Transport Guidance: Supporting Access to positive activities
The Department for Schools, Children and Families (DCSF) working with the Department of Transport (DfT) commissioned The National Youth Agency to produce the Transport Guidance: Supporting Access to Positive Activities document.
The National Youth Agency has produced new guidance for Children’s Trust and transport planners on providing valid and reliable services and transport information for young people to secure access to positive activities.
The guidance, produced for The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and the Department of Transport (DfT), showcases a range of innovative solutions developed by local authorities and their partners from around the country and highlights potential linkages with emerging policies. A central theme throughout these examples is the involvement of young people working with their local authorities to develop local solutions.
Evidence shows that for some young people public transport can be a real barrier to accessing positive activities. Aiming High made a commitment to “improve guidance, support and challenge to encourage joined up planning and commissioning of local transport.”
Key messages emerging from the work include the importance of joint planning between children’s trusts and transport planners from an early stage and reviewing and revising existing arrangements to provide a holistic approach to young people’s transport needs. Young people and those who support them should be involved in transport planning and information on transport should be publicised alongside information on positive activities and youth services.
The potential for corporate or commercial bus companies to contribute towards the cost of concessionary fares for young people should also be explored.
Writing in a foreword to the report Beverly Hughes, Children’s Minister, and Paul Clarke, Transport Minister, say: “This is a real opportunity to make a difference to the lives of young people and your local communities.”
Transport Guidance: Supporting Access to positive activities
Find out more at the DCSF website >>
Accessing Positive Activities: Innovative solutions for young people's bus travel
This work builds on research carried out by The NYA and the University of Brunel in 2007. The NYA commissioned research to explore potential solutions to the problems faced by young people using public transport, specifically buses, to access 'positive activities', education, and employment.
Aiming High for Young People, the ten year strategy for positive activities, has begun to offer guidance for local authorities to address the issue of young people and transport. In particular, it suggests:
"In fulfilling their statutory duty to ensure young people's access to positive activities, (local authorities) will want to exploit the full range of options open to them to improve young people's access to transport. For instance, some successful local authorities choose to
- Subsidise young people's travel
- Enter into partnerships with local transport providers to develop ways to better serve the needs of young people, or
- Broker and commission community transport to make the most of any un-used capacity" (DCSF, 2007, p58)
This research aims to support authorities in achieving this aim by:
- providing a clear outline of the issues faced by young people using buses (or wanting to use buses) to access positive activities;
- examining the current links between Transport planning and Children's Services planning;
- Exploring solutions implemented by the statutory/voluntary sector and determining the key lessons from such schemes that may be applicable to all local authorities.
Associated reports available for downloading:
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