Our collection of stories – the “Journey Makers” series – shines a light on the people who are making journeys possible for passengers every day. We hear from drivers, volunteers, carers, staff and organisers, all of whom provide that extra care which sets community transport apart.
The tagline beneath our logo, “Making journeys possible” embodies these journey makers and the social value that we create every day. We do this by enabling people who struggle to access mainstream transport to lead active and independent lives. We focus on helping people who fall between the gaps of statutory transport provision, those who are isolated in rural areas, and those who are lonely because they struggle to leave their homes using conventional transport.
In doing so, we provide lonely and isolated people with a crucial lifeline – whether this involves a simple trip to the shops, a check-up at the local GP or a day out with a group of friends.
Read about the people who are “making journeys possible” by clicking here or by navigating to our News page and clicking on the “Journey Makers” category.
The CT Social Value Toolkit 2.0 is a way for Community Transport organisations (CTs) to capture, measure and communicate the social value that they create through their services.
Every CT knows that their work makes a real difference in their community – tackling social isolation or poor access to services and improving people’s independence and wellbeing. Social value is a way of measuring that impact and quantifying it in terms of its economic benefit to society – for example, in savings to long term health and social care costs. Measuring the social value that CTs create is important for three reasons:
Showing your worth: Too often, the amazing work done by CTs goes unheralded. At a time of ongoing pressures on the public purse, it’s essential to demonstrate just how much Social Value you are creating – and what great value for money that is.
Building new partnerships: As you work with new stakeholders and potential new funders, measuring social value helps to communicate your public benefit.
Gaining new insights: The data you capture to measure your social value can inform your decisions as you develop your services.
The original CT Social Value Toolkit has been helping CTs communicate the difference they make since its launch in 2018. Made possible through funding from the Motability Foundation, ECT Charity has spent the past year updating and developing every aspect of the Toolkit to capture the social value created by CTs more accurately and completely than ever, ensuring it will add even more strength to our arguments that CT is essential to UK transport. New features of Version 2.0 include:
After using the Toolkit to measure your social value, CTs receive a full report breaking down the different elements that go to make up the final number. This provides a powerful source of evidence when communicating your worth to funders and other stakeholders. You can download a sample report here.
Measuring social value can seem a little daunting at first. We aim to be with you every step of the way. This works at three levels:
ECT Charity is charging a small fee for each Toolkit licence, based on the turnover of the CT. The money is then used to keep the Toolkit maintained and running.
|
Turnover band |
Annual licence fee for Toolkit |
|---|---|
|
£0 to £249,999 |
£50 |
|
£250,000 to £999,999 |
£100 |
|
£1,000,000 and above |
£200 |
If you’d like a licence for the Toolkit – or just want to find out more – then contact ECT directly on socialvalue@ectcharity.co.uk.
PlusBus for Health is a door-to-door accessible community transport service that helps patients travel between their homes and GP surgeries. The service is available to older or disabled patients in the London Borough of Ealing who:
The service is commissioned by Ealing Clinical Commissioning Group and began in April 2017, following a successful two-year pilot.
For further information on this service, please read our special focus publication “How PlusBus for Health improves care and tackles loneliness” here.
PlusBus for Health aims to reduce the number of GP home visits and missed appointments, while improving the wellbeing of patients by offering them an opportunity to leave their homes and meet and socialise with others.
Whilst much anecdotal evidence exists on the positive social impact of this service, it was important for us to estimate the resulting social value and cost savings for Ealing Clinical Commissioning Group and the NHS.
In 2018, we conducted research to estimate the social value of our PlusBus for Health (PBH) community transport service. We quantified its impact by looking at changes in the number of:
The following conclusions were drawn from the results of the evaluation:
In total, the research estimates that the cost savings and benefits generated by PBH in the areas outlined above delivered a ‘social value’ worth £354K in the financial year 2017/18. Every £1 spent on PBH during 2017/18 generated a social value of £1.22 (the ‘Social Return on Investment ratio’ in 2017/18 was calculated to be 1.22).
Click here to read our full research report “PlusBus for Health – Impact Evaluation”.
ECT has launched the ECT Transport Fund to help support organisations in Ealing create social opportunities for isolated individuals through local accessible community transport options. The Fund will give local community groups the opportunity to bid for transportation funding that will stimulate new or additional community activities.
ECT has been providing community transport services in Ealing since 1979. ECT’s community-based door-to-door services help keep disabled, isolated and lonely people independent and mobile. As part of our commitment to deliver a public benefit, ECT constantly seeks innovative ways to work with local partners to provide local communities with safe, affordable and accessible transport that responds to their needs.
The ECT Transport Fund will provide successful applicants with a credit of up to £1,000 to offset the cost of transport provided by ECT (which includes a driver if you need one, vehicle hire and fuel costs). To be eligible to apply, applicants must be a community and/or voluntary group which provides community-based activities.
