Wheelchair users bus travel survey results

Wed,29 June 2016
News Equality & Rights

Helen Dolphin MBE created a survey designed to find out the opinions and views of wheelchair users using the bus. Here are the results.

Helen Dolphin MBE

The report by transport campaigner Helen Dolphin MBE has revealed that:

  • 64% of wheelchair bus passengers are still being refused entry onto the bus
  • 72% because the wheelchair space is taken by a pushchair and 47% because the ramp was broken.
  • Bus drivers are still refusing to put the ramp down to enable wheelchair users to board
  • 6% of wheelchair passengers have tipped over due to the lack of a wheelchair restraint system

The report surveyed 185 wheelchair/scooter users about their experiences of travelling on the bus.

Read Helen's press release

Download the wheelchair users survey results (10 pages)

About Helen

Helen is an independent mobility consultant, Director of People's Parking, disability rights campaigner, OU law student, meningitis survivor and quadruple amputee. Here is what she says about her own experience of bus journeys.

“As a wheelchair user I have had many unpleasant bus rides where my wheelchair has slipped and slid about. This is made worse by the fact that as a quadruple amputee I do not have the ability to hold onto the pole which is what we are meant to do.

If I am travelling with someone then I usually ask them to put their foot in front of my chair to stop it moving but this is not a very satisfactory remedy. I have spoken to other wheelchair users and although I’ve heard some terrible stories of people’s chairs falling over completely when a bus has gone round the bend whereas others have never experienced any issues.

I therefore wanted to find out if this is an issue affecting only a small minority or whether it is much bigger.

I also wanted to find out if it was manual wheelchair users who suffered more than powered chair users  or if everyone slipped as much as each other.

In addition I wanted to discover how people would respond to being secured on a bus if it could be operated by them.

This is the purpose behind my survey.”