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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Accessibility and informational barriers to an age friendly railway | | Author(s) | Charles Musselwhite, Kelly Roberts |
| Journal title | Quality in Ageing and Older Adults, vol 22, no 2, 2021 |
| Publisher | Emerald, 2021 |
| Pages | pp 114-129 |
| Full text* | https://doi.org/10.1108/QAOA-02-2021-0015 |
| Keywords | Rail transport ; Ageing process ; Information needs ; Mobility ; Accessibility. |
| Annotation | Being mobile and able to travel in later life is linked to a good quality of life. Against a backdrop of an increase in the number of older people in the UK and an increase in the amount of travel per person for this age group, the number of older people using the railway is in decline. The purpose of this paper was to report on an investigation on issues around accessibility and information provision for older rail passengers. Rolling stock and station audits were carried out by older people across a rail network in the South West of the UK. A total of 72.2 hours of auditing took place across different sizes of station and different types of rolling stock. Two main themes were found across both rolling stock and station audits: accessibility and information provision. With regards to accessibility, boarding and especially alighting from the train was the key issue. Across stations and in rolling stock inadequate lighting was a key issue for older people. Use of stairs between platforms, especially when stations were crowded was an issue. In terms of information, key issues were found with signage being too cluttered, small, hidden and inconsistent and audible announcements being difficult to decipher. There must be improvements made to railways to help older people feel more safe and secure using them. It is suggested step free and level accessibility is found boarding and alighting from the train, but also from station entrance to carriage. Better signage is needed throughout the station and on trains, with large repeated fonts used. Lighting needs to be revisited throughout to ensure areas are bright and well-lit both on station platforms and on board. Further research needs to look at these findings in relation to slips, trips and fall accident rates. There is very little research on older people's perceptions and barriers to railway use. This adds value in being one of the only studies to do so, especially from the perspective of older people themselves as co-researchers. (JL). |
| Accession Number | CPA-211029208 A |
| Classmark | OB: BG: UV:IK: C4: 5CA |
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information about this article, and many others, can be found on the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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