Working with communities to Northamptonshire ACRE improve the quality of life for all Author: Elaine O’Leary, Rural Officer Northamptonshire ACRE Date: September 2012 Version: 2.1 Northants Rural Transport Proiders Directory of Community & Voluntary Transport 2012 V2.1 CONTENTS Services provided by Community & Voluntary Transport: 3 Transport Provider Summary: 4 Transport Provider Details: 5 Brackley Area Volunteer Car Scheme 5 Corby Volunteer Car Pool 6 CountyConnect 7 Daventry Area Community Transport 9 Earls Barton Help Scheme 11 Gayton and Tiffield Community Minibus 12 Help at Hand Social Car Scheme 13 Kettering Volunteer Car Scheme 14 Lois Weedon & Weston Voluntary Car Scheme 15 Moulton Village Car Scheme 16 Nene & Ouse Community Transport 17 Northampton Door-to-Door Service 19 Northampton Volunteer Car Scheme 21 PATH 22 Rural Wheels Voluntary Medical Transport Scheme 23 Rushton PC Community Minibus 24 SERVE 25 Shire Community Services 26 Towcester Area Door-To-Door 29 Volunteer Action Oundle 30 Wilbarston & Stoke Albany Voluntary Car Scheme 31 Yardley Hastings Good Neighbour Scheme 32 Parish / Community Listing: 33 For further information or copies of this publication contact: Northamptonshire ACRE Hunsbury Hill Centre Harksome Hill Northampton NN4 9QX E-Mail: [email protected] Page 2 of 40 Northants Rural Transport Proiders Directory of Community & Voluntary Transport 2012 V2.1 Services provided by Community & Voluntary Transport: CAR SCHEMES These offer a service for essential journeys when public transport is not an option. Journeys can be for a variety of reasons including medical appointments, shopping trips and links to other transport. Transport providers usually need 48 hours notice of a journey in order to match a vehicle and driver. Drivers may act as escorts. Fares are based on mileage covered and some organisations may operate a membership scheme. DIAL-A-RIDES This service offers a minibus (often with a passenger lift) when public transport is not an option. Usually they operate on local journeys and are booked in advance. Fares are either based on mileage covered or there is a set rate for a particular journey. Users of Dial-A-Ride have to be members of the scheme. COMMUNITY MINIBUSES These are registered local bus services and serve areas not covered by commercial bus operators. They run to a timetable. There are set fares for each journey covered. Some volunteer providers also hire the minibus to local groups provided the driver is MiDAS trained. GROUP HIRE These schemes have wheelchair accessible minibuses available for hire to all kinds of local community groups. Drivers must be MiDAS trained although some schemes may sometimes supply drivers or arrange training. SHOPMOBILITY Shopmobility is a scheme that lends manual wheelchairs, powered wheelchairs and powered scooters to members of the public with limited mobility, to shop and to visit leisure and commercial facilities within a town, city or shopping centre. COUNTYCONNECT CountyConnect is a new demand response system run by Northamptonshire County Council that focuses on 5 separate areas in the county and centres around hub towns, where passengers can connect to regular inter-urban buses. Customers book a seat either by telephone, text message or via the internet and arrange to be picked up at a specific time at their nearest bus stop. The buses are specially designed low-floor minibuses and can be booked for any type of journey to any other stop in the area served. This service was launched in September 2011 across the following areas: Nene Valley, focused on Oundle, Thrapston and Raunds Welland Valley, focused on Market Harborough Long Buckby and Daventry South Northants, focused on Towcester and Brackley, including off-peak links to Banbury Page 3 of 40 Northants Rural Transport Proiders Directory of Community & Voluntary Transport 2012 V2.1 Transport Provider Summary: Please click on the links below to go to the relevant page for that provider: Provider Volunteer Dial a Community Group Shop- Page Car Scheme Ride Minibus Hire mobility Brackley Area Voluntary Car Scheme Yes 5 Corby Volunteer Car Pool Yes 6 CountyConnect Yes 7 Daventry Area Community Transport* Yes Yes Yes Yes 9 Earls Barton Help Scheme Yes 11 Gayton & Tiffield Community Minibus Yes Yes 12 Help at Hand Social Car Scheme Yes 13 Kettering Voluntary Car Scheme Yes 14 Lois Weedon & Weston Voluntary Car Yes 15 Scheme Moulton Village Car Scheme Yes 16 Nene & Ouse Community Transport Yes Yes Yes 17 Northampton Door to Door Service Yes Yes Yes 19 Northampton Volunteer Car Scheme Yes 21 PATH Yes Yes 22 Rural Wheels Yes 23 Rushton Community Minibus Yes Yes 24 SERVE Yes 25 Shire Community Services Yes Yes Yes Yes 26 Towcester Area Door to Door Yes 28 Volunteer Action Oundle Yes 29 Wilbarston & Stoke Albany Volunteer Car Yes 30 Scheme Yardley Hastings Good Neighbour Scheme Yes 31 * Please note: DACT also offers MiDAS minibus driver training Page 4 of 40 Northants Rural Transport Proiders Directory of Community & Voluntary Transport 2012 V2.1 Transport Provider Details: Name Brackley Area Volunteer Car Scheme