A charity in Sheffield that organises trips for disabled people may have to pay huge additional costs for a private coach after facing “unexpected barriers” with bus service to Bakewell.
The Burton Street Foundation called on South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard to make public transport more accessible for disabled people.
The trip is set to take place in two weeks time as part of the charity’s ‘Word on the Street’ group, where clients get together and go on different outings.
They wanted to arrange the itinerary in advance, so that those who needed to be back home for a specific time, or any neurodivergent clients, could know exactly when they would depart and return home, and to prevent clients in wheelchairs from being stranded in the countryside.
When they got in touch with TM Travel, who provide the 218 bus service, they were told they could not provide an accurate timetable in advance, and would have to call them on the day.
The 218 bus only has one wheelchair accessible seat, which would not be enough for the entire group.
Lexy Webster, Marketing Coordinator at Burton Street, said this was “not acceptable” and “unfair”.
“It’s a bus that runs once every hour, if it runs properly, and as it gets later in the day it’s even less frequent. If that bus doesn’t come, how are they going to get home?
“The highest groups that use public transport are the disabled and the elderly. The fact that they do not serve two of the highest groups shows that it’s not fit the way it is.”
The charity contacted Sheffield Community Transport to arrange a minibus, but were told that it would not travel outside the Sheffield boundary.
When requested for comment, Sheffield Community Transport said: “In the past we owned several vehicles which were used to provide trips for local groups and we were occasionally able to provide trips beyond the city boundaries.
“Sadly though, since the pandemic, we have had to curtail these trips because, unfortunately, we no longer have the resources available for these group trips. Our main focus is on providing trips within Sheffield for people who are unable to use mainstream public transport.
“We are hopeful that, in time, we may have more capacity to provide a service which would meet the needs of groups wishing to travel outside the city as we fully appreciate that this would be welcomed by local groups.”
The only option was to book a minibus from Rotherham Community Transport, costing £130. They also needed a MiDAS trained driver for the trip, who would also drive the bus from Rotherham to Sheffield and back, costing an extra £160.
What should have been a straightforward bus journey to Bakewell, which would have cost a total of £12, became a private coach journey costing the charity £290.
Lexy Webster said: “Why should they have to pay more because they’re disabled? It shouldn’t cost them more to exist, and to do things that we think are super normal.
“We wouldn’t think twice if we decided we wanted to go for a walk in Bakewell. Why should they?”
“There’s absolutely no way that we are going to let our clients think that inaccessibility means they can’t do things. What lesson does that teach them, that they’re just going to have to live with it? That’s not equality.”
One of Burton Streets’ clients, Joseph, said: “I’m looking forward to going to Bakewell, to look around and take photos. I’m gutted about the 218 bus being unreliable because we put all that research into going. It’s somewhere I’ve not been before and I would have felt shattered if we couldn’t have gone on the minibus.”
In a letter sent to Oliver Coppard on 27 March, clients said: “The enjoyment and excitement in the group has been shattered and everyone is disappointed.
“We wanted to go to the countryside and to go into another county somewhere where most of us don’t have an opportunity to go and lack of reliable transport excludes us even more.”
Oliver Coppard responded publicly on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday 18 April to say that he would be interested in visiting and speaking to the group about improving accessibility in public transport.
He told the group that he will respond to their request once the outcome of the Mayoral election on 2 May becomes clear.
TM Travel were contacted for comment.
I am very proud of our clients for highlighting the transport issues they have faced arranging a simple bus trip to Bakewell. We have hired a minibus and driver to ensure the trip goes ahead and I hope they all have a lovely day out next week,. I really hope that the New Mayor for South Yorkshire will keep the promise to come and visit this group of clients to understand firsthand the frustrations they can face in doing even the most basic things that many people take for granted.
Clare Mappin – Managing Director, Burton Street Foundation.
Public bus services across the region are so vital to people with no access to a car, such as older people and people with a disability. Our services have become sparse and unreliable in the extreme. This is such a stress for people just trying to get to work, to services they pay for and appointments they need to to get to. A simple thing like a trip out to another town should not be such an impossibility.