I just have a question this evening. A few weeks ago John and I went for a walk, where we actually ended up outside Greater London. We were fine, of course, and just got a bus back. I couldn’t help noticing, though, that the bus had a manual ramp which the driver had to get out and flip for me. In London I’m used to bus ramps whizzing out mechanically, so I was slightly surprised to see ramps outside the capital still operate the old way. I couldn’t help being reminded of when I was living in Cheshire, and having to persuade extremely reluctant bus drivers to get out of their cabs and unfold the ramp whenever I wanted to get on a bus.

I’m now curious: what’s it like in the UK’s other large towns and cities ? Does anyone know whether the bus ramps in Manchester, Birmingham or Liverpool are manual or automatic? What’s the situation like up in Scotland? As someone who relies on ramps to get just about anywhere, as well as someone who is becoming increasingly concerned about the gap between London and the rest of the country in terms of infrastructure, I’d be very interested in getting an answer. While London still has a very long way to go, it’s public transport system nonetheless seems leagues ahead the rest of the country in terms of accessibility. If busses elsewhere in the country, especially in other large towns and cities, still don’t have decent, accessible transport system, then things are more dire than I thought.