Association of British Commuters

"That money should be spent in our communities and on our public services" @ZackPolanski speaks to BBC Breakfast about the failed experiment of bus privatisation and the Green Party's policies to boost buses.

@nationalrailenq "staff availability" would not be a legally valid excuse to refuse someone

A call for floating bus stops to be banned by @MarshadeCordova in the debate ‘Transport Accessibility for Disabled People’ 👏👏👏 #AccessDenied

⚠️ The Commons #AccessDenied debate concluded with a statement from @Mather_Keir, Under-Secretary of State at Dept for Transport. Here's our response, with six reasons why the @transportgovuk statement on the Railways Bill is completely unacceptable: ◾️ Defends the 'passenger and accessibility duty', which in fact uses the same weak language as the Railways Act 1993: 'needs and interests' instead of 'rights' or rights enforcement. ◾️ Defends deregulation of accessibility standards, which are moving from the @railandroad to the weak Passenger Watchdog. They even present it as a bonus that "serious and persistent issues" can still be referred to the regulator! ◾️ Defends the weak version of the Public Sector Equality Duty in the Bill. In fact, it is entirely cosmetic and does not apply to Rail Delivery Group or other private companies that dominate ticket retail, data, passenger information, procurement, etc. ◾️ Defends the 'Accessibility Roadmap', which has no serious commitments, funding, or any plan beyond 2027, with the private sector Rail Delivery Group still in charge of major projects in accessibility research and development, 'workforce reform' and railway destaffing. ◾️ Defends the Access For All programme for step-free access, in fact a highly fragmented and discredited process that will not be solved by the Bill. There is no announcement of new funding and this looks set to be the case until the next Spending Review. ◾️ Claims disabled people and organisations have 'been at the heart of the process' of developing new strategies - why then have Ministers refused to meet with our Passenger and Disability Rights coalition for the past 12 months? The government's plan for the Railways Bill is a worst-case scenario for accessibility and passenger rights. @Heidi_Labour must urgently think again and stop this extreme deregulation #AccessDenied

.@MarshadeCordova and @johnmcdonnellMP raise ticket office closures and railway destaffing - demanding a proper railway staffing policy for the new Great British Railways. #AccessDenied