MINUTES OF MOBILITY FORUM
Tuesday 22nd January 2008
The Ashcroft Room, Fairfield Halls
Present / Roy Phillips (Chair) / Croydon Disability ForumClaire Page (Vice-Chair) / Younger Person Representative
Chunilal Jobanputra (Vice-Chair) / Wheelchair User
Stephen Aselford / First Friday
Trevor Mosses / Commissioning Mgr, Adult Social Services, LBC
Aiden McManus / Divisional Director, LBC
Dave Szostak / Head of Traffic, Trans & Road Safety, LBC
Mairead Barnes / Croydon Disability Forum
Richard Patterson / Head of Building Control, LBC
Joyce Mamode / Dial – A - Ride
Andrew Crooks / Croydon Voluntary Action
Trevor Phillips / LBC Streetscene Team Manager
John Osborne / Access Officer, LBC
Jack Windus / Older Persons’ Network (OPEN)
Robin Hunter / Disability Croydon
Jane Avis / Councillor, LBC
Lisa Davis / Project Officer, LBC
Richard Chatterjee / Councillor, LBC
The Forum would like to congratulate Mike McConnell & his family on the birth of his grand-daughter
The Forum welcomes Andrew Crooks from Croydon Voluntary Action to the group.
1 / Apologies for absence : Barry Paterson, Charlie King, Lucy Waters, Lee Millard, Jackie Sanders, Cllr Steve O’Connell, Rob Macchi, Cllr Russell Jackson, Matthew Smith, Sue Jones, Erica Widmer, Faryal Velmi, Mike McConnell, Daphne Jones
2 / Accuracy of Minutes of Last Meeting: Agreed with one amendment.
Page 9. Mike McConnell’s paragraph on the using the route from LondonBridge to East Croydon, ‘on 5 occasions, despite phoning ahead’ should read ‘…on 13 occasions (from 4/10/07 to 27/11/07) of requested assisted travel assistance….’ And at the end of the paragraph ‘Unfortnately a further case had to be reported on 21/01/08’
3 / Matters Arising
None
4. / Meeting with the Mayor of London’s Representative
John reported that Faryal Velmi from Transport for All has submitted a proposal to the G.L.A. to sponsor a survey on our Mobility Forum to identify strengths and weaknesses, make changes if necessary and then put forward this Forum as a model for the Mayor’s office to encourage other London Boroughs to emulate. Details of this proposal are attached
Jack Windus – can clarification be given on whether or not we will actually meet the Mayor?
Answer – Unlikely as the Mayor has asked his Disability Advisor to speak with us.
Mariead Barnes – Concerning giving costings to the Mayor, do we know how much our Forum costs to run?
Answer - This should be established via the Transport for All survey
5. / Croydon Accessible Transport – Rob Macchi
John read out an e-mail from Rob Macchi in which he says: ‘I shan’t be submitting one (a report) for the moment as things are somewhat in limbo awaiting a meeting between interested parties – for the same reason I must send apologies as I will not be attending the meeting either..’
The Forum expressed disappointment at this reply from Rob.
Mike McConnell is currently trying to arrange a meeting with Croydon Accessible Transport which Robin is also due to attend – no details yet.
Aiden McManus – How do we ensure that Rob Macchi will be attending future Forum meetings?
Answer – the meeting being arranged by Mike is to establish a way forward with CAT on how they are best going to serve people / MMc
6. / Dial – A – Ride – Joyce Mamode
Joyce presented her report.
Dial – A – Ride are in the process of recruiting and training additional staff for their call centre.
Group bookings can be made, depending on availability, but members cannot be assured of travelling together.
The number of people accompanying a passenger has now been limited to 1 carer. This does not include children.
New low floor mini buses are to be introduced in the summer
A 7 day a week booking system is to be introduced
Robin Hunter – 39% of calls answered first time seems to be quite low, do you take bookings via the Internet?
Answer –You can e-mail a booking at the moment. Dial – A- Ride is looking into the possibility of booking on line but this won’t be available for a couple of years.
Jack Windus – Who & how is the service paid for? Are tokens acceptable on Dial – a – Ride
Answer: Transport for London pays for the service and trips are free
Chunilal said that it is difficult to get through in the morning to book a trip and by the afternoon there is nothing available.
Answer: Extra capacity is usually available in the afternoons as there are cancellations and drivers become available from adjacent depots.
Claire Page – would like to Thank Dial- A-Ride for accommodating her trip over the Christmas period
Mairead Barnes – Do you envisage cross Borough trip bookings being allowed?
Answer –This is something being looked at. Some driver zonesdo already cross Borough boundaries.
7. / FreedomPass, Blue Badges & