Lack of transport accessibility highlighted in Stockwell

On Friday we launched our accessibility manifesto at Stockwell tube station - including our aim to make a third of the tube system step-free by 2018 (both Boris and Ken has failed to fulfill their promises on this).

Both our mayoral candidate Jenny Jones and Jean Lambert MEP came down. It was great to see so much interest, especially from the broadcast media.

I am trying to get hold of a copy of the ITN piece, but in the meantime you can read this on the BBC website.

The tube map we produced, which shows what the tube map looks like if you have a mobility impairment has also been a big hit on social media networks.

It’s been great to see the growing issue of accessibility in London being highlighted in the run up to the paralympics.

Lambeth and Southwark are particularly bad in this respect – something which we have wanted to highlight during the London Assembly election campaign. Last year we got the Guardian newspaper to make the trip from Lambeth to the site of the Paralympics with disabled travelers to draw attention to the issue.

Of the 8 tube stations in Lambeth only 1 (Brixton) is wheelchair accessible. A freedom of information request that I submitted uncovered that the lifts at Brixton station have been out of order for 164 days since 2006.

Eight out of eleven overground stations in Southwark could also be impacted by cuts leaving them unstaffed and “no go areas” for many travelers. This is likely to make it the hardest hit area in the whole country if the proposals go ahead.

Channel 4 are now also taking up the theme with their “no go Britain” campaign.

You can read our accessibility manifesto in full here

Boris snubs mayoral disability hustings

I attended a disability hustings today with our mayoral candidate Jenny Jones at Coin Street Community Centre in Waterloo, Lambeth.

It was organised by Transport for All and Inclusion London, two organisations that do excellent work on behalf of deaf and disabled people in London.

All the main mayoral candidates were there - with the exception of Boris Johnson, who sent instead London Assembly member Richard Tracey.

From the questions and comments from the floor, it was pretty clear that those present were unimpressed with Johnson and his messenger. Tracey tried to fob people off with the promise that Johnson would attend other events organised by charities working with disabled people. This however was also greeted with jeers. Tracey I don't think understood why. And this is part of the big underlying problem.

What Johnson, and indeed some of the other mayoral candidates didn't seem to grasp, was that these hustings were important because they were run by organisations led by disabled people. As was abundantly clear from the questions and points made from the floor, it is the voices of disabled people that actually have many of the answers to the access and inclusion problems that disabled Londoners face.

But for the last twelve years, policy in these areas has been "done" to disabled people, rather than being led by disabled people. And as a result, promises have been broken, or slipped down the agenda. For example, Ken Livingstone promised 90 out of 270 stations would be step-free by 2013. Boris Johnson made the promise of 68 step-free stations by the end of 2010. Neither promise has been fulfilled.

It must be deaf and disabled people who are setting the agenda in the future. I am pleased to say that the Green Party has embraced the proposals in the manifestos put forward by these organisations - Inclusion London and Transport for All - and a whole lot more. It is simply unacceptable that in this day and age we exclude so many Londoners from day to day life in the capital, from the lack of access at tube stations, to the poverty of accessible housing, through to the way the buses are run and operated.

More Greens on the London Assembly in the next four years will mean that more voices of disabled Londoners are heard.

Transport inclusion to be at heart of Lambeth & Southwark campaign

Green mayoral candidate Jenny Jones joined with me and other local people, including members of Lambeth and Southwark Green parties on Friday, for a flashride in Camberwell.

Together we staged a “go slow” of cyclists calling for a 20mph speed limit and safer streets along the new Cycle Superhighway 5.

This new Cycle Superhighway will run from Lewisham to Victoria along busy roads like Peckham High Street and Camberwell New Road with traffic driving past at up to 30mph, making it dangerous and frightening particularly for inexperienced cyclists. Many cyclists and potential cyclists are too frightened and daunted by the prospect of getting on a bike in the Capital.

It marked the start of the Green campaign in Lambeth and Southwark, which aims to highlight issues around inclusion and local transport.

Our research has found that the boroughs get one of the rawest deals in London when it comes to transport, with large numbers of local people excluded, pushed out or discouraged from using parts of the transport system through fears about safety or inaccessibility. Notably:

• Lambeth and Southwark account for half of the ten most dangerous locations in London for cyclists.

• Of the 32 boroughs in London Lambeth has the second highest casualty rate for both pedestrians and cyclists. Southwark has the fourth highest overall casualty rate.

• Of the 8 tube stations in Lambeth only 1 (Brixton) is wheelchair accessible. A freedom of information request that I submitted uncovered that the lifts at Brixton station have been out of order for 164 days since 2006.

• Eight out of eleven overground stations in Southwark could soon be impacted by cuts leaving them unstaffed and “no go areas” for many travellers. This is likely to make it the hardest hit area in the whole country if the proposals go ahead.

• Both Lambeth and Southwark’s Taxicard schemes, providing subsidised door-to-door transport for people with mobility impairments, have been slashed by 33% and 25% respectively. ( Details of Lambeth Taxicard cuts here. Details of Southwark Taxicard cuts here )

There is an apartheid that runs throughout our transport system which excludes whole sections of London, and nowhere is this more true than in Lambeth and Southwark - and the situation is getting worse not better.

During the election campaign, Greens in Lambeth and Southwark will highlight the different features of the exclusion, and put forward proposals to tackle it.

Transport apartheid in London

There is a debate in Parliament today, initiated by Lisa Nandy MP, on accessible transport. (I did an event at the Labour party conference with Lisa Nandy a few weeks ago, and amongst other things we discussed disability).

It is scandalous that whilst we will be holding the Paralympics in London next year, so much of London's transport system is inaccessible - most notably the tube. As part of the GLA campaign, we will be highlighting this issue as much as we can in Lambeth and Southwark. In many respects there is a system of apartheid in place, where whole areas are only accessible to one part of London's population.

Transport for All, based in Brixton, would like the Government to:

- Reject proposals in the McNulty Review to cut staff at train stations, who provide essential assistance to disabled and older passengers. (Southwark will be particularly hard hit in this respect)

- Change the law to ensure that all buses and coaches are equipped with the audio-visual equipment that makes them accessible to blind and deaf people

- Increase funding for stepfree programme as way of kickstarting economy. At present, almost half of disabled people say their choice of job is restricted due to inaccessible transport and nearly a quarter have had to turn doen a job because of transport.

- Protect bus routes which are so essential to avoid isolation and maintain activity and independence, especially for older people.