Initials BAVCS Organisation Name South Northants Volunteer Bureau Address The Volunteer Centre Moat Lane Towcester NN12 6AD Telephone Number 01280 841099 Fax Number (if used) 01280 704284 Website E-Mail [email protected] Contact Linda Ferris Office Hours 9.30am – 12.30pm Tues/Wednesday/Friday (answer machine outside of these hours). Area Covered Brackley and surrounding villages (where SNC is local authority) Type of Scheme: Volunteer Car Scheme Eligibility Anyone (children must be accompanied by an adult) who is unable to get to medical and social care appointments. Will also take people to visit relatives who are in hospital or residential care. Purpose of Journey Health or social care related appointments Membership Fee £25 per annum Mileage Charge £0.45 Minimum Charge £3.50 Other Information Page 5 of 40 Northants Rural Transport Proiders Directory of Community & Voluntary Transport 2012 V2.1 Name Corby Volunteer Car Pool Initials CVCP Organisation Name Address The Old TA Building Elizabeth Street Corby Northamptonshire NN17 1PD Telephone Number 01536 269482 Website E-Mail [email protected] Contact Lynne Blakey Office Hours 9.00am – 4.00pm Monday to Friday Area Covered Corby Borough (see Parish List) Type of Scheme: Volunteer Car Scheme Telephone Number 01536 267873 Eligibility Anyone with disabilities or on low income who are unable to access other transport Purpose of Journey Mainly medical or access to shops Membership Fee £15 per annum £10 additional fee to join for a client living in the same house as a current user Mileage Charge £0.45 Minimum Charge £4.50 return within Corby. Up to 2 and a half hours wait. Other Information There is a £1 booking fee, collected by the driver on the day and this goes to the office. Due to a cut in funding to the Car Pool, it has been necessary to introduce this booking fee. Please note: Corby Volunteer Car Pool no longer has minibuses for group hire. This scheme has been discontinued. Page 6 of 40 Northants Rural Transport Proiders Directory of Community & Voluntary Transport 2012 V2.1 Name CountyConnect Initials CC Organisation Name Northamptonshire County Council (in partnership with Lincolnshire County Council) Address Matrix Booking Centre Lincolnshire County Council Witham Park House Waterside South Lincoln LN5 7JN Telephone Number 0845 456 4474 Or text: ‘CountyConect’ to 82727 Website http://www.county-connect.co.uk/ E-Mail [email protected] Contact N/A Office Hours Bookings: 9.00am – 5.30pm Monday to Friday 9.00am – 4.00pm Saturday Cancellations and Emergencies: 7.30am – 6.00pm Monday to Friday 8.00am – 4.00pm Saturday Area Covered Nene Valley, Oundle and Thrapston (NVCC) Daventry and Long Buckby (DLBCC) Brackley and Towcester (SNCC) (See Parish List for all above) Type of Scheme: Dial a Ride Eligibility Anyone who has registered with the scheme. Purpose of Journey Social, recreational and essential journeys. Membership Fee N/A Mileage Charge Fares based on distance travelled. Concessionary travel passes are valid after 9.30am Monday to Friday and all day Saturday. Minimum Charge N/A Other Information This service operates `on demand` i.e. the journeys the bus makes are defined by users each day and there is no fixed Page 7 of 40 Northants Rural Transport Proiders Directory of Community & Voluntary Transport 2012 V2.1 timetable. Users cannot be picked up without a booking. In order to use the service, users must first register. Journeys can be booked up to one hour prior to when travel is required. Bookings cannot be made more than 7 days in advance. It is a ‘first come, first served’ system. There is a range of fares available from single, return and group fares (up to 5 people, any age, travelling together on a single booking for less than the price of two) to a new multi-journey price where 12 journeys can be bought en- bloc. Members of the Centrebus student Travel Club can also benefit from a 15% discount on adult single, return and 12-journey tickets. There is also the ability to connect to Stagecoach services at key towns for a small extra cost on both the single and return tickets. Page 8 of 40 Northants Rural Transport Proiders Directory of Community & Voluntary Transport 2012 V2.1 Name Daventry Area Community Transport Initials DACT Organisation Name Address The Abbey Market Square Daventry Northants NN11 4XG Telephone Number 01327 701665, 701666, 701667 Fax Number (if used) 01327 872403 Website http://dact.btck.co.uk/ E-Mail [email protected] Contact Rob Kinning Office Hours 9.30am – 4.30pm Monday to Friday Area Covered Daventry District (See Parish List) Type of Scheme: Volunteer Car Scheme Eligibility Anyone who cannot access public transport or where public transport does not exist Purpose of Journey Medically related trips or other essential trips Membership Fee £2.50 per trip Mileage Charge £0.45 Minimum Charge £5.80 (includes the £2.50 trip cost) Other Information Type of Scheme: Minibus Hire for Community groups & Dial a Ride Eligibility Any not-for-profit community group in Daventry District and Dial a Ride is available for those who live within the Town of Daventry aged 65+ yrs.