DPTAC Main Committee meeting minutes June 2022
Updated 13 February 2024
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9:15am to 1pm, 9 June 2022, Queens Hotel, Leeds and online.
Attendees
DPTAC: Keith Richards, Will Bee, Chris Price, Tanvi Vyas, Roger Mackett, Dave Partington, Matthew Smith, Mike Brace, Jessica Uguccioni, Bryan Matthews, Sharon Brennan, Sue Sharp, Helen Dolphin.
Apologies noted from Niki Glazier.
Guests: Northern Rail, TransPennine Express, Urban Transport Group.
Northern Rail
Northern Rail gave a presentation on their current accessibility programme.
Action: DfT and DPTAC to note Northern Rail’s dementia and autism-friendly stations for Autism and Dementia Strategy work.
Northern Rail reported there were no plans to move to driver-only operation.
Northern Rail outlined their “stations as a place” philosophy and potential for tenants to be allowed to occupy station premises rent-free in exchange for providing benefits to passengers, such as unlocking facilities. DPTAC questioned if this could harm accessibility, however, Northern Rail highlighted how it could offer benefits for accessibility and women’s safety. DPTAC also said DBS checks would be beneficial from a women’s safety perspective.
DPTAC asked how passengers would know where to find staff on trains; Northern Rail claimed this would be something they need to look at.
Northern Rail said they would do more to understand extent of representation of people with mental health disabilities on their consumer panel.
Regarding where they fit in with rail transformation, Northern Rail confirmed they are working with other operators on best practice, choosing to engage with the Great British Railways Transition Team/Future of Rail to try and shape future strategy. This includes training and monitoring outcomes of training which was raised by DPTAC.
Action: DPTAC to follow-up with Northern Rail about operator involvement in National Rail Accessibility Strategy development.
Action: Northern Rail to engage with DPTAC about improving offline methods of engagement with passengers.
Urban Transport Group
Urban Transport Group (UTG) updated the Committee on their current accessibility work.
The Chair requested UTG to gather evidence and help to share best/worst practice with DPTAC and UTG members.
Action: DPTAC to discuss a social inclusion network with UTG.
UTG mentioned that improving knowledge of the workforce, for example through new qualifications/accreditation, was on their radar to help mitigate risk of harmful projects like colourful crossings emerging.
The Chair invited UTG to engage with DPTAC and use their help wherever possible.
DPTAC suggested to UTG that they should encourage their members to run events to encourage returning English National Concessionary Travel Scheme (ENCTS) patronage by giving older people an incentive to get together and travel by bus, which UTG welcomed.
TransPennine Express
TransPennine Express (TPE) set out topics for discussion in a verbal presentation.
Action: TPE to supply a write-up of the topics they discussed and to be made available to DPTAC.
TPE described their business plan for accessibility, including past and future initiatives. These included providing on-demand sign language interpretation via video call in stations and on websites; WhatsApp assistance booking connecting to a (non-bot) contact centre; and seeking customer training to help shape the contact centre for assistance booking and training.
TPE outlined various initiatives at stations such as dropped kerbs, covered disabled bays, or disabled bays with EV charging to improve the last mile experience.
TPE describes plans for this year such as trialling speech to text on onboard screens (or push notifications); try the train including outreach into special schools; DfT’s audit of TPE stations being completed and used to support TPE’s plan to address issues from their own audit, prioritised based on safety.
Action: DPTAC to put the DfT Local Transport Accessibility team in touch with TPE so TPE can share best practice.
TPE described the use of multiple panels to help balance stakeholder lobbying with passenger concern and input.
TPE mentioned that First Group membership involved influence and access within First Rail Holdings to help share best practice and influence industry initiatives such as the Whole Industry Strategic Plan.
Closing DPTAC session
Action: DfT to arrange Four Nations meeting hosted by DPTAC/DfT.
DPTAC asked if there could be funding available to complete these sorts of field studies and suggested walk-abouts during breaks in DPTAC meetings to observe the built environment and accessibility challenges.
Action: DfT and DPTAC to look into allocating budget for research trips.
Action: DPTAC to send their congratulations to Bernadette Kelly on her recent honour.