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Background to the Programme

The Transport Programme for People with Disabilities (TPPD) has been in existence since 1991 and has complemented and augmented improvements in accessible transport by developing a range of specialised transport services for disabled persons in conjunction with a number of service operators. The legislative basis for the Department's support of initiatives towards disabled people was established in 1990 by an amendment to the Transport Act (Northern Ireland) 1967. This is known as Section 75A. The Programme has evolved over the years, utilising Section 75A to supplement and enhance the efforts of mainstream operators in improving accessibility to their public transport services.

Aims of the Programme

The aims of the Programme are

• To target social need by improving accessibility of public transport to people with disabilities who cannot avail of existing conventional services in Northern Ireland; and
• To complement the work of existing service providers involved in programmes designed to promote social inclusion for people with reduced mobility.

To achieve this, the Programme supports a number of services, in areas that contain a disproportionately high number of people who are mobility impaired and who could sustain a sufficient demand to visit key destinations and utilise these services.

Current Policy

The Programme currently funds a number of activities listed below:

Door-2-Door Transport

Since September 2006, the Department, in conjunction with Chambers Coach Hire Ltd, has been rolling out its new urban transport service for older people and people with disabilities. Known as Door-2-Door Transport, the service now operates in 29 towns and cities across Northern Ireland. For more information on Door-2-Door Transport, please visit the Department's Getting Out & About website, (a guide to accessible transport in Northern Ireland) at www.ni-transportguide.info and click on "Door-2-Door".

Other Urban Door-to-Door Transport

The Programme also supports similar door-to-door type services for affiliated members in Belfast and Londonderry. Services in Belfast are operated by Disability Action Transport , and in Londonderry by Bridge Accessible Transport .

Group Transport

The Programme supports the availability of accessible minibuses to enable groups with disabled members to get around. This element of the Programme nominally covers all of Northern Ireland, and in practice its geographic impact has been relatively wide. Nonetheless, a substantial proportion of this budget is absorbed by Bridge Accessible Transport in Londonderry and Disability Action Transport  in Belfast.

Public Transport

Revenue support is provided to Translink's Easibus services (Find out more at the Translink website ) through the Programme. These services, of which there are 16 in total, operate in Bangor (4), Belfast (11) and Londonderry (1). The services provide accessible local bus services mainly, but not exclusively, for mobility-impaired people who cannot avail of existing conventional services. Customers are drawn from those who reside along the specified routes.

Shopmobility

The Programme currently provides financial support for a number of Shopmobility schemes throughout Northern Ireland. These schemes lend manual and powered wheelchairs and powered scooters to members of the public with limited mobility to shop and use leisure and commercial facilities. Shopmobility schemes can be seen as the final link in the accessible transport chain. For more information on Shopmobility, please visit the Department's Getting Out & About website, (a guide to accessible transport in Northern Ireland) at www.ni-transportguide.info and click on "Shopmobility".

Following a consultation exercise on the review of the Transport Programme for People with Disabilities (TPPD), the Department for Regional Development (DRD) made a commitment to develop, in liaison with the National Federation of Shopmobility, a better framework for providing assistance to Shopmobility schemes.

Within this framework, the Department proposes to:

• confine its funding to agreed revenue costs, rather than for capital expenditure, up to a maximum level of £25,000 per annum per scheme; and
• continue to provide assistance only to those schemes which do not confine individual users to a particular shopping centre, but also allow access to commercial town/city centres.

The Department has now published a guidance document, called How to Prepare and Apply for Funding for a Shopmobility Scheme(295kb) . If you currently operate a Shopmobility scheme and already receive funding from the Department, or if you do not currently receive funding from the Department but think you would be eligible to do so, or if you are simply thinking about starting up such a scheme, please contact the Department or complete the application form in the guidance document available on-line via the above link.

The Department also agreed to fund an umbrella group for Shopmobility in Northern Ireland. The aim of this group (which is known as Shopmobility (NI)), is to encourage and support existing and new schemes, through networking, information, training and exchanging news and views. Anyone wishing to have more information on the umbrella group should contact the Department or Ann Collins at:

c/o Shopmobility Belfast,
Westgate House,
2 Queen Street,
Belfast BT1 6ED
Tel: (028) 9080 8090
Fax: (028) 90808099

E-mail - belfastshopmobility@aol.com

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Advice and Support

The Programme also funds the work of the Inclusive Mobility and Transport Advisory Commmittee (Imtac). Imtac advises Government on issues relating to disabled people and the transport system. For further information on the Imtac, contact either the Department or Michael Lorimer at:

Inclusive Mobility and Transport Advisory Committee,
189 Airport Road West,
Belfast, BT3 9ED
Tel: (028) 9029 7880
Textphone: (028) 9029 7882

E-mail: - Michael.Lorimer@tacni.org.uk

Website: www.imtac.org.uk

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Information and Promotion

The programme makes an important contribution to raising the profile of accessible transport for disabled people through the Getting Out and About website, which can be accessed at www.ni-transportguide.info . There has been no other recent significant expenditure on such information initiatives.

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Policy Review

in 2002, the Department commissioned a Review, which would assist in deciding the Programme's future direction. The TAS Partnership Ltd undertook an independent review of the current Programme with a view to examining the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of its policies.

The consultants made a number of recommendations about the future direction of the Programme. Following a targeted consultation exercise (including meetings) with the main interest groups on these recommendations, the Department considered the respondents views, and set out a course of action to follow in relation to each recommendation.

Details of the revised policy can be found in the following documents:

Equality Impact Assessment on the Transport Programme for People with Disabilities (510Kb)

Paper on Extending Door-To-Door Services across Norther Ireland (158Kb)

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