Welcome to the CTA’s new blog

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Hello, and welcome to the launch of the CTA’s blog!

There are a number of reasons for an organisation to start a blog, the most obvious of which might appear to be self-promotion- and that’s certainly part of it. With the era of social media well and truly here, having a blog is one of numerous ways that an organisation can reach out to the world, making themselves known and getting people to buy whatever it is they’re selling.

But for a charity like the CTA, there’s another more important reason: we’re proud of what we and our members do and we want to shout it from the rooftops. As the UK’s membership organisation for Community Transport operators, it’s our job to advocate on their behalf and whilst that means lobbying government and influencing legislation it also means promoting who we are as a sector and what we do. It means providing professional insights from myself and others at the CTA and sharing the stories of our members and the people they serve.

Over the coming months we’re going to be sharing the thoughts and insights of those across the CTA. That could be me, discussing what I see as the challenges that CT providers are facing, it could be CTA Country Directors discussing community transport in the various areas of the UK, or it could be people working in our member organisations, talking about what they’re seeing in the Community Transport sector. The aim of these sorts of blogs is to give people a look into how the Community Transport sector works and to provide our members with what we hope will be interesting and useful insights – with the occasional call to action

We’re also going to be shining the spotlight on the work that our members do and telling the human stories of their organisations and the people that they serve. One of the things that I’ve found during my time at CTA is that when you say the words ‘Community Transport’ to someone who isn’t part of the sector, the phrase might bring to mind the image of a minibus but that’s about it. It’s not until you start talking about the work that CT operators do: with the elderly, the disabled, with children and young adults, enabling them to be vibrant and involved members of their communities, that people really start to understand and appreciate their work. We all know someone who could benefit from help, or might need it in the future, and we all appreciate a community where anyone, at any stage of life can get where they need to go. That’s why we’re going to post stories about our members and the people that use their services: to show people the real impact that community transport has on the lives of so many.

If you’ve got any ideas about the sort of thing that you’d like to see discussed here then, please, feel free to get in touch. Until then- watch this space.