BRIGHTON and Hove has one of the lowest car ownership rates in the UK.

Fortunately, this is largely offset by the fact that we have a good bus service in the city.

Many people, especially disabled people, are dependent on public transport and that includes buses.

The question of access to our transport services is of great interest to disabled people, not only those with physical disabilities but also those with sensory problems – defective sight and/or hearing.

Brighton and Hove Buses has implemented improvements on its buses to meet the requirements of disabled people. This is true of many other transport services... but not all yet!

The Bus Services Bill is making its way through Parliament and there’s every chance that it will be enacted.

One of the provisions is that all new buses should have audio-visual information onboard.

I’m not sure whether this will apply to existing buses but of course in due course that will happen.

Brighton and Hove Buses has excellent on-board audio-visual displays.

The announcements are clear and the letters on the visual display are large and provide good contrast to the background.

There is an event set up by a small charity called Disabled Access Day running from March 10 to 12.

It is publicising the Bus Services Bill and similar measures.

Brighton and Hove Buses isparticipating enthusiastically in this enterprise.

One of the things the company is doing in this event is offering free travel to companions of those with Disabled Discretionary Cards.

However, not all in the garden is lovely!

Stagecoach, which runs the 700 service from Brighton to Portsmouth, has no audio-visual information on its buses.

I have been nagging them.

However my five emails to them in the last three weeks have produced only auto-replies promising a reply “in due course”, whatever that means.

Peter Kyle, the MP for Hove, has written to Stagecoach asking them, in effect, to pull their socks up.

The 700 route runs right through his constituency.

I would ask all to support the Bus Services Bill.

How can we do this?

Well we could emulate the famous US civil rights activist Rosa Parks who stood (or rather sat) her ground to enforce her stubborn local bus company to behave decently.

Her name has gone down in history.

We might have some budding new Rosa Parks out there!

Colin Bennett, Lansdowne Place, Hove