Mobility Scooters
Client
- Northern Rail Limited.
Work Undertaken
- Concept, Design and Artwork.
Background
The use of Mobility Scooters across the United Kingdom has been on the increase for a number of years; however their acceptance onto the railway network has been a patchy especially after a number of incidents with scooters ‘zooming off’ onto the track, including one notable incident on the Tyne and Wear Metro which saw a mobility scooter ‘go through the train’, and an outright ban was put in place.
However, over the years as the railway has moved from early franchise awards to more recent awards which put the customer first, the attitude has changed and operators have moved, abet slowly, to allow mobility scooter back on to the network, sometimes with the need of a permit which validates the scooter is suitable for use on the types of trains the operator uses – or ‘rail ready’.
The quiet revolution
In the North of England, across the Northern network (in its various ownership guises) scooter travel was actively discouraged for a good number of years, mainly due to the extensive use of the now-retired Pacer Trains (Class 124 and 144) together with other issues surrounding station accessibility.
However, a tentative trial scheme was quietly put into place in West Yorkshire on the Aire and Wharfe Valley routes between Leeds/Bradford and Ilkley/Skipton due to the compliant accessibility features offered by the Class 333 which operate the routes together with the reasonably good station access offered. A further route, that between Leeds and Doncaster, was added following completion of total refurbishment of the former Class 321/9 and former Stansted Express Class 322 units.
And that was about it for scooter travel across the North of England, however, that all changed in 2020.
Time to get a scoot on
On Disability Awareness Day on Sunday 26 October 2020, following nearly a year of work in the background – which was impacted by the global pandemic of Covid-19 – the Northern network was opened up to mobility scooters with the expansion of the trail scheme in West Yorkshire to a fully open scheme covering 139 stations across 21 routes.
Initial discussions on the scheme started at the end of 2019 and when the project was completed contained around 30 pieces of artwork, ranging from
- 23 bespoke line of route maps for use in customer/staff information
- Adaption of the Network Map to highlight compliant routes/stations for use at compliant stations to indicate this station is ‘Scooter Friendly’
- A handy A6 pocket-sized 32-page Staff Guide
- A customer leaflet which combines all the useful information required, including both route maps and the compliant routes and stations as ‘text only’ with the application form and formatted at 60 pages with a 6-page throw-out cover (with throw-out at back)
- 2-part permit – one as a circular, reflective disc and the other a handy card in case the scooter is unable to have the reflective disc attached to the scooter
- A welcome letter.
Find out more about the scheme
You can find out more about the new Mobility Scooter Scheme on Northern’s website (opens in a new window) together with a press release (opens in a new window) accompanying the launch.