New Disabled train users app

[Clip]

Rather good idea

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-45656560

A "life-changing" app that can track disabled rail users in real-time will be rolled out nationwide.

The app will update station staff on where a passenger is at any point, useful in the event of a delay, change of platform or missed train.

Four rail companies are using an early version, with the full one to be available across Britain next autumn.

Paralympian Anne Wafula-Strike said the app would "empower disabled people to travel without any fear".

Currently when passengers with mobility problems book assistance, a print-out is given to station staff in the morning.

But when a change occurs there is no way to update the paper list, which can lead to staff being in the wrong place and causing some passengers requiring help to go without assistance at all.

The app, developed by Transreport for the railway industry, will allow users to create a profile, amend and cancel bookings and give staff live information to accommodate short-notice changes.

Mrs Wafula-Strike, from Essex, who won compensation after wetting herself on a train when the disabled toilet was not working, called the app "true inclusion".

She said: "Although passenger assistance usually works, I've had awful experiences when it has failed so it's great to see the rail industry addressing this and planning to change and improve for the benefit of disabled people."

Disabled comedian Tanyalee Davis, from Norfolk, previously said she was "harassed and humiliated" for using a disabled space for her mobility scooter and called for an app of a similar type to be implemented.

She said: "We'll have more flexibility and spontaneity, but most importantly it'll help ease our anxiety because we can keep in contact in real-time with the people who are assisting us.

"If it works well it will be life-changing."

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Sarah Ward, from Shrewsbury, has been using a trial of the app since May and said it allowed her to be "much more flexible" with her travel.

West Midlands Railway, London Northwestern Railway, Greater Anglia, and South Western Railway are currently trialling different parts of the app before the full roll-out across England, Wales and Scotland.

Some videos on the link provided also

 

[AngusH]

All I can say is well done to the people working on this.

It seems to offer improvements on many of the issues that I've read about on this forum and elsewhere.

I hope that it works well and provides a good improvement to travel for people who require assistance and for the railway staff who provide assistance.

 

[Ih8earlies]

I just hope that the old system is still maintained for those passengers who don't use/own a smartphone - or who wouldn't be able to use such a system due to a disability.

 

[BackOnTheTrain]

I just hope that the old system is still maintained for those passengers who don't use/own a smartphone - or who wouldn't be able to use such a system due to a disability.

Hopefully when the user books their ticket at the station or via the phone the staff there will make an entry in the database for them?

 

[HumberSprinter]

My mum always books assistence. There's no way an app will improve anything at all. We book stuff and no one turns up sometimes, the slightest delay and we are forgotten about. Also my mum has on occassion been lectured that she should book assistence even though she did, it's incredibly insulting.

For example on my trip back from Morpeth in August the staff were confused at Newcastle, didn't have ramp ready. At York we were late, couldn't get to the platorm for Hull train in time as the first subway was out of order and the rude assistence guy didn't bother to tell us or help. Missed train, went to talk to him like other complainers, he said go back to platform 1 to customer service, who tells us we could of got on a Doncaster train from the platform near where we came from if we didn't waste time going to him. The customer service guy turned up to ensure we got on the hour later train, the original one didn't despite knowing we were there (we told him again too).

An app won't make staff appear. Most don't want to download apps anyway. Would an abled body person be happy being forced to use an app to travel? No. The system should allow the disable to turn up and go anytime, anything else is deeply unfair.

 

[Caleb2010]

The current system doesn’t work, as already highlighted- booked assistance doesn’t happen- an app isn’t going to make any difference, now your journey is supposed to be followed by staff, with communication between them if it goes wrong- that doesn’t happen- so an app that promises exactly the same thing is doomed from the start.

The whole passenger assist system needs an overhaul and update before an app has any hope of working!

 

[Ih8earlies]

Newcastle are bad for Assists.

When they do turn up it is rarely before or during a trains arrival.

 

[BackOnTheTrain]

An app won't make staff appear. Most don't want to download apps anyway. Would an abled body person be happy being forced to use an app to travel? No. The system should allow the disable to turn up and go anytime, anything else is deeply unfair.

Unfair yes, but do you want ticket prices to substantially increase in order to fund multiple staff at every station (or on every train) to provide assistance? Not all stations are even staffed full time as it is.

The biggest thing they could do would be to remove the need for ramps and make sure every train has space in every carriage for a wheelchair or scooter. Then a lot of people who currently require assistance would no longer need it. But the costs for that would also be astronomical.

The app will help to resolve the issue of no updates between staff and passengers. Not everyone will be able to benefit but if it benefits some then it is worth doing. I am assuming that the booking office will create entries on demand for those who buy tickets in person or over the phone & need assistance.

 

[josh-j]

Unfair yes, but do you want ticket prices to substantially increase in order to fund multiple staff at every station (or on every train) to provide assistance? Not all stations are even staffed full time as it is

What I would like is for the government to properly fund the railways.

 

[AlterEgo]

What I would like is for the government to properly fund the railways.

To the point where literally every station is staffed at all hours a train operates?

Not everyone who requires assistance is in a wheelchair or needs mobility help. To achieve the panacea unreasonably proposed by an earlier poster you would need a truly enormous number of staff. Some of those staff would have the sole purpose of assisting one or two people a day, at most.

 

[AngusH]

Another more detailed description is here:

https://www.networkrail.co.uk/easier-assistance-app-to-transform-journeys-for-disabled-passengers/

Key points:

1. enabling customers to book, change and cancel assistance quickly, which can currently take up to 40 minutes over the phone
2. allowing customers to create a user profile, specifying their personal details and the type of assistance they need, so recurring bookings become quicker
3. providing staff with live information, including key details about the customer and their journey, so they can provide a better service and accommodate short-notice requests
4. ensuring better staff communication so staff can anticipate and deliver changes in planned assistance.

(3 and 4 weren't really covered by the bbc article)

The impression I get is that this is really a switch from a once-per day batch system (with manual communication for emergency updates) to a much better real time system for managing assistance.

The first big win is probably the real time data for the assistance staff (3)

 

[OneOffDave]

I've got a slightly radical proposition. Why not have someone on every train who's not the driver who could provide the assistance? Why not, when they aren't providing assistance to disabled passengers, let them sell and check tickets. They could also assist in the safe running of the train if properly trained.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I've got a slightly radical proposition. Why not have someone on every train who's not the driver who could provide the assistance? Why not, when they aren't providing assistance to disabled passengers, let them sell and check tickets. They could also assist in the safe running of the train if properly trained.

They can't provide station assistance, though.

As I've said before a requirement for an in-person hand-off of responsibility would be the biggest single improvement that could be made. The existing system relies on assumption to far too great an extent.

That could be done with mobile devices - for the handoff to take place, for instance, the platform staff would have to scan a barcode on the guard's phone screen, for instance, to confirm they actually met in order for the handoff to take place. A bit like the way security guard patrols are often managed these days.

 

[Quaver]

As someone who used to book assistance for First Groyp

I will tell you that we were told a new system was being developed by a new company that was meant to be drastically improving the service for both contact centres. Customers and stations. But it was a couple of years off.

Currently at the minute though a version of the system we use is available for staff on work phones. However whether they have/use it was another matter but it was meant to be used for real time updates instead of the one notification a day way of doing it .