IMPROVING SERVICES FOR LOCAL COMMUNITY TRANSPORT PROVIDERS
Project manager:
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Robin Pointon
Project Client:
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Reaching People
Nature of Business:
Reaching People brings together frontline delivery partners from the voluntary and community sector in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. Working together, they develop and provide high quality contract delivery, business and funding opportunities in fields that include health and wellbeing, homelessness, advice and guidance, education and training, and community services.
Challenge
What was the primary challenge or set of challenges facing the client? What was the business case for change?
Reaching People commissioned a comprehensive study of the key community transport providers in Leicester to identify opportunities and benefits for a more co-ordinated provision of community transport in Leicester.
What special value did Go Travel Solutions bring?
Go Travel Solutions was commissioned by the Reaching People partnership to undertake the feasibility study. The company has established relationships with local stakeholders, experience of working with groups with specific access needs and a commitment to enhancing social value through projects based on the company’s social enterprise ethic.
Who were the stakeholders?
The study was undertaken with eight key community transport providers/users in Leicester including: Age UK Leicestershire and Rutland; West Indian Senior Citizens Project; Community Action Partnership; Action Homeless Leicester; LASS/Well for Living; Confederation of Indian Organisations (UK); Vista; and Leicester City Council (Access bus).
Solutions
How the client identified a potential solution, why they chose to work with Go Travel Solutions and what solution was delivered. How did this solution address the challenge?
The objective of the feasibility study was to identify the opportunities for a more co-ordinated provision of community transport in the city of Leicester by talking to those currently providing community transport, the users and those funding the current provision.
The study was about finding new and innovative ways to help people access services and increase engagement with their local communities, thereby improving wellbeing by reducing social isolation.
Benefits
The survey identified five key recommendations within its ‘Achieving More With Less’ report to develop and improve local services through more effective collaboration:
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Sharing journeys
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Sharing vehicles
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Sharing skills
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Sharing recruitment
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Sharing as a network
Go Travel Solutions secured pledges from seven of the local community transport providers/users. These were made to the five recommendations of the report (as stated above).
The aim of the recommendations was to improve co-ordination of the services that community transport providers and community groups provide for the hundreds of people who use the services each year in the city.
It is planned that the study will help to inform the development of a more cost-effective, efficient, integrated solution for transport in the community and specifically for Leicester. It will help to ensure that vital services will continue to be delivered while also driving out the required efficiencies to acknowledge the difficulties that providers face in a changing funding landscape.
Client testimonial
“We love this report. It looks at how we can achieve more with less and comes up with really practical solutions. Our challenge now is in taking the next step and implementing the recommendations so that we can support people from across the communities of Leicester even better.”