For further details and to apply, please download the application form here.
ECT Charity was delighted to provide the accessible shuttles at the biggest sporting event of 2017 – the World Para Athletics Championships and the IAAF World Championships at London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
ECT Charity’s shuttles transported nearly 2,000 wheelchair users, and 17,000 other spectators with a range of mobility needs, between Stratford Station and the Stadium. Many of the passengers spoke of the difference the accessible shuttle service made to their experience of the championships.
This success follows ECT Charity’s delivery of accessible shuttle services for various international sporting events, including the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Invictus Games 2014 and the 2015 Rugby World Cup.
ECT Charity’s CEO, Anna Whitty MBE, reflects on the charity’s involvement below. This blog was first published on the Community Transport Association’s blog here.
“Have you ever been part of something special, unusual and BIG? Say, a production or a special event that you have been rehearsing or planning for months. Then, for a few days, you give it your all and you live and breathe it until it ends?!
Taking part in a special event, especially where you play an important and critical role as a team is such an exhilarating and satisfying feeling – and the pride you feel in its overall success is the icing on the cake!
That’s how it felt to be a transport partner to the World Para Athletics Championships London 2017 at the London Stadium in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, where we delivered Accessible Shuttles to spectators for ‘the last mile’ of their journey. The knowledge that we made travel easier and participation possible for so many people was incredibly rewarding. Time and again we were told by people with mobility difficulties that because we had made their transport so accessible, they were able to enjoy the event more than they expected and had decided to book extra tickets.
We met many inspiring people including Megan, a 9-year old junior UK wheelchair dance champion now entering the world of wheelchair racing (@AWish4Megan), and 18-year old Abbie with her sights on wheelchair tennis at Wimbledon. We were honoured to meet a gold medalist from the 1984 Paralympic Games whose face lit up when we asked after her medals, as well as 100-year old Joyce who is still able to get out and about with door-to-door accessible transport. We met a group of young people with complex health care needs and disabilities from the Nidderdale Children’s Resource Centre in North Yorkshire who were on a 3-day mini holiday to London. We also met the SENCO team from Southern Road Primary School in Newham who were proud that the whole school was able to attend, including their pupils with disabilities.
However, what really stands out in our memories was the opportunity given to 5,000 community groups and 70,000 school children, many of whom have profound disabilities, to attend the Para Athletics event over two days. We are proud to have played an important role in the record breaking: a record number of children ever at a sports venue, and the most children moved to one place in a day by TfL’s London Underground. Discussions are ongoing as to whether it was the most children moved in a day since the Second World War!
You may remember that the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games set out to be the ‘public transport Games’ as well as the most accessible to date. That event raised the bar in terms of the provision of accessible transport, and set the benchmark for future international sporting events. It became our mission to keep this legacy alive by ensuring that all people, no matter their disability or mobility needs, could participate in sporting events. Further, we wanted to ensure that the community transport sector, with its gold standard approach to safety, could show the wider world what top-quality accessible transport looks like.
Working with partner community transport operators, including Tower Hamlets, Westway and Wandsworth, ECT Charity is very proud of its involvement with the Para Athletics over 10 days – promoting accessibility and proving to everyone #WhyCTMatters!”
For more photos, be sure to check out the slideshow at the end of the CTA’s blog here.
You can read more on ECT Charity’s work at this event in our news articles here and here.
ECT delivers accessible shuttle service for the third largest sporting event in the world.
ECT was delighted to be involved in the planning and delivery during 2015 of an accessible shuttle service for all Rugby World Cup games at Twickenham and the Olympic Park.
In early 2015, ECT was involved by England 2015 to project manage and deliver accessible transport on match days. ECT led the delivery of a service in partnership with six community transport operators that helped rugby fans with mobility difficulties attend world cup matches.
Over the six-week tournament, a total of 11,149 passenger trips were made, a little fewer than 700 passengers on average at each match. Passenger numbers increased as awareness for the service grew, and at the World Cup Final itself, 977 passengers were transported to and from Twickenham Stadium.
The particular need for specialist accessible shuttles was highlighted by the number of wheelchair users who used the service: 662 over the course of the whole tournament, including 76 on the busiest night.
Shuttle bus user Julia Lock, spoke of the difference the accessible shuttle service has made to her experience of the RWC: “I suffer from severe asthma and had been very concerned about the walk to Twickenham as exercise exacerbates it. I had not been aware of the availability of the service and by the time I got from the car to the Park and Ride area I was very wheezy.
“One of your accessible shuttle drivers invited us to use the service, which was a lifesaver for me. Everyone was incredibly lovely and welcoming. Your service made my day, as without your help I would have been too unwell to have enjoyed the game.”
