I’m not gonna lie, when it comes to public transport… I can be a bit of a snob.
Despite my physical disability, I have been fortunate enough to drive an adapted vehicle for the past 10+ years, hence why my railway experience is so limited.
However, I am never one to shy away from a challenge. So when Access Cornwall told me that they were looking into accessible train travel in Cornwall, I knew that I was the perfect man for the job – in order to provide a completely unbiased opinion.
Thanks to the GWR Community Fund, Access Cornwall have now produced a guide to help those with accessibility needs explore Cornwall by rail.
Created by a team of accessibility ambassadors, this guide features an assessment of all 34 stations across Cornwall. Ambassadors include wheelchair users, those with vision, hearing and other impairments, those with learning differences, as well as people from the neurodiverse community.
Within this guide, I was tasked to check out the route between Truro & St Ives, via St Erth station. My limited experience in train travel allowed me to go into this journey with no preconceived ideas about accessibility.
For a visual account of my trip, check out my highlights video below:
To read my full blog post review, check out the Access Cornwall website.
Whilst I know this guide will be welcomed, there is still a lot of work to be done in terms of accessibility on public transport.
Travelling can be extremely stressful if you have a disability. For instance, will the assistance turn up? Can I access the bathroom? Will there be luggage blocking the wheelchair spaces?
From my experience I can already see huge improvements from what it was like years ago, with new additions such as the Passenger Assistance app making a huge difference.
Disclaimer:
This video was produced in paid partnership with Access Cornwall. As always, my opinions are entirely my own.