It’s Community Transport Week, the time of year where CT operators across the country celebrate the difference that they’re making. The idea is to showcase the sector to policy makers and the public at large – who may not know what CT is all about.
As the newly appointed CEO of ECT Charity, I’ve been on my own journey of discovery. I've spent as much time as possible getting out across the organisation, listening, learning and meeting as many of the team, our partners and our service users as I can. I think it’s really important to experience the operation first-hand and hear directly from all involved. And yes, that means going out and riding the buses.
To give you an idea of what Community Transport does, I recently took a trip to the Michael Flanders Centre in Ealing, which supports people living with dementia. Our fully accessible vehicles take service users from their homes to the Centre – including additional door-to-door assistance for those who need some extra support.
I rode along with driver Andrew and Passenger Assistant Nimsy. Watching the professionalism, kindness and genuine care they showed throughout the journey made me incredibly proud to represent ECT Charity. They were an absolute credit to the organisation. It was also a pleasure to meet Patricia and the team at the Centre, to see their essential work first-hand and hear about the difference our partnership makes.
At a time of great cynicism and division, witnessing such a standard of care by both our team and our partners at the Centre was a genuinely hopeful moment – full of talented, dedicated people who genuinely care about the communities we serve.
When we celebrate Community Transport Week, we’re really asking people to celebrate these values – making journeys possible for everyone, working in partnership with others to make a difference. I think that’s a bus we all need to be on.
Stuart Sheldon, ECT Charity CEO
