CTA attends PACTO's Strategy Launch Event

By Gemma Lelliott, Director for Wales

One Network - One System - One Vision

I was honoured to be invited to join PACTO for their strategy launch event in Saundersfoot on Thursday 2nd July. Community Transport Association (CTA) is the Community Transport Sector’s membership body, advocating for change and better support for the movement while simultaneously supporting groups and communities on the ground to help them deliver accessible and inclusive transport safely and legally. I jumped at the chance to be in a room so full of providers and people from the communities they support and hear firsthand about the difference PACTO and their members are making.

As General Manager Ady Poole said in her opening remarks, transport is often the first barrier for people, not the last step. Ady also reminded the room that ‘Community Transport is about connections, not just journeys’, and the PACTO team have invested significant time and energy into mapping those connections and providing strategic and structured support to the network to build on the strengths already present in Pembrokeshire.

Those strengths are significant – with a network of well-established operators including Green Dragon CT, Manorbier & District CTA, Royal Voluntary Service Country Cars, Pembrokeshire Voluntary Transport, and Bloomfield House, and the more recent addition of the VC Gallery, there is a depth of expertise and local knowledge about providing inclusive transport solutions that help people to thrive as part of their local communities. This is complemented by the extraordinary support of PACTO since 2004, created and driven by the inimitable Debbie Johnson with direct support and investment from Pembrokeshire County Council. There are few parts of the Welsh CT movement so well resourced or supported.

When PACTO was successful in securing £1m investment from the Motability Foundation – thanks again to the tireless work of Debbie before she moved into her new role with the Council – this gave the team the time, space, and resources to take a step back, look at what works and where more support was needed, and use this intelligence to build towards a more sustainable future. Over three years, 12 new accessible vehicles have been deployed, 47 new volunteers recruited, 123,037 passenger journeys delivered, and reams of data collected, PACTO can show that at least £4.6m of social value has been created. While we at CTA know this level of work is being done by our members in many parts of Wales, PACTO’s role as a strategic convener and the investment they’ve brought in from the Motability Foundation has given them the capacity to build a strong and robust dataset around that knowledge.  

We know that involving the community in designing solutions leads to better outcomes. This is as true for Community Transport as it is for any part of the voluntary and public sector and is lived every day by the operators in Pembrokeshire. The added support and resource of the Transformation Project team has meant a more intense focus on data that can prove in hard numbers the difference these operators make, as well as delivering practical support, ranging from booking systems, updated vehicle check systems, marketing and comms support, as well as significantly growing the accessible vehicle fleet. While others seek so called ‘innovation’ in a shiny new package, PACTO seek only to strengthen the systems of support so we can all take the next step on this journey together, helping operators to feel confident in their sustainability, visible for the impact they make, and valued by communities, funders, partners and commissioners.

Transport Connector Jo Hicks spoke passionately about the importance of local knowledge and expertise in supporting people, and told us of one passenger who said ‘I feel like part of the family’. That care and energy came through strongly throughout the day, ensuring we never forgot that at it’s heart Community Transport is all about people.

At CTA, we believe everyone in every community should have access to transport that meets their needs. PACTO’s strategy sets a clear direction for how this can be delivered in Pembrokeshire. We are very much looking forward to working with them, and you, in delivering it.