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A family sit next to their grey wheelchair accessible vehicle

Inclusive travel: learning and innovation

Introduction to research

There are 14.6 million disabled people in the UK – more than a fifth of the population.

Yet disabled people routinely struggle to make the journeys they want to due to inaccessible transport.

This report presents highlights of our current learnings and innovations based on research and broad engagement with disabled people and across the transport and disability sectors carried out since 2019.

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Download the learning and innovation report (PDF 679.0 KB)
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Video providing an overview of Motability's learning and innovation projects.

Key findings

  1. The transport system is not yet inclusive for disabled people: in 2019, disabled people made 38% fewer journeys than non-disabled people due to poor access to transport.
  2. More than one million disabled drivers will rely on public electric vehicle (EV) charge points, which are not currently accessible.
  3. With 2.8 million disabled people having no access to a car, disabled people would benefit from better door-to-door transport.
  4. Many disabled people face real challenges in getting the right wheelchair. Despite an 18-week target, 30% of users have to wait more than six months for an NHS-supplied wheelchair.
‘I have lost count of the number of times I’ve had difficulties travelling because transport is not accessible to me. This has been traumatic, such as when I have been stranded on platforms due to lifts not working. These experiences have meant I’ve lost confidence and feel very anxious whenever I leave the house.’
- Report case study

Our initiatives, innovations and grant programmes