1. Older People and Public Transport: Challenge or Opportunity for meeting the needs of an Ageing Society

2. UK Assisted Passenger Reservation System (APRS) Aim of APRS is to offer passengers the option to book and reserve assistance to use the heavy rail network All TOC’s have to offer this service to comply with their conditions of operating Legal Requirement of operation that all TOC’s produce a Disabled Persons Protection Policy (DPPP) http://www.northernrail.org/northern/passengercharter/pdfs/northernrail_dpp_200711.pdf APRS forms part of the DPPP There is generally a requirement to book and reserve assistance at least 24 hours in advance of travel There are in excess of 20 TOC’s in the UK and 7 operate across Greater Manchester To book assistance, customers can do so by telephone, e-mail or fax

3. Interfaces TOC’s act as point of contact with customers who require assistance Advance notice of travel enables the rail company to allocate staff to meet a passenger at departure station, accompany to train, help with motorised buggy (at large stations) and assist with boarding onto the train The same arrangement will enable rail staff to meet passenger at destination station to enable departure or help with the next stage of the journey (using rail only) Booking APRS needs only be done once as the TOC will share information about requirements with other TOC’s for the duration of the journey Passengers need to know details of the journey (eg train times and routes before booking assistance

4. What is seen to be problematic Mobility Scooters (Powered) – variants on usage across UK network http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/passenger_services/disabled_passengers /scooters.html No ‘one stop shop’ arrangement when booking tickets or reserving a journey Fragmented approach to promoting accessibility features at stations Need to book support in advance – in the event of spontaneous travel a TOC cannot guarantee staff availability to help

5. APRS empowers people to use the rail network to travel It offers a means of support for those who need it It gives Passenger Transport Executives some freedom to rely on TOC’s to provide support to enable disabled people to travel APRS applies to all passengers and not just disabled people therefore in principle this is a potential model of compliance with PRM TSI What works well

6. Conclusion – the way forward in the UK The UK Disability Discrimination Act set an end date of no later than 1 January 2020 by which date all rail vehicles must be accessible To complement this demand on the private rail industry, the UK Department for Transport have issued new guidance: http://www.dft.gov.uk/transportforyou/access/rail/railstations/accessiblestationdesigns/co p.pdf It is therefore anticipated that with the end date of 2020, rail rolling stock will be fully accessible and the new DfT Guidance will enable disabled passengers to enjoy a better level of access to the UK rail network

7. Site Visit – Piccadilly Station This facility offers a mobility assistant point and Caitriona O’Brien will give us more details about how this works from the Piccadilly Station perspective