Accessibility Statement

Website Accessibility Statement

Introduction

The Metrobus website has been created by Passenger who share our common goal of making web based technology accessible to all.

Passenger strive to build universally usable digital websites to be accessible for all. This statement details the accessible design and functionality of the site, our approach to accessible services and our commitment to deliver them.

We adhere to the accepted standards for accessibility and usability although where some guidelines are evolving this may not always be possible. We continue to review our solutions in line with updates to accepted accessibility guidelines and standards.

If you find a part of our site that is difficult to use please contact us so that we can continue to improve our overall accessibility experience.

Design WCAG 2.0 Guidance

Passenger follows the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 for the text sizes, colours and contrast ratios featured in this website. These guidelines are followed and implemented (to the best of our ability) to make web-based content accessible to disabled people; including blindness, low vision, deafness and hearing loss, learning disabilities, limited movement and more.

The baseline text size for buttons and links is set to 14pt bold, which by the WCAG standard is classed as Large Text.

Whilst working within the brand guidelines, we aim to make all contrast ratios for text pass the WCAG AA standard (min. 3.1:1).

The above applies primarily to buttons/links that use the Accent colour of the theme.
WebAIM contrast checker.
Information on WCAG standards and conformance levels

Language

We prioritise simple, plain language throughout. Any instructions or information provided are explicit and succinct to assist users in the reading and understanding of the content, and therefore interact more easily with the website.

Responsive design

Passenger employ a technique called ‘Responsive web design’ for our site. This means that they automatically adapt to the size and format of the screen on which they are being viewed, whether that is a desktop, mobile or tablet device.

This makes for a clear, accessible viewing experience whatever device or platform is currently being used.

Text fonts

By default, our website offers a selection of open fonts that have been designed for ease of reading in a browser. We avoid using fonts that are already associated with device operating systems, such as Roboto, which is closely associated with the Android OS and can, therefore, cause confusion for the user.

Gestures

We try to avoid using hidden gestures for actions. Instead we always use visible buttons, icons and text to make the interface easier for users to interpret and requires less specific knowledge of an operating system.

Accessible text links

We use accessible links, which aims to support content editors in their responsibilities around universal usability.

Custom route colours

Functionality in the Passenger Cloud, our back office system, allows us to add custom route/line colours (text and background colours) to the website in line with our brand guidelines. These combinations are set by us as part of our historic route branding and may not always pass the guideline standards. As much as possible we do actively consider accessibility requirements for colour contrast on our website but at the same time we also need to maintain well established brand and route colours.

Language translation

We support language translation on our website via the Recite me support toolbar at the top right hand of every page.

Images

All content images on our website include alternative text for screenreaders where there are not captions. Some decorative images that provide no practical context do not include alternative text, as this can lead to confusion rather than clarity.

Navigation

Tabbed page navigation “Skip to content” link The “main” content is not usually the first item encountered on a web page. Keyboard and screenreader users generally must navigate a long list of elements before arriving at the main content. This is particularly difficult for users with some forms of motor disabilities.

The “Skip to content” link on our website enables the user to get to the information they need quickly and easily. ARIA labels on Navigation/Dropdowns/Tabs. Where HTML elements do not already provide context, ARIA labels, or navigation landmarks, provide a way to identify groups (e.g.) lists of links that are intended to be used for website or page content navigation, thus making those links more easily identifiable and accessible.

Recite Me

Recite Me is a Cloud-based web accessibility solution which allows customers to customise our website in a way that works best for them.
This includes reading, styling, translation and a screen reader. The link for this is positioned in the top right hand corner of the website to make it easily accessible and is available on every page as well as at the bottom of the website.

Our approach

Our aim has always been, to provide accessible services for all our customers. We've made some great progress, but we realise there’s still more to do.
Our approach to accessibility has evolved into creating innovative products and services on and off our buses. We aim to create products and services that are accessible for everyone. It’s not just meeting the needs of disabled customers; everyone can benefit from new ideas and inclusive design.

Our online services

Our website is designed with everyone in mind. Information on our website is available 24-7 and updated regularly. We try to reduce the number of clicks to access information and lay the parent and child pages out in a consistent and easy to read way with contrasting colours and alternative text for images.

Our website has been designed by Passenger who have ensured they have followed the WCAG AA standard so that the site is easy to for everyone to see, hear, understand and use. This includes ensuring our digital services are compatible with assistive technologies like screen readers or magnification. Recite Me is a tool that is accessible on every page of our website and provides tools for reading, styling and translation.

We also know that sometimes telephone and face-to-face is the preferred option, which is why we have a customer services team, accessible travel shops in easy to reach locations across the areas we operate in and an accessibility team at hand to help with your bus travel.

We also provide, on request, Large Print information as well as audio CD’s and Braille information for anyone preferring these channels.

Our commitment

Our ethos is Accessible travel for all and we recognise in order to achieve this we must commit to continually improving the accessible features on our buses, training of our colleagues and the customer services we provide. An important tool for everyone is having access to high quality bus information that we provide in large print and braille as well as online.

We do this by working with disability groups and our customers in order to ensure our services are more accessible for all

For our website we will:

Develop tools and services that have taken accessibility needs and requirements into consideration from the start.

Make ongoing changes to continually improve our tools and services.
Regularly test our tools and services with disabled people.
Influence our suppliers – we only want to work with organisations that share our commitment to accessibility.
Listen to our customers to find out how we can improve what we currently do, and what else we can do to make our services more accessible and easy to use.
We welcome feedback on how we’re doing and what more we can do.

Continuous improvement

This is an evolving document, which will be updated as we learn more and because Passenger’s products continue to improve in response to the needs of disabled customers. We will work with Passenger to continue to implement ideas and improvements based on the needs of our customers under a continuous improvement programme of development. We work closely with Passenger to implement these changes to continually improve the customer experience.

Useful links

To learn more about web accessibility visit: