Visually impaired Councillor shocked that Sheffield Council holds no information on Public Transport accessibility

A visually impaired councillor was left shocked at Sheffield's December Full Council meeting, after it was revealed that Sheffield Council holds no information on the accessibility of Sheffield’s bus fleet.

Councillor Kurtis Crossland, who has campaigned for disability rights in Sheffield for some time, asked Councillor Julie Grocutt for figures on how many buses provide accessible audio description, which announces upcoming stops for the visually impaired passengers.

Cllr Grocutt, who holds the portfolio for transport, declined to answer, saying that the Mayoral Combined Authority should provide the information, and that it was not Sheffield Council’s responsibility. 

The MCA is the Transport Authority for South Yorkshire, however this is in close partnership with Sheffield Council alongside other local authorities, who contract the bus services to the MCA. As part of contracting out any public service, Sheffield Council is required to provide a full equalities assessment.

Cllr Crossland said “I’m quite disappointed that the Labour Transport chairs don’t seem to be showing any concern over this issue at all. It’s not good enough to wash your hands of disability issues and assume it’s somebody else’s problem.

“Public transport is delivered as a partnership, and all members of the partnership need to take responsibility. The Council not monitoring this information at all suggests a serious lack of commitment to making transport in the city more accessible. 

“Anyone who’s been on Sheffield buses will know that the amount that have audio description is very low and as a city, we need to do much better.

“I’ll be pushing transport bosses in the new year to make our public transport accessible to everyone, and if Labour don’t want to join the Lib Dems in that then we’re happy to do it ourselves.”