Introduction

Bus stops are an important link between passengers and bus services. They are the start and end of every journey, and often shape whether a journey feels accessible, reliable, and comfortable.

For disabled passengers, including those with physical, sensory and non-visible impairments, a poorly designed bus stop environment can make bus travel entirely unviable. Features such as kerb height, shelter design, lighting, and information provision directly affect whether passengers can plan journeys, feel safe while waiting, and board independently.

An estimated 16.8 million people in the UK (25% of the population) have some form of disability.¹ Disabled people make an average of just 5.84 journeys per week, a third of the national average.² Many depend on buses, making more trips by bus than non-disabled people, yet inaccessible bus stops are a primary barrier to independent travel. Previous research revealed:

• 40% of disabled bus users have experienced inadequate bus stops, including lack of seating, lack of shelter, and inaccessible street space
• 37% report a lack of real-time information at stops, including on delays, cancellations, and vehicle faults
• 50% of disabled people report difficulty navigating routes due to a lack of dropped kerbs
• 41% have experienced problems with driver attitudes and behaviours³
• Only 15% of people with visual impairments and 18% of those with mobility impairments find it easy to use bus shelters.⁴

This report sets out the accessibility challenges faced by disabled people across the entire bus journey and provides practical recommendations for decision makers. It builds on Campaign for Better Transport’s 2024 paper, Better Bus Stops: Creating a national bus stop standard, and on existing best practice guidance. The Equality Act (2010) requires public transport operators and highway authorities to provide reasonable adjustments so that disabled passengers are not disadvantaged. There also is a national best practice guidance document on inclusive mobility, which outlines accessibility features and specifications that need to be considered for bus stops, including siting, shelters and information provision.⁵

Based on insights from a broad range of organisations representing disabled people and passengers with additional accessibility needs, the report adopts a whole-journey approach, examining accessibility across different stages: pre-trip planning, travel to and from the bus stop, waiting, boarding and alighting the bus, and onboard travel. Barriers exist at every stage, from inaccessible journey-planning websites and poorly maintained pavements, to inadequate kerb heights, absent real-time information, and insufficient driver training. The report also recognises that no one size fits all by setting out accessibility features for different categories of bus stops based on their level of use and service provision.

Delivering accessible bus stops at scale requires overcoming significant structural barriers: insufficient and short-term capital funding, fragmented responsibilities between local authorities and operators, and inconsistent data. However, by understanding lived experiences of disabled bus passengers and developing targeted improvements to infrastructure and information provision, there is a clear potential for creating bus stops which serve all users.

References

1. UK Parliament (2025), UK disability statistics: Prevalence and life experiences (back to text)

2. Transport for All (2023) Are we there yet? Barriers to transport for disabled people in 2023 (back to text)

3. Ibid. (back to text)

4. Transport Focus (2025), Designing the bus shelter of tomorrow (back to text)

5. Department for Transport (DfT) (2021), Inclusive Mobility: A Guide to Best Practice on Access to Pedestrian and Transport Infrastructure (back to text)