Written Statement: Travel for All: Our Principles

In April I set out my ambitions for transport networks that work for all. Today, I am setting out in more detail the actions we will take. We will deliver these by working with Transport for Wales, Corporate Joint Committees and Local Authorities and, importantly, those with lived experience of the barriers currently facing many people trying to use our transport networks. 

Our approach seeks to put people at the centre of our policies, planning and delivery of transport services and infrastructure across all modes at a local, regional and Wales-wide level. 

To achieve this, we have identified five principles that will guide our work:

• Feeling Safe: Although it is very important that people are safe from a health and safety view when travelling, we also want people to feel safe when using our public transport networks. We want people to feel confident in using our services at any time of day or the year.
• Feeling Welcome: Everyone deserves to have a positive experience in using our transport networks and putting in steps to make sure everyone feels welcome is an important part of achieving this. This includes making sure people are treated with respect by both staff and other transport users and having ways to report unacceptable behaviour and for action to be taken as a result.
• Accessibility: We want to remove physical, language, cost, and information barriers that people can face when accessing out transport networks. Doing this will support people to travel with confidence, gain greater independence and allow people to access the things that allow them to thrive.
• Involvement: We want to create opportunities for people to be involved in the design and delivery of our transport policies, infrastructure and services.  By understanding the lived experience of people who use our networks we can design them to be safe, welcoming, and accessible from the start.
• Embedding Change: We want to support and empower everyone to use our transport networks; we will achieve this through strong leadership, increased representation and building a people-centred culture within transport in Wales. 

The many people I have met since taking up post have been very clear – we want to see real changes, not just heartfelt words. Our actions are therefore practical, timebound, and are designed to put in place solid foundations for us to build from. 

We can help people feel safe by producing rapid practical guidance on lighting, we can make sure we have a consistent approach across our networks, balancing the needs of people travelling with our ecological and environmental responsibilities so when we are upgrading our infrastructure we can get it right first time. 

It’s important that we also make sure people feel welcomed when using our networks. This is why we have put forward a range of actions to make sure customer facing staff across all transport modes undertake regular training on important issues like anti-racism and the social model of disability. 

We know the barriers to travel are wide ranging; some barriers are physical, some financial, some are cultural, and they can feel insurmountable at times for people simply trying to get from point A to point B. Yet we know that building accessibility into our infrastructure right from the beginning not only saves time and money by avoiding retrofits, but it also means it is always at the forefront of everyone’s minds. 

This is why we are focusing our actions on developing the right standards and guidance, involving those with lived experience, to ensure transport providers are clear about not only the standards that are expected of them, but also practical support to implement often very straightforward changes that will make a big difference to people’s lives. 

Involving people is a thread that runs through our approach, as are the rest of the five ways of working set out in the Well-being of Future Generations Act. Our Inclusive Travel Board will support us to take an integrated approach both across transport modes but also considering the impacts of intersectionality on the barriers facing people when using our transport networks. We will also build on the success of the Transport for Wales Access and Inclusion Panel to evolve their remit and become our all-Wales Disabled People’s Travel Panel, a disabled people led Panel that will provide advice and assurance to Welsh Government and Transport for Wales on how to make our networks more accessible and inclusive. 

To embed change you need to be able to measure our progress. We will strengthen our approach by drawing on the most relevant and diverse sources of evidence and will work with people with lived experience to make sure we’re measuring what really matters.

I have been clear that accessibility and inclusion are a fundamental expectation that should be prioritised in our transport networks, not considered an optional service. Our Travel for All priorities and actions will help us build transport networks that are safe, welcoming, accessible and involve people in their design and delivery.