In providing a public transport service we take into account the accessibility needs of all of our customers. These needs vary greatly but we will class them under mobility needs, sensory needs and learning difficulties.
Mobility needs can range across a broad spectrum. The most obvious needs are those on crutches, wheelchair users, those with guide dogs or those with buggies. However, they also include those with physical impairments (for example customers with arthritis, back or limb pain) or customers with children, shopping or luggage.
Sensory needs range from Blindness and Sight Impairment to Deafness and Hard of Hearing.
Learning difficulties can range from Dyslexia to a lack of formal education.
Our aims are to:
- Consult with people with access problems and meet their requirements and expectations as best we can.
- Make our bus services as accessible as is practically possible.
- Work with other outside agencies such as Local Authorities to assist with infrastructure which improves access to our services.
- Review our service on a regular basis to see how best it can be improved.
- Provide disability awareness training as part of our customer care training for our staff.
- Upgrade our communication system and provide accessible information where required.
Dublin Bus is achieving these responsibilities by having a versatile and committed programme which involves the following comments:
- Purchase of only low floor wheelchair accessible buses.
- Fitting all new buses with a range of on-board facilities to assist visually impaired and mobility impaired customers including access to multiple seats in lower salon and colour contrasting handrails.
- Quarterly meetings and consultation with the Dublin Bus Disability Awareness User Group.
- On-bus audio and visual announcements on all new buses.
- Continuing to administer the Travel Assistance Scheme which gives would be customers the confidence to travel independently across all modes of transport in Dublin.
While it is not possible to anticipate every difficulty our customer may have on their journey with us, we will try to anticipate problems and solve them as they arise.
We will encourage our staff to be flexible in their approach to customer problems and make every effort to make our service as accessible as possible.