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DPTAC Main Meeting Agenda 14 January 2016Room H2/3 Great Minster HousePresent:DPTAC DfT and Other AttendeesKeith Richards Chair of DPTAC Andrew ProbertDavid PartingtonHeather JamesHelen DolphinJessica UguccioniOlav ErnstzenPaulette LappinRoger MackettSharon BrennanTanvi VyasWill BeeApologies from Kirsten Hearn[name redacted] – Mobility and Access Committee Scotland[name redacted] – DfT Rail Exec[name redacted] – DfT Accessibility and Equalities[name redacted] – DfT Accessibility and Equalities[name redacted] - DfT Integrated Sustainable Transport PolicyPhil Pool – Secretary to DPTACKey points and Actions from the meeting1.Update on the structure of DPTAC’s workgroups and general progress.Keith updated the group on events since the last meeting, 23rd September, when the workgroup structure was further refined. Meetings of some of the workgroups had been held, and Keith provided updates on other key activities – as follows1st meeting of the Rail WG - 17th November 2015 (Chaired by Andrew Probert)1st meeting of the Research and Evidence WG - 10th December 2015 (Chaired by Roger Mackett)1st meeting of the Local Transport WG - 16th December 2015 (Chaired by Keith, Will Bee will continue as the Chair of a revised group)Keith had met with the London Taxi Drivers Association LTDA Jessica Uguccioni had met with UberKeith had given evidence to the House of Lord’s (HOL) Select Committee on the Equality Act 2010 and disabilityKeith participated in a ‘Shared Space’ event at the HoL hosted by Lord Holmes of Richmond. Follow up meeting with Lord Holmes on Friday 22 January 2016.DfT had hosted an event to celebrate 20 years on from DDA event at DfT which Andrew Probert took part in with [2 names redacted].Keith noted that the result of the strategic workshops held during the course of last year was a clear vision for what DPTAC do and how it will work – essentially through the working group structure. Success for DPTAC depends on how those working groups operate, who they manage to pull in to work with, what they agree to focus on, and the outcomes they deliver. The Working Groups originally agreed were:- Action and Delivery- Research and evidence- Rail- Information, Book, Buy and Travel- Personal Mobility- Local Transport - Buses, Taxis and Devolution- Behaviour change and training- Task Group - Inclusive Mobility and Tactile Paving reviewsKeith noted that there has been some further refinement. Essentially this is to link the Rail and the Information, Book, Buy and Travel group with Andrew Chairing both groups. There are many overlapping issues and also because there are connections to Andrew’s full time job which make is sensible for Andrew to take the lead on both.During the discussions at the December meeting of what the Local Transport, Buses, Taxis and Devolution group, it was agreed that it would make more sense to combine that group with the Behaviour Change and Training group. The group will now be called the Local Travel, Behaviour Change and Training group. Will Bee agreed to Chair the group.Keith noted that with these changes, and in any case, that there are now probably too many members in some of the groups. He invited members to consider if they want to change the groups that they are allocated to and asked them to discuss this with him. The group structures are not intended to be fixed, and the expectation is that their membership with change as the needs of the work dictates.?The Chairs will be the main points of contact and Keith asked the Chairs and members to be active in discussing relevant issues, direct, within those groups and determine what and when to bring issues to the wider membership. The Chairs of the groups will keep in close contact and will determine those issues to be brought to the wider DPTAC membership. ?2.Update on Bus Driver Training research[name redacted] said that the contract had been awarded and that a strong “client-side” team will be set up by [name redacted] and this will involve members of DPTAC. It was noted that Paulette and Sharon from DPTAC would be involved and would keep DPTAC informed through the Local Travel workgroup, other members would be likely to include [name redacted] from CPT and a member of the DfT Buses and Taxis Division.Outputs of the project would include a best practice and lessons learnt guidance.Points made in the discussion were that there remain gaps between what is claimed by some operators about how they train their staff and what that means practice.There was some discussion about how to disseminate the findings and recommendations of the project and it was agreed that this would be taken forward by the client-side team.3.Updating the Accessibility Action Plan AAP – [name redacted]Keith said that the DPTAC’s expectation is that DfT will develop the revised AAP with DPTAC’s advice. DPTAC want the AAP to be a practical mechanism for meaningfully delivering change. Following a meeting with members of the DPTAC Action and Delivery group and the DfT Accessibility Division, a skeleton for the content of the new AAP had been drawn together.