too long for venThis week i will be publishing a series of accounts about difficulties of travelling on public transport, penned by Transport for All members who have an impairment.
Patrick Robert, from Lambeth, is blind and uses his guide dog Rufus to travel around London. “Travelling in London can be a real challenge for people with a visual impairment. Back in 2009 I registered as severely visually impaired (Blind). Since then I have had to adapt myself to the transport network and change my habits.
Every time I travel around I’ve got the support from Rufus my guide dog. “This change in my life was not always easy. As a result I joined Transport for All in order to get advice and support when using the different public transport modes.
“Lack of communications is one of the biggest challenges I face. ‘Struggle’ “I often struggle on buses: when you’re speaking to a bus driver they don’t always verbally respond, but probably do a sign which I can’t see. I have had also some bad experience with bus drivers not stopping at the bus stop but a few meters away. Obviously if a bus driver does not stop in front of me, it makes it impossible for me to discuss with them and check the bus number.
“On the Tube I had a lot of issues following the closure of ticket offices, making it harder for me to find staff to assist me. I need staff in order to travel safely and I need to find them as soon as possible to avoid being targeted by the general public. “Lack of communications is also an issue with taxis. Once I booked a taxi and told the operator that I was travelling with my guide dog and the driver should ring my doorbell when they arrive. I received a telephone call from the operator telling me that my taxi had arrived and was waiting outside for me. I reminded the operator of my earlier instructions and asked how I was supposed to identify the taxi outside? “Five minutes later my doorbell rang as I opened the door the driver was already heading back to his taxi.
“Locking my front door, Rufus and I walked up to my front gate, only to hear the driver say he cannot take the dog. ven proceeded to rant and rave about dogs not being allowed in his taxi. I told him I had advised the operator that I was travelling with a guide dog and he needs to have a go at them and in the meantime I need to get to this council meeting.
I could hear him talking on his phone saying he was not prepared to take me. At this point it had started raining and I said to him he was breaking the law by refusing to take us. “That seemed to subdue him for he assisted me and Rufus into his cab and during the journey he kept apologising saying his custom and culture does not accept dogs and his company knew this. I told him it is against the law to refuse access to guide dog owners and their guide dog.
“On another occasion I booked a minicab and told the operator that I was blind and the driver needs to come to my front door and ring my doorbell. The phone rang; it was the driver saying that he could not find my property. I gave him specific directions to my home from the location he described to me. Five minutes later, he rang back and asked me to come outside so he could see where my property was and I could see where he was? “I walked outside and waited about ten minutes and then went back in to find four messages on my answer machine from the driver saying he could not see me; he could only see a guy with a white stick, am I anywhere near him? I called him back and told him I was the guy with the white stick.”
Mark Evers, Director of Customer Strategy for Transport for London (TfL), said: “We are working hard to make London’s transport accessible for everyone. We’ve made good progress but we need to do more, more quickly. This is one of our top priorities and we always welcome the feedback and ideas of our customers. “We expect the highest standards from our bus operators all the time. We say sorry and rigorously follow up where customers have been let down to ensure that action is taken. Based on this, over 24,000 drivers and other staff are currently participating in new training to improve the service. “We staff all stations at all times that our services are running so that we can give our customers the assistance they need. We operate a turn up and go service for disabled customers, and always want to make sure that the right support is there to help customers with their journeys. To make sure we can continue to do this we are recruiting at least 650 Tube station staff this year, of which 325 will be additional new roles. “By law, assistance dogs must be carried by both taxi and private hire vehicles – at no extra cost. We take a zero tolerance approach to drivers refusing to carry assistance dogs and we encourage customers to report any incidents to us, so we can investigate and take the appropriate action. Where possible we prosecute the driver for the offence.”
i wonder if ven will notice the deliberate alteration
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