SHAPE project

A useful link

Transport Direct

Transport Direct is a useful website that offers information for door-to-door travel for both public transport and car journeys around Britain.

Click here to go to their website. You can also find it under USEFUL LINKS on our website.

Project decision

After asking people to reflect on the two projects and get back to us with the one they would like to pursue in the next sessions, we now came to a conclusion. Although the decision was tight, people voted for the:

'Travel information service - A project around redesigning access to travel information, creating more demand-responsive services'.

We think this is a great project to take further and are excited about the next steps!

Two project ideas!

Your Travel Co-ordinator – a travel information service
A project around redesigning access to travel information, creating more demand-responsive services

This project tackles the problem of inaccessible travel information in a short and long term. The aim is to develop a travel and transport information service which helps with the planning of journeys, involving public transport for older people. The idea is to develop a vision of a future service that enables older people to access relevant and up-to-date travel information. Drawing from this vision, we will develop tangible ‘products’, using the resources we currently have to demonstrate how simple improvements can help address the problem. For example, a transport referral service – a phone service for health users - might be one way of doing so, or collating existing timetable information together to create a common platform for people to refer to. In the long term, we might re-think how the NHS deals with transport enquiries and whether GP’s should provide information of how to get to their surgery and back. Computer terminals in GP practices and an integrated travel and appointment booking system for those that need it, are steps that may be explored further down the process.

Community-led transport DIY
A project around developing a model for a community-led transport scheme

This project addresses the need for encouraging more communities to develop volunteer based transport schemes.  More specifically, the project would be around creating guidelines for communities to develop their own affordable and community-led transport solution to make transport more accessible and increase the use of sustainable transport modes. We will have to find a person who leads the project –  a community champion– and a group of potential users . Also, we might have to provide support and training during the consultation and design process, key of which would be to support local communities to work with key partners to identify additional funding.

Generation workshop - a pool of ideas

The Generation workshop took place the 13th of December. Our aim was to collaboratively generate lots of exciting ideas for potential services and to then select the most appropriate one/s to develop further.

We started discussing the different levels that the opportunities operated on: some opportunities lie within policy making, whereas some others address more tangible ‘quick fix’ aspects of the transport environment including the re-design of bus shelters for instance. In order to progress, it was important for the workshop participants to share their views on which type of projects we should tackle within the SHAPE 50+ project.

We then had to focus down, so we asked people to vote on which ideas they would like to take forward. The four chosen areas were:

1. Improving rural and cross-border transport links
2. Improving planning and collaboration between transport, housing and health authorities
3. Improving and simplifying access to information before travel
4. Facilitating and fostering community-led schemes

Divided into four groups, participants discussed one opportunity area each. They were asked to write down their thoughts on problems and potential service improvements using sticky post-its and to describe their final ideas on a card.

After each group had produced a few idea cards, they picked their favorite one to present it to the rest of the group.Ideas included:

1. Readily available information on what is NOW available to increase the use of all public and community transport (new touchpoints and a platform for existing information)
2. Extend quality bus route schemes between large population centres which are in different LA areas
3. Improved communication at GP surgeries for the benefit of the end user (GP becoming provider of various services, i.e. providing transport information to and from the surgery using the patients’ data)
4. ‘Your travel information PA’, a short and long term action plan a) Transport referral service – a phone service for health users b) Computer terminals in GP practices with NHS transport info (Self-service) c) Integrated travel and appointment booking system for those that need it.
5. Toolkit for a community-led transport service to enable others to set up their own schemes

Following this exercise, people evaluated their ideas on the criterias of high and low impact vs. high and low effort. They were asked to reflect on the ideas and get back to us with the project they would like to pursue in the next sessions.

02 Generation

What will we do during Generation?

This phase is all about having ideas. In truth, ideas start emerging from day one and the Discovery stage is hugely generative as it creates the moments when people are making connections for the first time. By the Generation stage there will be a focus around problems that need solving. Again, we’ll work with the co-design team of older people and delivery professionals to generate ideas around specific challenges. This may also be another opportunity to involve a wider group either the Advisory group which we've set up or a particularly good community of users that we’ve discovered. The trick in Generation is not to evaluate too early.

What will we do during Generation?

This phase is all about having ideas. In truth, ideas start emerging from day one and the Discovery stage is hugely generative as it creates the moments when people are making connections for the first time. By the Generation stage there will be a focus around problems that need solving. Again, we’ll work with the co-design team of older people and delivery professionals to generate ideas around specific challenges. This may also be another opportunity to involve a wider group either the Advisory group which we've set up or a particularly good community of users that we’ve discovered. The trick in Generation is not to evaluate too early.