"Not so Accessible" Public Transport

Remember last month, out of the blue, you got that text to go for a few cocktails in town with some friends. Just a few of you, in that cute place you know, on 2-4-1 night. It was a sunny evening, it wasn’t a school night, so you called a cab and you were there in 15 minutes. Great giddy spontaneous times! 

It was just after you got back from that surprise 1st class trip to London, with your boss, to meet new suppliers for drinks. You had trouble getting a taxi and almost missed the train home. You ran down the platform in heels with only minutes to spare! It’s that stuff that makes life fun! 

Depends who you talk to. Read the room. You clearly aren’t talking to me.

Imagine you had your spontaneity taken away from you. Cocktails out of the blue, but oopsy no wheelchair taxi to take you home. Surprise trip to London, but oopsy we weren’t expecting you and you can’t ride this train. 

That is the reality for people with disabilities. We can’t do spontaneity, it can bite us badly in the behind. 

So how does a wheelchair user travel by train? Here’s a quick checklist if you’re new to it. 

1. Check www.thetrainline.com to find the train you want to travel with, dates and times. You can also find the direct contact details for the train company there too.

2. Call the train company to check availability of wheelchair seats on your chosen train, book your ticket and reserve seats for you and companions. 

3. Book passenger assistance if you need a ramp to get on and off your train. 

If you have followed these steps and the train company knows you are travelling, 90% of the time your journey will go without a hitch. However, all the following have happened to me. Common problems you may encounter are,

1. When you’re getting on someone is sitting in your wheelchair space and they have to move to let you get on. The guard will ‘politely’ ask them to move. 

2. Your wheelchair space is full of suitcases. Even though there are signs to say don’t do this, people still do. The guard will move them and probably be a bit miffed. 

3. The station you get off at has a broken lift and you can’t get out of the station. There may be a freight lift to use, ask for help. Worst case scenario you have to get on another train to go to a station you can get out of, and get a taxi back to where you need to be. 

4. Wheelchair spaces are always near a loo. The loo may be broken so if your journey is long, avoid the buffet car.

5. You can never reach the buffet car in your wheelchair. However there’s often a QR code so you can order online and have your order brought to your seat.

6. The assistance people forget about you and aren’t there to help you get off your train. Helpful burly passengers will offer to pick you up, manhandle you and get you off somehow. Once the guard sees your plight, they usually get the ramp out and save you. 

I thought I’d seen and done everything that trains had to offer in my 20 years wheeling on and off them. But something new happened last month that even surprised me. 

We struggled getting a taxi to Kings Cross and ended up only having 10 minutes to spare. After rushing to the assistance meeting point the staff there just said run to the train and you’ll make it. So we did. At least in my head I was running. At our train we saw the guard loitering and we shouted we had booked the ramp. He immediately started putting it out for me. But then another voice started shouting at him, saying he couldn’t get the ramp out because it was only 5 minutes before departure. Naturally I got involved, loving a good argument about my rights, wanting to know why this was a problem, the train wasn’t going to leave late because of me, I already had two wheels on the ramp. The shouting continued getting louder, this other guy really didn’t want to let me on the train. I asked what I was meant to do, and he said get the next train, in an hour, at 10pm. My lovely companion however was welcome to hop skip and dance onto the train with her annoyingly able body, with 5,4,3 minutes to go. But not me in a wheelchair. He happily wanted to leave me on the platform. 

Turns out the shouter wasn’t anything to do with my train so we got on, we found our seats but there he was on the platform still shouting. In fact he made the train leave 2 minutes late because of all the verbal he was giving. My hopping mad companion shouted back “so you mean a wheelchair user can’t be less than 5 minutes early for their train?” 

Apparently yes. Not only can we not have spontaneity, even when we’re bloody early it’s still not good enough. 

Happy travelling everyone. 

Lyndsay

xx

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