Accessibility

Accessible ticket options

If you have difficulty using public transport due to age, disability, illness, or lack of confidence, the Bridge Card can help.

• The card lets bus, Metro, and ferry staff know you may need extra support while travelling.
• No registration is required. Simply carry the card and show it to staff when needed.
• Please note that the card does not provide concessionary or discounted fares.

Find out more about the Bridge Card.

Questions about accessibility or safety when travelling by rail?

Contact your travel operator to ensure a safe and seamless journey. Use the links below to find the right support:

• CrossCountry
• Grand Central
• LNER
• Lumo
• National Rail
• Northern
• TransPennine Express

Accessibility statement

Nexus and The North East Combined Authority are committed to making its websites accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (external website) (‘the Accessibility Regulations’)

Compliance status

The websites are partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.

Travel North East website

Non-accessible content  

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.

(a) Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Documents 

Not all our documents are fully accessible.

• Text can be read by screen readers
• Appropriate use of hierarchical, nested headers
• PDF content tagged and in the correct order within the tag tree
• Alt-text on images

Some PDFS are not fully accessible, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content) and WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.5 (Multiple Ways).

For inaccessible PDFs, we ask content authors to provide a basic plain-text alternative, preferably in Open Document (ODT) or Microsoft Word format.

Inaccessible aspects of some of our documents include:

• Document not tagged, failing WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 Info and relationships
• Document does not have page title, failing WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.2 Page Titled
• Font size smaller than 12pt, failing WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.4 Resize text
• Reading order (tag tree) not in right order, failing WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.2 Meaningful Sequence, 2.1.1 Keyboard, 2.4.3 Focus order
• Incorrect tags used (e.g. p-tags instead of list tags), failing WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 Info and relationships
  Table of Contents tag not used, failing WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 Info and relationships
• Tables with irregular table rows, empty or merged cells, failing WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 Non-text Content
• Tables with header rows defined but scope not defined, failing WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 Info and relationships
• Links without alt-text, failing WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 Non-text content, 2.4.4 Link purpose and 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value.
• Empty paragraph tags, failing WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 Info and relationships.
• Path objects not tagged, failing WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 Info and relationships
• Complex diagrams not explained in body text, failing WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 Info and relationships
  Alt-text too long, failing WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 Non-text content

Where documents are not in the format that you need, you can request an alternative by emailing us here.

We plan to add text alternatives for all images and bookmarks to PDFs by September 2026. When we add new PDFs, we’ll ensure they meet accessibility standards.

iFrames 

Some iFrames are missing the ‘title’ attribute. This may make it difficult for people to know what content is contained in the iFrame before you interact with it, especially when using a screen reader.

Some iFrames have a title attribute but not a very meaningful one, for example title=“blank”.
This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.1 Bypass Blocks, and 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value.

Images  

Some images do not have a text alternative, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content).

We plan to add text alternatives for all images by September 2026. When we publish new content, we’ll make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.

Links  

Not all links use meaningful link text and/or specify whether the link goes to an external website or opens a new tab or window. This may make it difficult for people to know where a link is going to and could open a new tab or window without you knowing before you click it.

This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 Non-text content, 2.4.4 Link purpose and 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value.

Video 

The accessibility of embedded video content is dependent on the standards reached by the third-party provider, for example YouTube. Where possible we make use of features such as subtitles, transcripts and captions to ensure our content is accessible. Some of our older videos that are within scope of the guidelines do not have subtitles, however our more recent ones do.

Some of our videos have subtitles that have been automatically generated and have not been reviewed by a human, which can lead to some errors in translation.

Some of our videos have meaningful visual content (e.g. animated text), but no audio track, description or transcript. Some of our videos have meaningful audio content (e.g. music or sound effects), but no captions.

This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.1 Audio only and video only (prerecorded), 1.2.2 Captions (Prerecorded), 1.2.3 Audio Description or Media Alternative (Prerecorded), and 1.2.5 Audio Description (Prerecorded).

The annual statement of accounts documents are not accessible and a claim of disproportionate burden is in place. The annual statement contains some tables that have been placed as images and are so not accessible. Other changes relating to alt-text, reformatting e.g. font, spacing have been actioned and are accessible.

(b) The content is not within the scope of accessibility regulations PDFs and other documents  

The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services. Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

Live video  

We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

Visual Map  

The Visual Map we use for some of our reporting is not keyboard accessible. There is a sidebar (text alternative) which allows searching and navigation capabilities reflecting the same functionality as the map. The Map is a visual way to show the locations, these are listed in the sidebar. The accessibility regulations do not require maps to be accessible if essential information is provided.

Regional Journey Planner

Non-accessible content  

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.

(a) Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Documents 

Not all our documents are fully accessible.

• Text can be read by screen readers
• Appropriate use of hierarchical, nested headers
• PDF content tagged and in the correct order within the tag tree
• Alt-text on images

Some PDFS are not fully accessible, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content) and WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.5 (Multiple Ways).

Page structure

There is a hidden ‘done’ button to close a selector, which will cause confusion for sighted non-mouse users.

Colour contrast

Some text does not meet minimum contrast requirements, and the visible focus indicator is unclear on the active main menu item.

Focus order

There are two areas where the keyboard focus behaviour is incorrect after a user action causes new content to appear.

Name, role and state of interactive elements

Some minor interactive elements are missing clear programmatic labels, and on the timetable page there is no indication of any content changing when ‘earlier’ and ‘later’ buttons are used.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We are reviewing the issues identified in our most recent accessibility audit and are working with our development and content teams to prioritise and implement improvements.

Accessibility will be considered as part of all future content updates and feature development.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 8 April 2026:

The TNE website was last tested in May 2026.  The test was carried out by our website provider and the tools used were:

• Accessibe – web accessibility solution designed to make websites accessible to people with disabilities, complying with standards such as WCAG 22.1/2.2, ADA and Section 508
• Axe DevTools – developer-centric toolset of unit testing and integration testing capabilities designed to facilitate accessibility at the earliest stages of web development

The Regional journey planner was last tested in March 2026.  The test was carried out by Webusability and the tools used were:

WCAG 2.2 Guidelines using the WCAG Evaluation Methodology.  This involved exploration of the website using assistive technologies: JAWS and NVDA screen readers; ZoomText, Windows magnifier and native browser screen magnifiers and speech recognition software.  The website was also inspected for visual issues and HTML, CSS and ARIA mark-up issues.