[name redacted] said that the aim this year is to develop the AAP, he noted that it would not be an easy process and he expected there to be complex and difficult discussions before a final document could be agreed. His aim is, by East 2016, to have good quality draft with the main elements of the AAP in place.Discussion on the AAP was broad and key points raised were:The importance of the whole journey and, in particular, the links/gaps between modes.The need to ensure issues that cross over the interests of different groups to be captured and, as necessary, shared across the groups noted that this is within the remit of the roles of the workgroup Chairs.4.Rail Group and Mobility as a Service - Andrew Probert Andrew said that he had been working for Transport Systems Catapult on Mobility as a Service (MaaS) and he set out to explain more about MaaS. Essentially it is a vision for how transport services are likely to be provided in future. One reason why it is currently difficult to appreciate the scope of MaaS, is that it will be a ‘disruptive’ system: everything afterwards will have changed. The impact on society is potentially like that of the change that happened when we moved from not having computers in most offices, to a point where most people now have full access to the internet through a device in their pocket.MaaS will develop as a concept, as an intermediate customer service lying between travellers and the transport operators. But it is considered likely that the business model, as a means to a profit, will be based on commercial access to data; and that the transport success of MaaS, as an effective way of getting people from where they are to where they want to be, will also be dependent on access to data. It is expected that MaaS companies will develop significant influence and purchasing power and will be able to revolutionise how transport services are delivered – that may be through existing providers or through new ones that will emerge. MaaS is also expected to support and to help shape developing new technologies such as autonomous vehicles. It is possible that MaaS companies might make current arrangements, such as franchises, redundant, and new systems would have to be put into place. Travel might be “bought” by travellers in an account, or bundle, form, in a way that is analogous to how we currently have mobile phone accounts, where the equivalent of having so many minutes, texts and data would be having so much bus, train and taxi travel. Overall, travel should be cheaper and easier to purchase. Some people might choose to have all-in contracts whereas others people might prefer a more independent, pay-as-you-go approach, depending on what suits them.Access to data is key to improving how transport services are delivered more effectively – however, the data access issues and concerns over data security and privacy will be significant concerns for the public. Opportunities to improve the whole-journey experience for disabled people are significant and, of course, there are many potential risks and particularly so if MaaS is allowed to develop in an entirely unregulated market. There is the risk that, with the greatest benefits and profits coming from economies of scale, individuals with little need to travel often, limited access to “new” technology or people who are poor, will be marginalized.There are direct links from this work into the planned ‘Information, Book, Buy and Travel’ workgroup which is yet to meet.Rail Andrew noted that the Rail group had met in November and the next meeting is planned for 23 February 2016. A key issue for the group is to encourage DfT to develop a scoring mechanism within franchise agreements associated with access improvements.5.Local Travel and Behaviour Change and Training - Will BeeWill noted that the group had met as the Local Transport Group in December 2015 and had agreed that it would be best to incorporate the issues that were to be covered by the Behaviour Change and Training Group. Will had agreed to Chair the new group which would be called the DPTAC Local Travel, Behaviour Change and Training group.This new group however includes almost all of the DPTAC members and Will invited the members to consider whether to offer their time to one of the other groups. In particular, he noted that the group is rather over represented with members from London and that it was important that the group was not overly focussed on London because the regulation of buses and provision of taxis was significantly different outside the capital. As the scope of the group is so large, Will had agreed with Jessica that she will be a main lead on taxi issues because of her significant knowledge of the issues. In addition Sharon and Paulette will lead on training/behaviour issues because of their early involvement in the bus driver training research. Will said that he will need to consider further how the group will operate, it is likely however, that meetings will be themed and he noted too that although buses and taxis are linked within a DfT Division, bringing the issues together in a single meeting is unlikely to be useful.Will briefly highlighted what he saw as the immediate issues for the working group:Buses - The Buses Bill, the latest PSVAR deadline that passed on 1st January, and the forthcoming Supreme Court judgement of access to the wheelchair space. The Working Group would also want to keep an eye on A/V Information systems.Training - the priority would be the research project which was just getting underway where DPTAC has a place on the project advisory board.Taxis - DPTAC would continue to press for a Government response to the Law Commission report while monitoring the development of Uber.Paulette said that she