Recent Ecas activity in consultation, campaigning and research includes:
We are keen to support
Councillor Whyte
in his efforts to have a formal review of Council-run
and Council-subsidised community and specialist
transport schemes. His motion went before the
Transport Committee on 6 May and further studies will
now be undertaken.
We remain very concerned at
planned reductions in funding for the Edinburgh
Disability Equality Forum, and proposals from the
Council to merge various forums. Despite
commitments in the Multi Equality Scheme, there has been
no consultation on the funding cuts, nor has there been
an impact assessment which we believe to be a legal
pre-requisite for the decision. We continue to
discuss this issue with the Council.
The 4th December edition
of Herald Society
http://www.theherald.co.uk/heraldsociety/ reported
on our survey into the accessibility of long distance
buses and coaches and the ease of obtaining information.
Congratulations to National Express who came first.
We are discussing some ideas with First, who came last.
We welcomed the results
of discussions with Transport Scotland that should see
improvements on the Class 170 trains that have a shared
bicycle rack and wheelchair space. We are
disappointed, however, that the long term solution put
to us by the Department for Transport is apparently not
being pursued. We are continuing to address this
with politicians.
On the good news front,
we were delighted that our representations took effect
and we have been told "I
am pleased to advise that First ScotRail have confirmed
that the holder of a disabled persons railcard can
purchase the full range of tickets from the on-train
conductor and are not restricted to full fare tickets."
Thank you,
First for that.
Following the publication
of a new report by the Council's City Development
Department, Ecas worked with the Edinburgh Disability
Equality Forum to seek amendments. Ecas made a
deputation to the Transport, Infrastructure and
Environment Committee, with the support of EDEF members.
The Committee amended the report and are calling for
further reports into ways of ensuring that best practice
is followed for Demand Responsive Transport to ensure
the best possible service with the limited funds
available. We continue to discuss
with the City of Edinburgh Council the need to improve
the availability of affordable transport for those with
severe mobility impairments.
We recently commissioned
some research by the University of Glasgow into the use
of recreational and leisure facilities by those with
severe mobility impairments. This has reinforced the
need for transport and care planners to take account of
recreation and leisure when planning their services, and
we are discussing this with a number of providers.
Like many other
organisations we have submitted detailed comments on the
proposed Single Equality Act. We believe that the
proposals will take disability equality backwards in
some areas.
Many of our transport issues were discussed with a
number of people at Try a Bus Day - see
Try a Bus Day report . We are now following up these
issues with politicians and civil servants.
We were delighted to hear
that the Council have removed the link between the
taxicard scheme
and the National Concessionary Card, following pressure
from ourselves and others (more details below).
This is a major step in the right direction.
See
http://news.scotsman.com/edinburgh.cfm?id=169072007
Discussions on the
provision of demand responsive transport
for those with severe mobility impairments continue.
Following our deputation to the City of Edinburgh
Council in November 2006 (more detail below), follow up meetings were held
with officials and politicians in January 2007.
More details will follow after further consultation.
We are still working on
issues related to the Class 170 train
to ensure that wheelchair users have ready access to the
wheelchair space (more details below). Following articles in the
Evening News and Herald & Post we have heard in late
January 2007 from
the Department for Transport that a new option is being
pursued that may achieve a solution acceptable to the
various groups involved.
In
December 2006 we hosted a
meeting between First Bus,
the Disability Rights Commission, the Edinburgh
Disability Equality Forum, the Edinburgh Women's
Equality Forum and the Edinburgh Transport Advisory
Group. The meeting helped to improve each group's
understanding of the others' problems and allowed the
DRC to pass on details of the new Disability Equality
Duties. We will be hosting a follow-up
meeting in February 2007.
November 2006 - Edinburgh Local
Transport Strategy - Council accepts Ecas' proposed
amendment
Ecas has expressed
concern that the current arrangements for door-to-door
demand responsive accessible transport are increasing
the isolation of those who cannot use buses. We
have campaigned for increased funding and, whilst
accepting that this is not at present available, we have
also suggested that the existing arrangements should be
reviewed to ensure that best use is being made of
existing funding. Our campaign culminated in a
written and verbal deputation to the full Council
meeting on 23rd November and we are most grateful for
the report received from the full Council which resulted
in an amendment "To request a
report from the Director of City Development addressing
the points made by the Ecas deputation in their written
submission, included in the Council papers. The
report is to include an analysis of existing community
and accessible transport services and to examine if
there is potential for better use of resources and
co-ordination to deliver a better service for users."
Our written
deputation can be viewed here
Council deputation We are most grateful for
the considerable report we have received.
October 2006 - Taxi Cards and the Scottish Concessionary
Travel Scheme - Council to review the rules
We are delighted that the City of
Edinburgh Council has announced a review of the rules
governing the taxicard scheme. We are concerned that many
people who have a taxi card have been told that they
must surrender it if they are to have a new Scottish
Concessionary Travel Pass. Therefore, if they want
unlimited free long-distance bus trips (as promised by
the Scottish Executive) Edinburgh Council will withdraw
their taxi card (which entitles them to a reduced fare
on 104 occasions a year - i.e. one return trip a week).
We cannot see the logic for this and welcome the
Council's decision to review it
October 2006 - Wheelchair positions on
trains - the saga continues
Back in February we started a campaign to resolve
conflict between cycle racks and the wheelchair position
on Class 170 trains used on the Fife Circle. With
the help of many people, including First ScotRail and
Transport Scotland the trail led to the Department for
Transport who have been most helpful and who have issued
a UK wide ruling which will ease access for wheelchair
users. We are most grateful to all those who
helped to achieve this but are somewhat frustrated that
6 months later the necessary action has not been
taken. We have written to the Secretary of State
for Transport seeking clarification. See
http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=751252006
and
Press Release Wheelchair access on trains May06
September 2006 - Social Care
Direct
We have raised a number of
concerns over Social Care Direct with the Council, both
directly and through the Edinburgh Disability Equality
Forum. As a result the Council are now to start an
Equalities Impact Assessment into Social Care Direct,
working with the EDEF.
Coach Travel
The
Evening News has now taken up our story - see
http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1121142006
We are
concerned that clients trying to use their new free
Scotland-wide coach travel are finding it difficult, if
not impossible, to identify which coaches are, and which
are not, accessible. We have spoken to a number of
organisations and written to Transport Scotland in our
attempts to try and locate, or have created, a list that
clients can use.
May 2006 -
Aromatherapy
We have transferred the funding and management of aromatherapy
at Astley Ainslie Hospital
to NHS Lothian. This prompted a significant debate
in the Evening News
and other media, which we welcome as an opportunity to
air some key
issues. See
http://news.scotsman.com/edinburgh.cfm?id=581042006
and
http://news.scotsman.com/health.cfm?id=600962006
and
http://news.scotsman.com/opinion.cfm?id=651262006
and
http://news.scotsman.com/opinion.cfm?id=601942006
and
http://news.scotsman.com/opinion.cfm?id=636752006
for a sample.
Research
Our Centenary Project is continuing, with our sponsored
PhD student at the University of Edinburgh. We will
bring an update on that soon.
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