Transport for London Urges Commuters to Offer Up Seats

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25 April 2022

Transport for London is encouraging people to give up their seats to people who may need them to mark Priority Seating Week.  

Transport for London (TfL) is running a series of events to raise awareness of priority seats across the public transport network, which are designed to make travelling easier and more comfortable for people with a range of conditions. 

This coincides with the fifth anniversary of TfL’s Please Offer Me A Seat badge with almost 100,000 issued to disabled people and those with invisible conditions since its launch in 2017.

The badge was created to help more people travel and access London by enabling those who have less obvious accessibility requirements to get a seat on public transport.

“The badge is so important to me personally, because when somebody looks up, sees I need to sit down and offers me their seat, I can relax and not worry about being injured and unable to live a full life for several months - just because I couldn’t get a seat on the bus, train or tube and had to stand up."

–Amanda Jacobs

Travel Kind Campaign

TfL’s  “Travel Kind” campaign reminds people to them to look up and offer their seats to others who might need it more than them.

Clips on TfL’s social media channels will highlight some of the different reasons why people wear a Please Offer me a Seat badge and encourage people to look up and offer their seat, whether they are in a priority seat or not.

TfL’s Independent Disability Advisory Group (IDAG) will also be hosting several live streams on Instagram throughout the week to discuss #TravelKind and #LookUp behaviours on the network including priority wheelchair spaces.  

People will also be encouraged to visit a stationary electric bus at Stratford City Bus Station and speak to a bus driver to familiarise themselves with using the bus again as well as the new route 63 bus design.

TfL recently introduced new buses to the north-south route 63 that have a range of innovative features including new covers for the priority seats with a contrasting colour scheme to help differentiate them from other seats for passengers who are less able to stand. 

Helping Fellow Commuters With Invisible Disabilities

Amanda Jacobs, who has various musculoskeletal conditions, said: “The ‘Please offer me a seat badge’ helps fellow commuters realise that people such as myself may need to sit down on public transport, when it might not otherwise be obvious to them, because you can’t see pain, fatigue and various illnesses or conditions. 

“It means that people who need to sit down don’t have to verbally ask their fellow passengers if they could have their seat, which not everybody may be able to do physically, whilst other people don’t always feel brave enough to ask.

“The badge is so important to me personally, because when somebody looks up, sees I need to sit down and offers me their seat, I can relax and not worry about being injured and unable to live a full life for several months - just because I couldn’t get a seat on the bus, train or tube and had to stand up.  Such a relatively small action by a fellow passenger respecting my needs can therefore have a hugely beneficial influence on my life for months to come.”

Picture: a photograph of one of TfL’s new covers for the priority seats with a contrasting colour scheme to help differentiate them from other seats. Image Credit: TfL

Article written by Ella Tansley | Published 25 April 2022

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