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Transport User Voice March 2025 – Accessibility at motorway services
25 February 2025
Improving the visitor experience
Last month Transport Focus hosted an industry workshop to discuss how to improve the visitor experience for disabled people at motorway services.
A deep dive into the road user experience, using data from the 2022 and 2023 Motorway Services User Surveys, found that user satisfaction has increased over time. However, one in three disabled visitors do not feel that their impairment is well catered for.
We were joined by representatives from motorway service operators Extra, Moto, Road Chef and Welcome Break, along with National Highways, the Department for Transport, AccessAble and Disabled Motoring.
The question that led the events discussion was how can we improve the experience for disabled visitors and ensure everyone gets access to the rest stops they need?
Despite newer builds and renovations providing improved facilities, there is still a significant gap between those reporting satisfaction with their visit when it comes to disabled and non-disabled visitors.
We were joined by Helen Dolphin MBE who talked about her experiences of visiting motorway services. Helen lost her limbs to meningitis in her early twenties and is a committed campaigner on improving transport for disabled people. Helen provoked a spirited debate among our attendees, including around the on-going question of disabled toilets – to lock or not lock?
Jean Hewitt, a Senior Inclusive Design Consultant at Buro Happold, also shared her knowledge on creating neuroinclusive spaces and key considerations for accessible toilets.
The workshop provided a great space to discuss what more can, and should, be done to improve the visitor experience for disabled people. There was a desire from attendees to get this right and to share best practice. The establishment of working groups was also discussed to try and standardise what great looks like across all sites and all operators.
We hope that the event will be the first of many like this. Transport Focus is following up with attendees to help facilitate further improvements for road users.