THE AUDITING OF PUBLIC TRANSPORT SERVICES BY MOBILITY IMPAIRED PEOPLE FOR NEW SERVICE PROVISION AND IMPROVEMENT

Many community groups, including groups of older and/or mobility impaired people, have difficulty in quantifying their transport problems because of a lack of research expertise. Such groups have difficulty in communicating their needs to professional planners and transport providers who often have little grasp of the concept of Barriers To Travel, with the result that the needs remain unmet. This paper describes a project that transferred research expertise to such groups and thence to transport providers. In order to assist groups of mobility disadvantaged people to quantify their transport needs in a professional manner, the Transport Research Group of the University of Ulster was commissioned to develop an overall method of conducting a public transport audit which could be used by a range of groups of mobility disadvantaged people. The research was carried out by conducting two real audits, one in an urban context and one in a rural context.