had been to meet Merseytravel to discuss some of the opportunities and risks associated with devolution and bus travel. She pointed out that the regulation of buses was radically different outside London. Since the 1985 Transport Act buses outside London were privatised. Local Authorities (and Passenger Transport Executives in the former Metropolitan areas) have powers to commission services, but very limited funds for this purpose which are generally used to fund evening and weekend services and non-viable rural routes. Any private operator can identify a potentially profitable route and start a service subject to approval by the Traffic Commissioner (who has very limited powers to reject proposed services). A fuller note provided by Paulette is appended to these minutes.Paulette said that it may be possible to arrange a visit for some DPTAC members to visit Merseytravel to discuss the practical issues.Taxis – Jessica said that she had met with Uber and had found them to be open to dialogue with DPTAC. Jessica had prepared a fact sheet on taxi related issues that was circulated to the group and which follows these meeting notes.Keith had met with the London Taxi Drivers Association who are keen for DPTAC’s support for the “black cab” trade. While not able to offer support in that way Keith was able to assure them that DPTAC appreciates their concerns about the impact of technology such as Uber and the potential risks to the supply of wheelchair accessible vehicles.As a general line, the meeting agreed to continue to recommend to DfT that it accept the recommendations of the Law Commission in relation to taxis and PHVs.6.Research and Evidence - Roger Mackett Roger said that the Research and Evidence Group is the new name for the Inclusive Mobility Group set up by [name redacted]. It includes some members from outside DfT such as [name redacted] from Transport Focus, [name redacted] from ATOC, [name redacted] from RICA and [name redacted] from the Mental Health Action Group.The purpose is to gather evidence to help provide a sound basis for decision about ways of improving access. In particular, to look at the economics of improving accessibility, so that decisions about funding improvements come out of a rationale process rather than just because the law requires it. A Rapid Evidence Review (RER) has been commissioned from consultants entitled ‘The Impact of a Person's Impairment when Accessing Transport and the Social and Economic Losses as a Result of Restricted Access’ which looks at the existing evidence on the barriers to travel for people with various types of disability and the how economic evaluation of ways of overcoming these could be carried out. Action – circulated to the members.Three areas for further research were identified in the report:To further explore the impact of barriers to travel for individuals with cognitive, behavioural and mental health impairment, and potential solutions to overcome those barriers.To carry out research to quantify the economic, social and commercial benefits of making collective passenger transport more accessible through infrastructure, vehicle, information and softer’ measures.To create a resource that can be used by designers, planners and transport professionals to identify measures to improve accessibility for a range of impairment types. This resource should contain ‘what, why, where and how’ information for a range of measures.At the group’s meeting in December 2015 much of the discussion revolved around the third proposal, setting up a website where the evidence on the barriers to access for disabled people, ways of overcoming them, and the costs and benefits of doing so, will be held for access by anybody who wishes to do so. This might also include setting up a network of people to deposit and use the information. It was agreed that the group should look at the work of the ‘Nudge unit’ to see if they have done anything on travel by disabled people. Action – links to further information circulated.One issue that came up was how improvements (or otherwise) in accessibility for disabled people can be monitored. The group agreed that it would like NTS to include improved coverage of travel by disabled people. We also discussed the Life Opportunities Survey (LOS) which has been used in the RER, and how the data from the two sources could be linked. It was agreed that the group would to invite people with expertise from the two survey teams to a future meeting of the Group, preferably the next one.It was agreed that we should invite some more people to join the Group, eg access officers from PTEs, TfL . Roger said that he intends to find and collate evidence on the economic benefits of improving access for disabled people by reviewing the academic literature and working with economists in the Department and elsewhere.As part of the evidence gathering exercise a meeting was planned (19 January) at DfT where people from universities in the UK will come and make short presentations on their research.Roger said that he is also continuing with his report on into the effects of mental impairments on travel. Roger had also attended the Transport Research Board conference in Washington DC this week. The following points came up:[name redacted] of Federal Highways Administration (FHA) spoke about ATTRI (Accessible Transportation Technologies Research Initiative (). The ATTRI focus areas are wayfinding and navigation, assistive technologies, automation and robotics, data integration, and enhanced human service transportation. [name redacted] from University of Hassault in Belgium spoke about technology to support disabled people, including Mobiville which is a crowdsourcing tool that collects information about accessibility issues. [name redacted] talked about a project in which bus drivers go into schools which have children with special education needs to help train the children to use the bus. Project is called ‘The Bus in the Classroom’.Heard papers on barriers to travel for people with autism and children with ADHD, and on traffic crashes by people with cognitive impairments.