Spent a fascinating day at London Excel, visiting the Access All Areas exhibition. This was organised by Transport for London (TfL), primarily (I guess) to showcase the latest in cross-London accessibility-ness and to engage with their stakeholders in this regard. Also at the show were various other organisations and bodies, including Network Rail, charities and other companies working to improve accessibility and inclusivity on the transport networks.
It was encouraging to see how TfL are making advances in creating a joined-up, accessible whole-city network: train, trams, tubes, buses, water ferries, cable cars, taxis...
No-one is pretending that we are there yet: there are still many areas, stations and other facilities that are inaccessible or, at best, not independently accessible. However, with London having one of the largest and most complex urban transport networks in the world, with some elements being over 150 years old, this is perhaps unsurprising.
Whilst acknowledging the size and scope of the challenge, we must also recognise that London and TfL are working hard to deliver improvements across the city. I believe they are progressing in the right direction, setting an example to many other established networks and many other world cities.
