Do you ever walk through the day thinking about how many things you take for granted without even realising? Hailing a bus and jumping straight on it, quickly walking down the escalator when you are late for a train, getting off at any stop you need to, planning your journey and being able to take the quickest route because the transport links are designed for you?

Not everyone has this luxury.

My sister is a wheelchair user. She thrives when utilising her independence, another privilege many take for granted. Unfortunately, this is stunted by the current London transport system. Our society has moved in leaps and bounds in so many ways, but shockingly, our public transport continues to be designed for only a selection of society.

Let me give you some examples – my sister was nearly 2 hours late for my mother’s birthday dinner because the bus she had to take would not let her on. There was already a pushchair on there, and buses only have one space for one ‘wheelchair’.

Another example; I purchased concert tickets for my sister in central London. We had to take a route that took three times as long due to most of the underground stations not being accessible for wheelchair users. We finally got onto the underground at a stop she could access, took it a few stops, and once we arrived at our station (where there were promises of there being a ramp after asking three members of staff in numerous stations), there was the ramp, locked up on the platform, with no member of staff in sight. There was a gap so big between the train and the platform that she was unable to get off, and as you know the doors only open for several seconds, so stress levels were high. We had to rely on the kindness of other male passengers to lift her extremely heavy electric wheelchair off the train and onto the platform. This is not only uncomfortable for the kind males, but highly intrusive for a woman to rely on four strangers to lift her.

Another very common example, the electric ramp on the bus did not work so my sister had to wait for the next one.

A final example, my sister has to pay fees that are typically double the price of Uber’s or other taxi services if she would like to get anywhere public transport cannot take her.

These are no ‘tragic’ stories. These are everyday familiarities of people who experience the world as a place that was not designed for them. Transport is one of the multitude of ways our country needs to change, for basic daily inclusivity. As with all aspects of discrimination and oppression, it is time to act.

Please join me in taking steps towards changing the way our public transport is designed.