Community Transport Update

Summer and Autumn 2009 was a particularly busy period for the Community Transport team at Community First.

The team has provided in-depth support to a number of community groups including:

• Holt Community Bus which started running a new weekly service in August mainly for passengers attending the Holt Lunch Club. Passengers aged 60 or over and disabled passengers using this service can use their bus passes for the first time to travel for free. Community First helped the group to set the service up and to start taking bus passes.

• Melksham Community Transport which acquired a new wheelchair accessible community minibus in August. Community First provided support to the group to help them identify and successfully apply for match funding for the new vehicle and to enhance their organisational structure in order to be considered for the funding.

• Wylye Coyotes – an after school club in the Wylye Valley which were provided with support to enable them to procure a new community M.P.V. The club is looking to make the vehicle available for local youth groups, community groups and isolated individuals in addition to meeting their own needs.

• Community Transport South Wiltshire which started running a hugely popular shopper bus service to Waitrose in September following the supermarket’s decision to cease running their own service to the store. Community First provided advice to the group about the funding of the service.

• Chippenham Community Transport which started running a contract service to help people with mental health needs to access skills development support. Community First acted as a broker with the contract supplier regarding issues such as insurance, health and safety, driver training and operational policies. The contract has doubled the groups’ income.

Community First is also now able to offer nationally recognised minibus driver training via the Minibus Driver Assessment Scheme (MiDAS) to any local organisation operating a minibus on a not-for-profit basis.

For further information on any of the above, please contact Liam Tatton-Bennett on 01380 722475.

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Transport fund open for applications

Communities’ charity Community First has over £10,000 in its Community Transport Small Grants fund to give away to local community projects aimed at helping people to get around.

Backed by Wiltshire Council, the fund will provide grants of up to £1000 to any community-based initiative which helps local people without transport to better access places and services which car users can take for granted such as shops, doctors, youth centres, school activities, sports events or community groups.

An example of an idea for a project might be an evening minibus service for young people in a rural area which requires help with the costs involved in getting the service off of the ground.

Projects up to the value of £250 can apply for 100% of the cost of a project from the fund and driver wages can be paid if they are integral to a new service being started up.

Existing community transport schemes such as Link schemes and Community Minibuses wanting to reach new passengers are also invited to apply to the fund.

Examples of projects include:

• Minibus equipment
• Driver training
• Development of new transport services
• Publicity to advertise transport services
• Costs towards mobile services and/or facilities
• Schemes which bring services closer to people (e.g. internet)
• Research of local transport needs
• Contributory costs of recruiting volunteers or staff

Applications would be particularly welcome from projects that benefit vulnerable, disadvantaged or isolated communities.

For more information please click here or for an application form please contact Susanne Pidduck at Community First on (01380) 722475 or e-mail spidduck@communityfirst.org.uk.

As of 06 April 2009, community transport groups across Wiltshire and Swindon have been able to enjoy more freedom and choice about how they provide services within their communities. Significant changes to the legislation which govern how community minibus groups operate are contained in the new Local Transport Act, came into force in the spring of this year.

The new law amended sections 19 and 22 of the Transport Act 1985 and the changes mean that community minibus groups will have the flexibility to undertake certain new activities which were not possible before the new Act was introduced.

The new provisions for community minibus groups contained within the Act include:

• The ability for smaller vehicles (e.g. MPV’s) to be run under the same operating licence which previously could only be used for community minibuses

• Allowing rebates of fuel duty to be paid for mileage covered by smaller vehicles (also previously only applicable to community minibuses)

• Enabling more drivers to be paid

• Making it possible for larger vehicles (e.g. coaches) to be operated

• Widening the scope for bus passes to be taken on community transport services

As a result of the changes brought about by the introduction of the new Act, there are many of new services which can now be run by community minibus groups.

Some examples of the changes that can be made include the following:

• Existing services operated under a Section 19 Small Bus Permit (e.g. shopper bus services) can now be operated under a Section 22 Community Bus Permit. This would enable the general public to be carried which could mean that local bus services could be provided to areas of Wiltshire and Swindon where they are not currently available. Such a service could also mean that community transport services become more integrated with elderly and disabled people using the same vehicles as the general public.

• New Section 22 Community Bus services can be set up to provide public transport for isolated areas either in rural or urban areas (possibly at times of the day or week when large buses are uneconomical).

The additional advantage of running such services is that private hire work can also be undertaken to help finance the running costs involved.

For more information, or for advice about how to go about introducing some of the new transport services outlined above in your community, please call Liam Tatton-Bennett on (01380) 722475 ext. 243.