Making public transport more dementia-friendly in partnership with Yorkshire & Humber Dementia Action Alliance

An event to share examples of good practice in making transport dementia friendly took place in Leeds on Friday 17 February.

West Yorkshire Combined Authority working in partnership with the Yorkshire and Humber Dementia Action Alliance (Y&H DAA) delivered a half-day workshop as Y&H DAA�s first quarterly networking event of 2017. Attendees included transport providers from across the Leeds City Region as well as from across the Yorkshire and Humber region. Expert speakers told delegates about good practice on developing dementia-friendly transport and ways in which all parties can work together to make a difference.

Cllr Keith Wakefield, West Yorkshire Combined Authority Transport Committee Chair said:

�Accessibility for all is at the heart of our transport agenda and this workshop was an opportunity to share with others the work we have carried out to develop services for hard-to-reach and disadvantaged customers including people living with dementia.

Last year, our work to support wider communities and vulnerable groups was recognised by the Government�s Customer Service Excellence scheme and recently a delegation from Japan visited our Bradford Interchange to see the range of measures and procedures we have in place to help disabled people, older people and people with dementia feel safe.

�The supporting information which we made available in Braille, large print and Easy Read for our recent Your Travel Your Say consultations received excellent feedback and disabled passengers have been using our Travel Assistance Cards since 2014.

Partnership working with Dementia Action Alliance.

The Combined Authority works closely with the Dementia Action Alliance (DAA) in the five West Yorkshire districts and dementia awareness sessions have been run for staff based in its Metro bus stations. Further training sessions are planned over the next few months at which staff who attend will become a �Dementia Friend�

Local DAA coordinators have already worked with some local bus operators to run dementia awareness information sessions for bus drivers, including AccessBus drivers in Leeds and some Arriva and First Bus drivers in Kirklees.

Travel Assistance Cards are designed to help disabled and vulnerable people when using public transport. The cards can be downloaded here (opens in new window) and used when getting on the bus to let drivers know about any requirements people may have.

Steve Poole, Chair of Yorkshire and Humber Dementia Action Alliance said:

�Accessibility to transport is crucial if we are not to feel and be increasingly isolated. This need is accentuated as people become older�and are living with Dementia. Throughout the last four years the Dementia Action Alliances and Dementia Friendly Communities across Yorkshire and Humberside�have�worked to build successful cross sector partnerships.

�These partnerships have created a better understanding and awareness of the needs of people�living with Dementia. This has led to�more effective and sympathetic delivery of services based on need.�The examples showcased at last week�s workshop demonstrate how far we have come and point to the direction in which we need to continue travelling.��

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