At the end of last year, East Yorkshire Community Transport (EYCT) joined with East Riding of Yorkshire Council (ERYC) to launch a survey asking where people felt community transport could be of most help in reducing the risk of loneliness and isolation amongst communities.
Community Transport can deliver a door-to-door minibus service where no other conventional service exists, or for those who cannot easily access public transport.
It also delivers several of the councils Medibus services which helps people with transport needs access medical appointments.
Community Transport is a lifeline to many of the existing users, enabling them to stay independent and reducing the risk of becoming lonely.
The 424 people who took part in the survey said that 59% use Community Transport for medical and shopping, that 47% feel they needed more information about the service and 56% of respondents had felt isolated at least occasionally in the previous week.
Isolation and loneliness can be linked to severe physical and mental health conditions, including obesity, depression, anxiety and high blood pressure and the risk to health has been likened to the effects of smoking 15 cigarettes a day.
East Yorkshire Community Transport (EYCT) on behalf of the Community Transport groups in East Riding will be using the information from the survey to plan future services.
Jane Evison, Community Development Officer at EYCT said: “I am very grateful to ERYC for their help in producing the survey which has proved to be a useful exercise, confirming that our services can make a real difference to the quality of people’s lives, and we will be using the information we have to try and reach even more people.
“We are already working on using social media and the media to try and reach more people withinformation about our services.
“Since Covid and the cost-of-living crisis all the community transport groups have seen an increase in requests for the service to provide more day trips, these are proving to be an excellent way of bringing people together and address issues of loneliness.
To be able to reach more people and provide more services we need more vehicles and more volunteer drivers, using the information the transport survey has given us we are now starting work to look for the funding needed to help more lonely people. We know our services can make a real difference to improve lives”
