TfL Ref: FOI-3320-2324
Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 16 December 2023 asking for information about TfL’s station and underground accessibility.
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. I can confirm we do hold the information you require.
Below are some examples of changes or initiatives made to underground stations and tubes, and more widely to our network since 2009 to improve the accessibility of our network - particularly for those who are autistic or neurodiverse.
We ensure frontline staff are visible and available, providing them with the knowledge and confidence to provide customers with the best possible service, through the provision of training, guidance and support. For example, our Disability Equality Training course discusses non-visible conditions and neurodiversity and delivers both class-based and on-network learning opportunities. We ensure our staff recognise the ‘Hidden Disabilities Sunflower’ lanyard. We also have our own ‘Please Offer Me a Seat’ badge available to all customers who would like it. Our Travel Mentoring Team and Turn Up and Go service provide the support people with autism may need to travel independently. We also offer customers travel support cards which they can use to help explain how staff can best support their needs.
We provide accurate, granular and up-to-date information about our services, in a range of mediums and formats, to improve customer confidence, especially among those who need extra support. This helps to improve the timeliness of information. We have also launched innovative products, such as our new Google Streetview projects which helps people understand the layout of a station before they arrive.
Stations, stops, and vehicles are more accessible with our approach to design and planning, ensuring everyone feels safe and comfortable when travelling.
Our Inclusive Design guidance, ‘Design for the Mind’, provides information for planners, designers and engineers around how to design to meet the needs of people who experience sensory or neurological processing differences. It incorporates principles to ensure that people with or who have a range of processing differences are able to access and enjoy their experience of the built environment.
In passageway tunnels which we call 'routeways', lighting is kept to the lowest minimal level according to safety guidelines. Lighting is designed to illuminate the walls and ceilings of the tunnels. At the beginning and ending of tunnels or at decision points where a customer may wish to change direction vertical illumination is used.
Our 2024 Stock on the Piccadilly Line will join our S-Stock trains already in operation on the District, Hammersmith and City, Circle, and Metropolitan Lines in having walkthrough carriages which will increase capacity. This has the added benefit of enabling customers with sensory disabilities to leave carriages where sensory stimulation may exceed their desired threshold. These trains are climate-controlled with air conditioning reducing the impact of high temperatures on customers with autism who have thermoregulation-related sensitivities.
We are tackling anti-social behaviour and encouraging consideration of other customer needs through campaigns like Travel Kind which promotes awareness of invisible disabilities, and priority seating week, as well as our campaigns tackling hate crime.
We work with communities to identify problems and codesign solutions. Our Independent Disability Advisory Group, Inclusive Transport forum, Youth Panel and our specialist network for adult transport users with learning difficulties help us to design policy and services with their needs in mind. Each forum and group has representation from individuals with autism or specialists in this field depending on the nature of the group.
We are making sure we listen to all of our customers – our new All Aboard customer research panel is made up of a diverse panel of disabled customers, including those who are neurodivergent.
Throughout our stations on days with high temperatures we deploy signage to remind customers to remain hydrated. We believe this is an important message for all our customers to receive, but it also serves as an important reminder to people who experience issues with interoception that they may need to drink water. We have also joined in the Mayor's Refill London Scheme which encourages venues across London to provide drinking water fountains and free refills, as part of the scheme we have installed drinking water fountains and bottle refill stands at some of our Tube and Bus stations.
Currently over 80 stations have customer toilets. We are also currently working to expand our accessible toilets offering with over 15 accessible toilets within our stations, with Ealing Broadway Station having an accessible toilet with a hoist, adult-sized table, and showering facilities. We maintain a toilet map to help customers identify the nearest toilet while planning their journey, this can be found using the following link: https://content.tfl.gov.uk/toilets-map.pdf . Additional details of these facilities can be found using the following link: https://content.tfl.gov.uk/enhanced-customer-toilet-information.pdf
If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for any reason, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.
Yours sincerely,
Mary Abidakun
FOI Case Officer
FOI Case Management Team
General Counsel
Transport for London
