Do the Accessible Public Transport Standards apply to community transport?
The Accessible Public Transport Standards state that a public transport service includes “community transport conveyances that are funded or subsidised by charity or public money and that offer services to the public”. The standards do not provide a definition of the “public”. However, the fact that a service has eligibility requirements (such as having a disability) would not necessarily take it outside of the scope of services to the public – since accessible taxi services also have eligibility requirements but are clearly covered by the standards. Services available only to members of a particular association or residents of a particular facility would be outside the scope of “public” transport (although still be within the more general provisions of the DDA regarding provision of services) but services available to older people or people with disabilities in a particular area would be within the scope of the standards in our view. In any event, it should be noted that any community