[name redacted] is looking for information about travel by disabled children.[name redacted] wants to know if there are any recent report on the implications of shared space for VI people. Additional notes - Bus deregulation introduced in 1986 by the then Conservative Government, applies to all of the U.K. except London.How does it work ?If you are a bus operator and you think a particular route is profitable you register that route with the Traffic Commissioner giving 56 day’s notice. You can register a route anywhere.Your competitors see you running the route and think, that's a good idea then they start running the same route scheduled say 10 minutes behind you.What can happen next.. Lots of busses all start driving down the route one after the other, the strongest competitor wins and drives everyone off the road.Agreements with your fellow bus operators to carve up routes are considered to be anti-competitive.However you are not obliged to service in unprofitable routes - which can leave communities without transport usually after 6pm or on Sunday's.Transport Authorities have a responsibility to provide socially necessary services, this means servicing hospitals or taking people to work or running new routes .These routes must not compete with commercial routes as this is considered to be anti-competitive. A commercial operator can claim any social route as commercial alter it and miss out vulnerable communities.Transport Authorities through managing public funds pay for bus stations, bus stops, time tables, organise ticketing all the infrastructure necessary to run a public transport network.Transport Authorities manage concessionary fares and pay out these charges to the bus operators.With the cuts in public services bus services have borne the brunt of these reductions as bus services are not necessarily seen as a priority in a rail dominated environment.Merseyside has about 40 operators most are small local businesses.Bus drivers receive one days training per year minimum.On Merseyside 85% of bus services are commercial 15% subsidised and this is shrinking.As a result there is no ability to plan or develop an integrated services as bus operators often see train services as competitors and won’t schedule timetables to enable passengers to change modes easily.So it's difficult to respond to developing employment opportunities, especially if you have been unemployed or have get a job working unsocial hours you won't have access to any transport servicesRural areas suffer as there are not enough passengers to make the services profitable if the authorities don't have the funds found in metropolitan areas they are left without transport.Research during the 90's indicated women's often had different travel patterns from men this would have to be looked at again.Travel training will benefit local authorities as it should have a positive impact on their transport budgets.-257175276225Taxi and Private Hire Law Reform - DPTAC ACCESSIBILITY MEETING 14/01/2016Key factsOver 11 million disabled persons in the UK, nearly half of which are over the state pensionable age.Disabled persons are reported to travel approximately a third less than those who are not disabled yet they use taxis approximately 67% moreTaxis and private hire are crucial to ensure joined up journeysThe problemsKey Equality Act 2010 accessibility provisions not in forceNo national minimum standards in respect of public safety and accessibility less than a third of authorities require disability awareness training for taxi drivers, and even fewer for private hire driversevidence of unsafe and uncomfortable journeysInadequate provisiondifficulties in securing appropriately trained drivers and vehicleslow proportion of accessible private hire vehicles in particularinconsistency in accessibility standards and requirements across different licensing authoritiesLack of enforcement powers for licensing officers means that authorities with higher (accessibility) standards cannot give effect to these because they lack powers to:stop unlicensed vehiclesenforce against vehicles licensed in other licensing authorities (with lower standards or in breach of the other licensing authority’s standards).Law Commission Proposed solutionsMandatory disability awareness training for all taxi and private hire driversLocal accessibility review at three year intervals to assess adequacy of provisionCompliance with the Equality Act 2010 as a condition of licenceSecretary of State power to set quotas of accessible vehicles for larger private hire operators.The Law Commission Report, Taxi and Private Hire Services (Law Com No 347) published May 2014, includes a draft Bill gives effect to the above recommendations. 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