Mick Wright, Head of Tournament Services for England Rugby 2015, said: “Your team and your services were a genuine differentiator for this tournament and I am hugely grateful for the professionalism and dogged determination you guys put into making sure everyone understood what was needed and then delivered against it.”
Diane Morgan, Quality and Standards Manager for ECT, said: “The Rugby World Cup was a big challenge but ECT’s professionalism shone through every day. We got so much positive feedback and I am proud to have been the manager of such a great project. Would we do it all over again? You bet we would!”
Anna Whitty, CEO of ECT Charity, said: “We feel privileged to have led this collaboration to successfully deliver accessibility for all spectators at the Rugby World Cup 2015. It was truly rewarding working with England Rugby 2015, and we thank them for their vision and commitment to making the tournament so accessible.
“The Rugby World Cup 2015 is another fantastic example of the community transport sector working together to ensure inclusion and accessibility for all members of our communities. Our hope is that the success of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Invictus Games 2014 and now the Rugby World Cup 2015, leads to a continued commitment from all major sporting tournaments and special events in the future to share this vision of inclusiveness.”
To read more about our success at the Rugby World Cup 2015, read our celebratory publication A Winning Team.
In January 2016, ECT Charity launched the report Why Community Transport Matters, an amalgamation of two pieces of ground-breaking research led by ECT Charity to help community transport organisations around the UK to demonstrate their social value and the impact they have on health, wellbeing and communities.
First, we worked with Deloitte to produce Tackling Loneliness and Isolation through Community Transport, a major piece of research into the economic cost of loneliness and isolation and the potential for community transport schemes to make savings of between £0.4 billion and £1.1 billion a year for the public purse, as well as reducing pressure on public services and helping older people to remain active members of society.
The second study, A Practical Method for Measuring Community Transport Social Value, will help community transport organisations make a compelling case to commissioners on the value of their services. It was developed through the London Strategic Community Transport Forum (LSCTF).
Why Community Transport Matters brings together the highlights from both research initiatives, including a toolkit distilled from the Deloitte research, and an introduction to the practical measurement framework.
We are incredibly proud of the report, and hope that sharing these lessons learned goes some way in convincing CT’s to use the methodology to measure their own social value, as well as persuade commissioners and local authorities that we add value beyond the simple fulfilment of a contract.
ECT Charity provided the accessible shuttle service at the Invictus Games, which took place in London from 11th to 14th September 2014.
ECT Charity is incredibly proud to have played a part in such an inspirational event. The demand-led service provided transport for over 1,300 spectators with mobility difficulties including wheelchair users from Stratford Regional station to various stops around Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, as well as for Lea Valley athletics. A team of dedicated service controllers were posted at every stop, managing the demand responsive service to ensure that it met the needs of spectators arriving and leaving each event.
For able-bodied people, the 20-30 minute walk from the station to the venues was a pleasant stroll, but for those with disabilities, and their carers, it presented a difficult journey. The service provided by ECT helped ensure this journey was easy, making the Invictus Games an accessible event for all.
In 2012, we delivered, as lead partner, the London 2012 Accessible Shuttles project on behalf of the Olympic Delivery Authority. This large-scale, complex project was recognised as one of the outstanding transport successes of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and positioned accessible transport at the heart of future Olympic planning.
ECT Charity provided the lead planning and delivery role bringing together 24 individual community transport organisations to deliver the world-class accessible transport service, operating no less the 48 routes. The value and success of the project can be demonstrated by considering the number of passengers with mobility impairments who used the Accessible Shuttles during the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Some 100,000 passenger journeys were made (60,000 during the Olympics and 40,000 during the Paralympics) on a fleet of nearly 150 vehicles operated by 550 drivers and 200 specially trained support staff.
It has been acknowledged that London 2012 was the most inclusive and accessible Games in Olympic history. This was the largest operation of its kind ever attempted and its success has left a lasting legacy. The success of this project not only placed the provision of accessible transport high on the agenda of transport providers, but also provided a platform from which ECT Charity was able to demonstrate the professionalism and capacity of the community transport sector as a whole, and specifically of ECT Charity as a leader of that sector.
ECT Charity marked the one year anniversary of the London Olympics and Paralympics with a special report celebrating its gold-standard performance providing ‘Accessible Shuttles’ that helped spectators with disabilities attend Olympic and Paralympic venues during London 2012.
The report, was presented to Mayor Boris Johnson, Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson and the then transport minister Norman Baker. Mayor Boris called the team the ‘unsung heroes’ of London 2012 and said: “I hope that across London and elsewhere in the UK, such services will in future always be provided to this standard – this will be a fitting and important legacy to the London 2012 Olympic Games.
ECT Charity's operations in Milton Keynes closed in August 2014.
Please contact Milton Keynes Council on 01908 252266 or email community.transport@milton-keynes.gov.uk if you have any enquiries.
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