A range of affordable, reliable and convenient transport options enables older people to easily engage with community activities. This can be particularly important for people living in rural areas and for those who do not drive or have access to a car.
What sort of projects might be relevant to this domain?
- Community transport schemes
- Improving seating, shelter and information at bus stops
- Bus route-planning to incorporate older people’s needs and aspirations
- Audible and visual announcements of stops on buses and trains supporting people with visual impairments
Case Study
Through engagement, older people highlighted lack of transport is a barrier for participating in the community and is a problem for those who rely on public transport to attend medical appointments. Community transport schemes in Flintshire help older people and others in the community to access services, medical appointments and social activities, but there is a lack of awareness of the different transport options particularly for people who are not able to access online information.
Working with the 50+ Action Group (Flintshire), the Ageing Well Engagement Officer put together a basic guide on the different community transport options available in Flintshire for sharing with our network of Older People’s groups, community groups and for publishing in the Action Group’s newsletter “Codger’s Quarterly”. Age-friendly community groups in Holywell and Alyn Villages (Hope, Caergwrle and Abermorddu) also developed their own Community Transport leaflet tailored to their local area, distributing copies through community groups, libraries, medical practices, community centres etc. County Councillors for Hope & Caergwrle also circulated the leaflet with their Ward newsletter.
Recognising that printed information can very quickly go out of date, up-to-date details of all the community transport schemes operating in Flintshire are available online or from Flintshire Connects centres. The 50+ Action Group (Flintshire) plan to include an updated community transport guide in a future issue of their newsletter.
Communication and information