Committee for Regional Development

Transport Bill

Inclusive Mobility and Transport Advisory Committee (IMTAC)
Response to the Transport Bill

11 August 2010
Roisin Kelly
Clerk
Committee for Regional Development
Room 402 Parliament Buildings
Ballymiscaw
Stormont
Belfast BT4 3XX

Dear Roisin

Thank you for your letter dated 6 th July 2010 informing Imtac of the public call for evidence inviting written submissions on the clauses of the Transport Bill.

Imtac has been involved in the consultation around developing proposals for Public Transport Reform and submitted a response to the public consultation at the end of last year. The Committee agree in broad terms with the proposals for reform and legislation which will give the Department powers to carry out these proposals.

Our chief concerns around Public Transport Reform have largely centred the practical outcome of the process in relation to the impact of changes on access to services by disabled people and older people. As you will be aware the Department has made major commitments with regard to disabled people and older people including:

• A commitment in the Regional Transportation Strategy to build in accessibility for disabled people as a condition of spending public monies on public transport
• An Accessible Transport Strategy which seeks to ensure this happens through the implementation of a series policies and actions focused on the barriers that make using transport difficult for disabled people and older people

Many of the practical issues around building in accessibility can be addressed during the implementation of the reform process and indeed we have a commitment from the DRD to implement the policies of the ATS during this process and through the workings of the Passenger Transport Agency. However we still believe there is a requirement from the Department to reaffirm the commitment made in the RTS to build in accessibility as a condition of spending public monies on transport. We recommend this should be achieved by including accessibility under the relevant clauses of the Bill as a matter the Department must pay due regard to when using powers under the Transport Act to secure services.

This is the only comment Imtac has on the provisions of the Bill. As always we are happy to provide further information or assist the Committee in any way with consideration of the Bill.

Yours sincerely

Frank Caddy
Chair