Tees Valley
£150,000 to bus service for disabled people
A DIAL-A-RIDE service for disabled
people has received
£150,000 to pay for new vehicles.
Redcar and Cleveland Borough
Council's cabinet approved
the spending on the service,
which provides more than 45,000
journeys a year for disabled people.
A
consultation was conducted
on the service, which has more
than 400 members. The study
was led by the Real Opportunity
Centre (ROC) at Redcar.
Following a review of the findings,
the service was redesigned,
including new ground rules on
who is eligible to use it.
The new council service started
on April 1 and the membership
has been temporarily extended
until the end of the
month, when applications will
be assessed against new criteria.
Councillor Mary Lanigan, the
council's cabinet member for
highways, transportation and
planning, backed the move for
tighter criteria.
She said: "Currently, to become
a member of Dial-a-Ride,
applicants must be unable to access
public transport due to their
disability and/or age. But there
is no evidence check and this is
simply taken on trust.
"Simply approving membership
on the grounds of age is also
not appropriate, since many elderly
people are more than capable
of accessing public transport
and age should not
automatically be a barrier.
"There is a small element of
abuse within the scheme, with a
few members using the service
as a cheap taxi."
Plans are in place to recruit
nine drivers and buy up to three
additional vehicles, low-floor,
kneeling buses with improved
access for disabled passengers,
offering a more dignified, independent
and safer experience.
For more information on Diala-
Ride, call 01642-444999.
11:37am Wednesday 14th May 2008
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