Council's Transport Unit wins UK award

Pembrokeshire County Council's innovative approach to coordinating public and community transport has been praised as the best in the UK.

The Council was presented with the award for ‘Best Local Authority 2010' at the Community Transport Association UK Awards at Manchester on Tuesday evening.

The Authority was also presented with £500 worth of safety equipment, courtesy of Unwin Safety Systems.

"It's a huge honour to win this award, and we are absolutely delighted," said Councillor Jamie Adams, Cabinet Member for Highways and Planning.

Since its inception in 1996, the Council has operated an Integrated Transport Unit (ITU). This means that all the various strands of transport - education, social services, public, community, and fleet management - are all coordinated by the one department and managed by a Transport and Fleet manager.

One of the key elements of the ITU is the transport demand management centre, which acts as a ‘one-stop shop' for community transport information and bookings.

"This innovative approach is a key feature in joining together the different elements of transport and promoting co-ordination," said Councillor Adams.

"Booking coordinators man a free-phone number, 0800 783 1584,  and customer requests for transport are matched to the most appropriate service for them - whether it is conventional public transport or community, Council or NHS transport."

"For example, if community transport is the most appropriate, then the booking co-ordinator will give them the available options and schedule the customer on to that service."

The Council was nominated for the award by PACTO (Pembrokeshire Association of Community Transport Organisations).

PACTO's Community Transport Development Officer, Debbie Johnson, said: "The community transport sector in the county has benefited from a long-standing, productive and supportive partnership with the County Council, which has resulted in the development of several new services across the County."

The services include the Pembrokeshire-wide WRVS Country Cars scheme, RSVP Cars for Carers, the Town Rider dial-a-ride services in the County's main towns, the Minibus Match service for community groups and local community minibuses including Pembrokeshire Voluntary Transport, Preseli Rural Transport Association, Manorbier Community Transport Association, The Bloomfield Bus (Narberth) and Bws y Bobol (St Davids).

Darren Thomas, Head of Highways and Construction, thanked PACTO for their nomination.

"We are very pleased that they nominated us for the award," said Darren. "We are also very proud to deliver customer-driven and cost-efficient services, and our success has been down to our innovative approach to delivering these services."

Caption
Pictured (L-R) are Hubert Mathias, Transport and Fleet Manager; Darren Thomas, Head of Highways and Construction; Councillor Peter Morgan, Cabinet Member for Communities and Partnerships and volunteer driver Margaret Vickery, who is also a trustee of PACTO.

ID: 19628 Revised: 2/3/2010