Response to interpellation 2025/26:211 on the right to transport services for persons with disabilities
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
KD considers that the government takes reports on stricter requirements for transport services seriously 1 2 3. KD argues that the contracting authorities are responsible for how the law is interpreted 1 2 3 and that municipalities and regions are responsible for complying with the UN Convention 3. KD considers that a renewed analysis from Transportstyrelsen is needed to map out differences in application 2 4 and that this assignment complements the Trafikanalys investigation 3. V argues that all information is already present in the Trafikanalys investigation from 2023 5 6 and criticizes the government for passivity 5 6. V advocates for a door-to-door perspective 5 6.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Infrastruktur- och bostadsministern Andreas Carlson (KD)
Madam Speaker! I would first like to thank you for the adjournment of the House's meeting. It made it possible for me to give this answer today.
Nadja Awad has asked the Minister for Social Services what measures she and the government intend to take to ensure that persons with disabilities are entitled to transport services, and whether she and the government intend to make the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities into law. The interpellation has been submitted to me.
During the parliamentary term, I have answered several written questions and interpellations from Members of Parliament regarding the municipal and regional authorities' assessment of the right to transport services (färdtjänst). In the framework law (Act 1997:736 on transport services) which regulates the right to transport services, it is stated that permission for transport services shall be granted to those who, due to functional impairments that are not only temporary, have significant difficulties moving on their own or traveling by public transport. Permission for transport services is assessed according to the same law by municipalities or, where applicable, by the regional public transport authority.
The Government takes seriously the reports that have been received, which show that the requirements for granting permits for transport services for certain groups have been tightened without any change in the law having occurred. Only the responsible authorities can answer how certain authorities can make the interpretation that, for example, persons with visual impairments do not have disabilities that involve substantial difficulties in moving around on their own. Municipalities and regions are also responsible for living up to the provisions in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
The Government has not made a decision to incorporate the current UN convention into Swedish law. Sweden has, however, received recommendations regarding incorporation from the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. These recommendations are currently being prepared in the Government Offices. The Agency for Participation has also received a specific assignment linked to the recommendations, which will constitute an important part of the continued preparation.
Nadja Awad (V)
Madam Speaker! I find it a bit funny that the minister was late to his own debate. This is the minister who is responsible for Swedish trains across the entire country. They have worse punctuality than the trains in Ukraine.
I now return to the subject of the debate, Madam Speaker.
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson can travel wherever he wants in Sweden. He can take the official car to get to work, fly to the west coast to participate in a conference, rent a yacht one summer evening with his family, or even take a train or bus to visit a preschool or a nursing home. My main point is that he has the freedom to go everywhere in Sweden if he wants to.
However, he, the government, or the Sweden Democrats do not want people with disabilities to have that freedom. His Löfdahl in Ulricehamn is visually impaired. He has finally, after a year of being unemployed, received a trial employment in Skara, but he has difficulty getting there. Despite being granted travel services, he does not receive work-related travel from the municipality. Instead, he has to travel by public transport for at least four hours a day, with bus transfers that are complicated by his visual impairment. Now, when unemployment is at a record high, he does not know if he can keep the job.
Mikael Haraldsson had to cancel his Midsummer plans when the trip from Malmö to Helsingborg and back was going to cost over a thousand kronor.
Lisbeth Olin does not know how she will afford to go and shop – in Malmö, the transport service is, in fact, three times as expensive.
Ystad resident Benny Rosdahl has difficulty seeing and difficulty walking. After 15 years, Skånetrafiken suddenly decided that he is no longer entitled to special transport services. Since he lost the special transport service, he no longer travels to Fontänhuset in Malmö, where he otherwise participated in social activities every week. He says: Now I am more of a homebody, and I do not like it.
People with disabilities lose their jobs, become poorer and cannot go on vacation or participate in social activities in Ulf Kristersson's and Jimmie Åkesson's Sweden. Visually impaired people should not have to risk their lives to be able to move around in society.
