What we do

In February 2023, the UK’s first ever National Centre for Accessible Transport (ncat) was established. Funded by the Motability Foundation, over the next seven years the Centre will shape the future by influencing the transport sector to ensure that all future travel systems have accessibility for disabled people at the heart of their creation and delivery.

ncat is set up to be an ‘evidence centre’ so it’s remit is to understand, document and analyse the current transport landscape, by engaging with disabled people to hear about their transport experiences, alongside consulting with transport and industry professionals, to understand from all perspectives what does and doesn’t work, and why, and, moving forward, identify opportunities for change.

three people surrounding a table with a clay display at a transport event at Coventry University

The centre will work in the first phase to generate these insights and evidence. This will, in the second phase, translate into and inform a funding call which will bring together transport innovators to work collaboratively with transport professionals/providers, disabled people, and disabled peoples’ organisations, to develop, test and implement solutions, working always alongside policy makers to influence behaviours. The third phase will look to embed the evidenced learning to enable the adoption and implementation of sustainable change.

Latest projects

RBH TEST

Public Attitudes

Transport and Mobility Accessibility Data Sets

Local Authority Transport Accessibility Mapping

Understanding and Identifying Barriers to Transport

This project will seek to understand the barriers people across the full breadth of disabilities face in their door to door journeys, and will map these against their own particular challenges and needs.

Knowledge bank

This fundamental project will aim to establish the research priorities, and identify knowledge gaps, alongside mapping and understanding the UK disability ecosystem capabilities.

Scaling Innovation

Funding the development and testing of new solutions to improve transport accessibility is a key part of the work of ncat.

Streetscapes and Future Mobility

Streetscapes are the pavements, walkways and roads we use every day. It gives people the freedom to move and access the world. But street furniture, like outdoor dining, bins, bus stops, benches all add obstacles and challenges for disabled people.

Transport Design decision-making

We are keen to find out how transport design decisions are made, particularly why do ‘bad decisions’ get made, again and again, and how can we support ‘good’ decision-making in the future.

View all projects