07.12.16
Khan promises £200m for London Underground step-free access
Disabled travellers and parents with pushchairs and buggies will be able to use more than 30 additional Tube stations as London mayor Sadiq Khan promised £200m funding for step-free access.
The first stations to receive the investment are Harrow on the Hill and Newbury Park, where work will be brought forward to begin next year, whilst Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road and Victoria are also due to become step-free in 2017.
The new funding, promised in Transport for London’s draft business plan, means that more than 30 more Tube stations will become step-free by 2021-22, bringing the total proportion of step-free stations from 26% to 40%.
Khan said: “As part of making London’s transport system one of the very best in the world we must ensure it is accessible for all Londoners.
“It’s simply not right that for people with disabilities, parents with young children and many older people, many of our stations are still very difficult to use.”
Step-free access has already been introduced this year at Tower Hill and Vauxhall, and work to make Finsbury Park step-free is underway.
TfL is also planning to make the Bank and Elephant & Castle interchanges more accessible. Every station on Crossrail, due to open in 2019, will be step free.
Earlier this week, London TravelWatch’s report into ticket office closures on the London Underground found that disabled passengers were increasingly complaining of problems accessing stations because of a lack of staff.
Janet Cooke, CEO of London TravelWatch, said: “We are delighted to hear about these new developments – step-free access is good for everyone. We will continue to speak for all Londoners to progress the further steps needed to make the network fully accessible and work collaboratively with TfL to achieve this.”
Mark Wild, managing director of London Underground, added that making the Underground more accessible for customers is one the organisation’s top priorities.
“We should not only be aspiring to, but actually making a reality of, a transport network that can be used by everyone,” he said. “We have made good progress but we’re determined to do even more even quicker. We will invest more than ever before in improving step-free access to ensure we provide services that serve every Londoner.”
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