Travel accessibility

Our accessible travel section includes information on public transport accessibility for bus, tram and train. If there is any information which is missing, please let us know by giving feedback. If there is additional information that you require, please contact us.

TfGM also promote travel training as part of accessible transport for everyone living or working in Greater Manchester.

Visit the travel training page for more information.

Website accessibility

We want this website to be easy to use, and as accessible as possible for people using different types of computer systems or other devices.

An accessible website doesn't exclude anyone because they have a visual impairment or another disability, or because they are older, or because they have a slow internet connection of lack the latest software.

It means that anyone can understand it, navigate around it, contribute to it and use its interactive services.

The site avoids techniques that need technical know-how to use. It concentrates on good, solid information written in plain language, presented clearly, and easy to navigate around.

Meeting accessibility standards

Websites are graded by a set of internationally-recognised accessibility standards. To reach a standard a web page must meet a list of conditions. The more conditions it meets, the more likely the page is to be easily used by all customers, including those with a visual impairment or physical disability.

Examples include:

• providing text alternatives to visual content like pictures and diagrams
• not relying on colour alone to distinguish between two elements
• allowing the user to change the size of the text
• ensuring the site works equally well on all devices
• providing clear navigation
• presenting readable and understandable content

The gradings are:

• 'no grading' for pages that don't reach a minimum standard of accessibility
• 'A' grading for pages that have some accessibility
• AA for pages that meet most accessibility criteria
• AAA for pages that are fully accessible

We are working on improving our website and its accessibility all the time and try to ensure that every page on our website meets AA standard.

The standards are set by The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

See more about web accessibility on the W3C web accessibility initiative website

Find out how to use web accessibility features to make the most of this website: My web, my way (BBC website).

Disability Design Reference Group (DDRG)

As a large-scale public provider, Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) must, by law, anticipate the requirements of disabled people, and make reasonable adjustments so that they can use our services. To help us do this most effectively, we set up the Disability Design Reference Group (DDRG) in 2008 to embed accessibility into everything we do.

The DDRG is coordinated by the disabled people's organisation, Breakthrough UK, and includes members with a range of impairments, people from various ethnic backgrounds and of people of different ages. It meets around once a month with project managers, designers, architects, planners and transport professionals.

It is actively involved in transport-improvement projects like the £1.5 billion expansion and enhancement of the Metrolink tram system. It plays a vital role in offering solution driven approaches in relation to the design and build of a range of projects and initiatives. It has advised on, and influenced, a wide range of features to improve the journey experience, for example, strong colour-contrasting infrastructure, clear signage, audio information, and additional corner posts and tapping rails.

The DDRG has been involved in the design and functionality of our new website too, helping us keep pages customer-focused and accessible to all. The group is seen as an example of consultation related best practice by the Equality and Human Rights Commission and we're keen to develop its methods into national guidance so that disabled passengers across the country will enjoy travel as much as the people of Greater Manchester.