Title

Young people with a disability transport needs project

Authors

PPM Consultants

Document Type

Report

Publication Date

2007

Subject Area

Mobility - Disabled, Mobility - Mobility aid, Modes of Transport - Community Transport - Community vehicle, Population - Young people

Abstract

This project was initiated by the South West Community Transport group in conjunction with Bankstown, Southern Highlands and Walomi Community Transport Groups. It aims to identify the transport needs and travel patterns of Young People with Disabilities (YPWD) across the 7 local government areas. Young people with disabilities are defined as people under 65 years of age with an intellectual, mental or physical disability. They are part of the defined Home and Community Care (HACC) target group. Young people (under 65) with a disability have transport needs which are indeed different from older frail aged Home and Community Care Clients. Young people with disabilities still want to participate in the same sort of social and cultural activities as the rest of the community - they enjoy outings to movies, restaurants, clubs, bowling and other entertainment centres. Key times when transport services are most needed and are difficult to find are in the evening, at weekends and school holidays. Providing transport for access to activities for people with a disability is a constant problem for disability services which are not funded for transport. Most young people with disabilities rely very heavily on their carers, which are usually parents or siblings for transport. Parents of older children i.e. young to middle aged adults find it increasingly difficult to drive their children everywhere for activities. Even if a young person with disabilities is able to use public transport to go to work for example, that option may not be available over the weekend. Some YPWD had experienced particularly unpleasant or dangerous incidents on public transport. It was common for YPWD to be generally fearful of using public transport either because they were concerned that they could not physically access the station etc or because of intellectual disabilities. They were concerned about getting lost and coping if there were any unexpected problems. Taxis are important for young people with disabilities but even when they have access to the Taxi Transport Subsidy Scheme (TTSS) vouchers which pay for half the taxi fare, it is still expensive. There was generally a low level of knowledge or understanding of the services offered by Community Transport by young people with disabilities and their carers. Additional funding would be needed for Community Transport to provide services to meet the needs of YPWD which are required mainly outside the current community transport operating times. Working jointly with the local bus operators is another option which is supported by local bus operators and Community Transport. The potential for providing more services is limited by lack of funding of community kms under the bus contracts. The bus companies indicated that there are vehicles available in the off peak times - nights and weekends - but a mechanism to utilise them needs to be found. If resources are available, Community Transport needs to develop more services which are specifically designed to meet the needs of YPWD and to create marketing material to raise their profile with the YPWD market. The introduction of a taxi voucher scheme by the four Community Transport groups is both desirable and viable. It would assist to fill the current gap for after hours and weekend activities.