The Fight for Accessibility: What are Those with Disabilities actually Saying about Public Transport

Around one in five Australians have a disability. Access to public transport plays an essential role in allowing all Australians to fully particulate in the community. It enables people to travel to work or study, connects them to family, friends and their community, and provides access to services such as healthcare and education.

But how accessible is transport for people with disabilities?

“It takes us three times longer than everyone else to get somewhere because transport is so inaccessible, and sometimes its inaccessible to the extent that it’s impossible, as in, there is no way to get to your destination other than catching an accessible taxi.” - Akii Ngo wheelchair user expresses.

Fully accessible public transport is federally legislated under the disability discrimination Act in 2022. Standards came into effect requiring public transport in all states and territories to be fully accessible by the end of 2022.

This includes all tram, train, and bus stops and captures everything from access paths, ramps, doorways and lifts to toilets, surfaces, hearing augmentation, handrails and grab rails, lighting and signs. The major exceptions are the trams and trains themselves, for which states have another ten years to roll over their stock.

But with six months to go, no state or territory is set to meet the deadline – and at the current pace of upgrades, some will not make 2032 either. 

Ngo says, “the government doesn’t appeal to be listening to people with disabilities or aren’t doing anything about it, which is kind of the same.”

So, is the government doing enough to understand what citizens are saying about this topic?

Recent article from the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communication and the Arts calls for the public to have their say on improving public transport accessibility for people with disability.

 The reform aims to remove discrimination against people with disability when using public transport services, which is asked to be done by completing an online survey or emailing or calling the department.  

But is there a more effective way to understand what those are saying online regarding the topic?

Using Sprinklr, we took the topic of Public Transport accessibility for people with disability. As a result, we produced a figure which presents quite explicitly the public interest of the topic. 

These real-time analytics can be analysed to demonstrate the top posts around the topic. Looking into the top emotion of anger presents some critical online conversations regarding the topic

Online conversation monitoring can empower organisations to understand publicly accessible unstructured data and take actions across communications, strategy, and service design.

This feature also can make it possible to understand, respond to, and build upon what travellers need. This capability amplifies citizens' stories and voices during policy negotiations and even legislation creation.

This real-time sentiment analysis can be powerfully expanded to include images. With visual analysis tools, content can easily be explored for its sentiment as it pertains to a specific brand, mention or even individual.

This can be seamlessly integrated, alongside the sentiment timelines and visual insights, amongst an organisation's digital strategy.

To learn more about how you can listen to online conversations for both public and private industries, contact us today!