Madam Speaker! I understand that all the government's ministers and their billionaire and multi-millionaire friends are not affected by these problems. I also understand that one would rather turn to the high-income earners, who take the plane, the luxury yacht, or the car. But the transport service (färdtjänsten) does not work, and it is the government that is ultimately responsible for the fact that it does not work across the entire country. I want to hope that the government and the Sverigedemokraterna think it is a problem that persons with disabilities are forced to live in lack of freedom, isolation, and poverty when the transport service is no longer available to them or when it is too expensive.
The legislation is broken, the court practice is problematic, and the municipalities and regions are underfunded. The question is currently on the government's table. The agency Trafikanalys has already proposed that the law be clarified, among other things by basing it on a door-to-door perspective, i.e., the individual's actual ability to travel the entire way independently. That investigation has been gathering dust with the government for almost three years without action. I do not think this government should place the responsibility on anyone else.
Does the government intend to pick up and dust off the Trafikanalys investigation to ensure that everyone receives the transport service they are entitled to and that it is affordable?
Infrastruktur- och bostadsministern Andreas Carlson (KD)
Madam Speaker! I already said in my first contribution that the government takes seriously the reports that have been received, which show that the requirements for granting permits for transport services for certain groups have been tightened without any change in the law having occurred.
At the same time – and Nadja Awad knows this – it is the regional and municipal authorities who have the responsibility. Only the responsible authorities can answer how they, for example, can make the interpretation that a person with a visual impairment does not have a disability that involves significant difficulties in moving around on their own.
The report that the member refers to was produced during the pandemic and presented shortly thereafter. After looking at the reports that have come out after the aforementioned one, and at Trafikanalys's own statistics, I can state that the number of special transport permits per inhabitant in 2024 was at approximately the same level as before the pandemic. There was therefore a clear decline in both the number of permits and the number of special transport journeys during the pandemic, and it is therefore not possible to rule out a pandemic effect.
We view, as said, the reports that have been received seriously. In order to obtain a significantly better basis, we have tasked the Transport Agency with identifying differences in application between the different licensing authorities; we decided on this last week.
We can already state that there are differences. In KD-led Örebro County, the number of transport service permits per inhabitant has increased by 24 percent compared to before the pandemic. At the same time, the transport service permits per inhabitant have decreased by almost 16 percent in Västerbotten, where Vänsterpartiet is part of the governing coalition. I do not think we should make this a partisan issue.
The Government takes the reports that have been received seriously. We believe it is up to the primary authorities to respond on how they can implement this interpretation. In order for us to obtain a better basis that is updated based on how things look today, Transportstyrelsen, as I explained, has been commissioned to investigate differences regarding which criteria are applied during the granting of permits. This basis will become an important support for the responsible authorities in the work of analyzing how they can produce better guidelines for decisions, so that everyone who is in need of transport services also receives it.
Nadja Awad (V)
Madam Speaker! The Minister referred to the regional authorities and to them interpreting the law incorrectly. That is entirely correct.
Based on current case law, we have seen a development where even if one is granted a transport service permit, one might not be able to use it in the way one wants, and some do not even receive a transport service permit, regardless of whether it is a blue-brown or red-green region or perhaps a mixture of more party colors.
The Minister claims that there is not enough information on what the situation looks like across the country and what changes are needed in both law and funding. But we already have this information, as we received it when Trafikanalys presented its investigation almost three years ago. The Government's decision to bury the special transport service in yet another investigation is a great disappointment, because it means that people with disabilities, for example visual impairments, need to wait again for their right to special transport service so that they, just like everyone else, can get to work, studies, and leisure activities. Why should they have to wait another year when we already know what the problem is and how we can solve it?
Vänsterpartiet does not think that the transport service (färdtjänst) should be buried in another investigation, because that investigation is not needed. Why was it not needed? Yes, because the investigation we already have indicates that case law has developed in a way that does not reflect the intentions of the law. The Act on transport service states that the service provided shall be of good quality, but in the legislation, it is not specified further what this means. At the same time, the country's licensing authorities have different ambitions and economic conditions when it comes to granting transport service permits and what it is possible to use the transport service for. Parallels are also drawn to how public transport functions, which is significant for how and when the individual is allowed to travel.
