I rode the UCL East bus back in January. And I was not impressed due to one simple fact: accessibility in public transport and public spaces is about so much more than wheelchair access.
Certainly it is the easiest to identify and the easiest to implement, but UCL East’s shuttle bus service fails to realise that for it to be truly accessible it takes more than the bus having a wheelchair ramp.
To start: the stops themselves are unmarked, have no seating, and are not suitable for what the Union wants the service to be.
If a user needs the bus for accessibility reasons, a stop opposite the abandoned Dennison Point tower block on a stretch of road that feels like the back of an industrial estate is the last place a potentially vulnerable person would want to be hanging around on their own.
I was uncomfortable waiting for five minutes at 9am with a friend — I certainly would not want to be anywhere near there after dark, and certainly not on my own.
The timing of the bus too — “Monday to Friday between the hours of 07:30 and 10:00 in the morning and 17:00 and 20:30 in the evening” — is an issue. I understand that the Union has limited funds to pay for this shuttle, however it explicitly targets students with accessibility needs. By running at peak times it forces these students to travel on TfL services at peak times, which is not always realistic.
It also relegates these students to a curfew: UCL East is home to student accommodation, and, despite what the Union appears to believe, students with accessibility needs do go out after dark.
Its forcing students to travel at peak times reduces its accessibility for students on a lower income too. A single journey from Stratford to Bloomsbury at peak times costs £3.60. If students relied on the shuttle bus to get to Stratford station, they would be forced to pay £7.20 daily for transport to classes.
This is part of the wider issue that the shuttle bus would have solved if it was done properly: a shuttle bus to Bloomsbury would be the answer to these peak time concerns, yet it seems that rather than admitting that it would be too expensive, the Union has decided to half arse the measure and solve no real problem.
To say the bus improves accessibility to UCL East ignores the simple fact that there are much bigger issues with accessibility across UCL.
In Union buildings alone, it seems they genuinely expect wheelchair users to take the lift down three steps to buy a pint at Huntley.
Across UCL buildings there are similar issues: the History department still isn't step free or wheelchair accessible!
Meals in SU cafes are still not cheap despite what the sabbs would have you believe, with the President denying that food prices are an issue at UCL.
If the SU cared for genuinely impactful accessibility improvements, why aren't they making or lobbying for changes in these spaces? Putting the shuttle bus in place does nothing meaningful to make UCL accessible.
Accessibility is not just step-free routes and ramps. It is lighting, pricing, and working to improve access in people's everyday life, not forcing them to change their routines to fit your provisions.
Genuine accessibility comes from intention in design and in a brand new campus — why was it an afterthought? The UCL East Shuttle Bus solves no accessibility issues, it merely serves to highlight the Union’s inability to make genuine change.