Transport Resource Unit Newsletter March 2010

The Unit's work programme for 2010/11 has been approved by GMITA.  Some headline projects include:

• supporting the development of CT in Tameside working with the Tameside Transport Group
• establishing the scale of volunteer car / driver scheme operation within Greater Manchester to identify ‘hidden’ operations and to recommend support or other interventions
• investigating barriers to transport experienced by new and recent entrants to the UK, and people with mental health issues / learning difficulties
• delivery of a health transport project in Rochdale, building on the expected outcomes of the current pilot
• ensuring the voice of the voluntary and community sector is heard in the development of Greater Manchester's Local Transport Plan (LTP3), and other consultations on transport proposals
• Mapping the various ways groups and individuals can raise issues about public transport in the districts, and how these views can be fed to the GMITA and GMPTE.

For further details on these or the rest of the work programme contact David using the details below.

Call for contributions to workshop on transport challenges facing the City Region (by 25/03/10)

TRU has been asked to take part in a workshop which will be a 'sounding board' for the Department for Transport's 'Access to Manchester' study, which will consider the transport challenges faced by the Greater Manchester city region and will advise on funding requirements for transport investment in medium and long term.  While this study will focus on issues facing the national transport network, it will also consider challenges of regional and sub-regional importance.    

TRU hopes to help represent the voice of the community and voluntary sector at the event, and would like to hear from members what they feel are the key issues in this area going forward. 

Please email david.campbell@gmcvo.org.uk by close of play Thursday 25th of March with any issues or themes you think should be raised at this meeting.  These should be about transport issues that affect parts of / communities within Greater Manchester, or Greater Manchester as a whole, or are of regional or national importance. 

 Community Transport News

 - keeping Greater Manchester connected.

Greater Manchester Community Transport Operators Forum, or GMCTOF ('The CT Forum') have reported on the evaluation of their activity and its impact in 2008/09, proving how they have been helping communities to stay connected to jobs, education and essential public services, and making a direct contribution to the local economy.

• Community Transport provided over 800,000 passenger trips to Greater Manchester residents, covering nearly 3 million km - up from 537,237 trips / 2.8km in the previous year
• Over one third (36%) of individual trips by Community Transport were made to access employment, another third (32%) were made to access education, and one fifth (20%) were made accessing healthcare services
• The sector created or maintained 134 full time jobs (up 31% on the previous year)
• CT operators trained over 450 drivers (paid employees and volunteers) to nationally recognised MiDAS standards, in a sector where there are acknowledged skills shortages
• Even assuming a load factor of 100% or 4 passengers in a car (likely to be optimistic), and a load factor of 75% or 8 passengers (conservative) for a CT vehicle, each journey in a CT vehicle could result in a saving of at least one car journey. With almost 250,000 group trips in 2008/09, CT could have saved over 31,000 car journeys in Greater Manchester.

Neil Foley, Chair of the CT Forum told us “In these difficult times all of the Community Transport operators maintain their focus on local needs. As not for profit organisations they are uniquely placed to help communities and it is their close relationships and focus on partnership working that makes the sector stand out as a valuable resource whose contribution should not be underestimated”.

The report 'The Impact of Community Transport in Greater Manchester 2008-09' can be found here: http://www.manchesterctforum.org.uk/download_files/Final_Report_mon_eval...

For further information on the wider work of the Forum and the Community Transport sector in Greater Manchester visit here: http://www.manchesterctforum.org.uk/index.htm

- getting patients to their appointments.

Heywood New Heart Community Transport is running a 10 week pilot project with a cluster of GP practices and patient transport in Rochdale.  The project is establishing how the CT operator can help over 50s patients who cannot or have difficulty using public transport get to 'out of hours' appointments.  The service is already proving popular, with the number of trips provided exceeding targets, and early indications show flexibility, efficiency and cost saving benefits.  The CT Forum will be reporting on the full results of the pilot later in the year.

- Quality Standards published

The Quality Framework, to support the development of a professional and accountable CT sector, developed by and for Greater Manchester's CT Sector, is now available.

Accreditation to the quality standards demonstrates to current and potential partners that an Operator meets auditable standards in seven key areas of administration and service delivery.

For more information, see http://www.manchesterctforum.org.uk/Quality.html

 - Reaching out to the Voluntary sector

Greater Manchester’s community transport sector received a big boost last year, securing funding from the National Lottery’s ‘Awards for All’ programme.

The ‘Vehicles for Success’ project, enables local community transport operators to build better links with voluntary and community groups in order to provide training and support to meet their transport needs. Information about help for voluntary groups operating their own vehicles has been produced, along with the opportunity to join the Forum as an associate member.

The funding has also paid for the creation of a database of voluntary groups that hold their own vehicles, with the aim of enabling more groups to share their vehicles with others.

Neil Foley, Chair of the Greater Manchester Community Transport Forum said, “This is a timely boost for the sector as we are aware of groups that have specific transport needs and this will give us the resources to reach out to them. The database of vehicle owning groups could enable some groups to make better use of budgets and generate additional income, which I’m sure will be very welcome in these tough times. The project should also help to raise the profile of the good work being carried out by community transport operators across Greater Manchester".

For further information see http://www.manchesterctforum.org.uk/news.html

What's next for Manchester City Region? debate 13/04/10.

This public debate is a chance for people to air their views on issues affecting the Manchester city region. In recent decades there have been some high profile achievements in the Manchester city region.  The keynote speaker is Will Hutton of the Work Foundation, while other contributors include Caroline Downey of MERCi and David Campbell from GMCVO’s Transport Resource Unit.

For further details see here http://www.gmcvo.org.uk/node/1943