In Touch

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In Touch: A Transport Special

A Transport Special

BBC Radio 4 - In Touch, A Transport Special

Problems buying cheaper rail tickets and making bus stations more accessible.

What would the closure of railway ticket offices mean for visually impaired people? Will a trial in the West Midlands lead to more accessible bus stations?

The question of closing railway ticket offices has been in the headlines recently.  Indeed, it remains one of the stumbling blocks to a settlement in the long running dispute between rail unions and train operators.  One operator has already stopped selling tickets at discounted rates from their ticket offices for "same day" travel.  This leaves travellers needing to use the internet or ticket vending machines to take advantage of reduced rates for same day journeys.  We discuss what this means for visually impaired people with the help of Tony Miles from Modern Railways magazine.

Meanwhile, on the buses, we report on a trial aiming to make bus stations more accessible.  Transport for West Midlands has unveiled new smart codes at Wolverhampton Bus Station, giving passengers immediate access to wayfinding details and travel information on their mobile phones.  To get an update on the trial and what it might mean for accessible bus travel in the future, we hear from RNIB's Robin Spinks and Gary Leek from Transport for West Midlands  .

Presenter: Peter White
Producer: Fern Lulham
Production Coordinator: Liz Poole

Website image description: Peter White sits smiling in the centre of the image, wearing a dark green jumper. Above Peter's head is the BBC logo (three individual white squares house each of the three letters). Bottom centre and overlaying the image are the words "In Touch"; and the Radio 4 logo (the word Radio in a bold white font, with the number 4 inside a white circle). The background is a bright mid-blue with two rectangles angled diagonally to
the right. Both are behind Peter, one of a darker blue and the other is a lighter blue.

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