In summary, the interpretation of the law has led to the fact that the transport service (färdtjänst) is not functioning. We know this through the investigation from 2023. Therefore, Trafikanalys proposes a clarification of the criteria in the legislation for transport service permits. They propose that the law should be clarified so that it is based on what I mentioned initially, namely the door-to-door perspective, i.e., the individual's actual ability to travel the entire way independently.
This proposal has been subject to preparation at the Ministry of Rural Affairs and Infrastructure for almost three years. But Minister Andreas Carlson thinks that another year of investigation is a good measure. This passivity forces even more visually impaired people into isolation and confinement, and they lose their jobs when they cannot get there.
Why does one choose to appoint a new inquiry instead of acting here and now? One already has all the information in the inquiry from 2023.
Infrastruktur- och bostadsministern Andreas Carlson (KD)
Madam Speaker! The simple answer is that much more information has emerged since then. A report that arrived in 2024, i.e., after the Trafikanalys investigation, shows that the number of special transport permits is back at approximately the same level as before the pandemic, but that in, for example, Örebro county, they have increased by 24 percent compared to before the pandemic. This illustrates that there are differences that need to be mapped. Nadja Awad says that all information already exists, but in Västerbotten, where Vänsterpartiet is part of the government, the permits have decreased by almost 16 percent. This highlights that we need a basis that clarifies the differences we see seriously so that the measures subsequently implemented will hit the problems that people encounter.
The traffic analysis measurement point was during the pandemic, and since then, the transport service permits have increased. It is therefore reasonable to conduct a renewed analysis of how things look in different parts of the country so that the measures taken hit the problems, which both Nadja Awad and I consider need to be solved, in a more purposeful way. At the same time, there is nothing today that prevents regions, for example KD-led Örebro County, from being more generous. It is therefore this that we want to map out in the analysis that Transportstyrelsen has been given the government's mandate to carry out.
Nadja Awad (V)
Madam Speaker! This is about how, regardless of the region, people with disabilities are not being granted the right to travel services. We do not need more information on that, because all information already exists. We see it in the news headlines, and it is in the investigation from 2023. Furthermore, the Agency for Participation conducts an annual follow-up on disability policy. There, it is stated that the travel service does not work, something that people with disabilities can attest to.
We need a solution here and now, and as stated, all the information already exists. If Transportstyrelsen were to conclude the same thing as the investigation, another year has passed without anything being done. The government is extremely passive when it comes to ensuring that people with disabilities are granted the same living conditions as everyone else. This applies not only to special transport services but also to LSS, assistive devices, the labor market, and the right to sign language as a mother tongue. Across a number of societal sectors, we see a laziness from the government regarding people with disabilities. Absolutely nothing is being done.
Trafikanalys argues that the law is interpreted incorrectly in case law and that the law therefore needs to be clarified so that it is based on a door-to-door perspective. Is the government and the minister prepared to pick up the investigation here and now to proceed with the proposal? Or has one gotten stuck in that more information is needed? Yes or no?
Infrastruktur- och bostadsministern Andreas Carlson (KD)
Madam Speaker! We continue to prepare the Trafikanalys investigation and proposal. We believe that our assignment to Transportstyrelsen can complement this preparation, and therefore we have given Transportstyrelsen this assignment.
I would take the member's criticism even more seriously if it were not the case that the transport service permits have decreased by almost 16 percent in one of the few municipalities where Vänsterpartiet is part of the governing coalition, Västerbotten.
It is important to get to the bottom of the differences that exist and that we get a good basis so that those who are in need of transport services also receive it.
Making this a polemical and partisan issue and accusing the government of laziness, while simultaneously being involved in governing a region where transport service permits are decreasing, does not serve those who are in need of transport services.
Madam Speaker! I have been clear that the government takes seriously the reports that have been received, which show that the requirements for granting permits for certain groups have been tightened without any change in the law having occurred. I therefore repeat what I said in my response: Only responsible principals can answer how certain principals can make the interpretation that, for example, persons with visual impairments do not have disabilities that involve significant difficulties in moving around on their own. Municipalities and regions – which have the responsibility for travel services – are also responsible for living up to the provisions in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
The Government will continue to follow this, and we have given the Transport Agency an important assignment so that those who are entitled to travel services also receive them.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.