Equality and Human Rights Commission

To ensure no one faces discrimination or disadvantage when making journeys, service providers are legally obliged to consider their policies, practices and procedures. Laws such as the Disability Discrimination Act and the Equality Act cover vehicles and vessels including:

• rental vehicles up to a certain size
• licensed private hire vehicles, such as minicabs 
• public service vehicles, such as buses and coaches 
• rail vehicles (including those operating underground)
• all licensed taxis
• breakdown or recovery vehicles (which are used to transport the driver and occupants of a broken-down vehicle from the scene of an accident or breakdown)
• guided transport vehicles, such as monorails, magnetic levitation systems and guided buses.

As well as the infrastructure and support services needed to provide the transport, such as stations, stops, airports and timetables, all people involved in providing services are affected – from the most senior director or manager to the most junior employee, whether full- or part-time, permanent or temporary. It does not matter whether the services in question are being provided by a sole operator, firm, company or other organisation, or whether the person involved in providing the services is self-employed or an employee, volunteer, contractor or agent.

The Disability Discrimination Act requires public transport providers to take reasonable steps to offer aids or services to ensure access is open to people with disabilities, whether those disabilities are related to mobility, hearing or sight.