A college student and wheelchair user in Buckinghamshire urges the council to enhance bus driver training for better assistance. The anonymous researcher at the Centre for Education and Youth emphasizes the need for improved mechanisms for young wheelchair users to communicate changes in their equipment to bus drivers. The presented research highlights the lack of training for bus drivers in handling various wheelchair types during school and college transport, leading to challenges in assisting passengers.
Despite acknowledging limited direct control over commercial bus companies, Councillor Steve Broadbent pledges the council’s commitment to an Enhanced Partnership, aiming to establish infrastructure standards that meet all passengers’ requirements, including those with hidden disabilities. Additionally, he notes mandatory safeguarding and disability awareness training for council-operated school services and specialist wheelchair training for staff on accessible vehicles, with 268 individuals completing the latter in the past 12 months.
