensive review of School Transport Assistance that covers funding, policy and practice to ensure delivery to disabled students on a non-discriminatory and equitable basis.
- Territorial authorities review the number and location of set down and pick up places for disabled passengers using taxis and rigorously enforce clear bus stops.
- Bus providers take immediate steps to provide driver disability awareness and competency training to ensure increased accessibility for all passengers including the elimination of rough driving and the secure seating of passengers.
- Train providers make immediate improvements to visual and audible information at staffed stations, timetabling display and on-board announcements.
- The Human Rights Commission undertakes a review of progress in implementing the recommendations in 2010 and continues its role in the promotion of the rights of disabled people to the accessible journey.
