Community Transport Glasgow is creating an integrated transport hub to assist in addressing the needs of passengers and patients who are vulnerable or living in disadvantaged communities.

Background

Community Transport Glasgow (CTG) is a not-for-profit organisation providing transport solutions to vulnerable communities in Glasgow, East Dunbartonshire and Lanarkshire. Established in 2005, our social enterprise provides relief to communities of Glasgow and the surrounding areas, particularly the East End and West of Glasgow and East Dunbartonshire.

We provide affordable, reliable, accessible transport solutions to our local communities, with services tailored to the needs of people who have difficulty accessing public transport. The demographics of the local communities we serve include older adults, those with a disability or mobility issues and those who are socially excluded, and the two main areas of Glasgow we serve (the East End and Drumchapel) are in the highest deprivation areas in Scotland.

The idea of creating a transport hub will assist in addressing the transport needs of passengers and patients who are vulnerable or live in disadvantaged communities. With an ageing population, reduction in commercial public transport services and the changing ways in which services are delivered, particularly health care moving to centralised acute services and localised primary care services, a more bespoke demand-responsive and community transport service model will be essential within the overall transport mix.

The overall aim is to create an integrated single booking and scheduling point of contact to improve the transport experience of passengers/patients, improve the co-ordination and efficiency of community, demand-responsive and health and social transport provision and assist with meeting the anticipated increasing demand. This will be achieved by making use of the collaborative economy model by working with a number of transport providers, including local authorities, community transport operators and the NHS, to make better use of their transport fleets' downtime.

Why ShareLab Scotland?

The aims of ShareLab in relation to developing the collaborative economy by making use of a digital platform are aligned with what CTG is looking to achieve. This funding will provide us with the initial start-up costs for the establishment of our transport hub, which will assist with staff costs, software costs and capital equipment costs.

As well as the funding, one of the key benefits we see is developing a partnership with Nesta and other key stakeholders as we develop and deliver our project.

Goals

CTG has an ambitious programme of development over the next few years. As well as developing and hopefully expanding the transport hub in the future, we are also looking at moving to a fully electric minibus fleet, expanding our driver training with the development of a learning centre that will also include an employability programme and the establishment of a social enterprise garage.

All of these initiatives will be key components of the overall strategy for CTG in the future in relation to the ongoing development and delivery of transport solutions to meet the communities we serve.

By Graham Dunn, Community Transport Glasgow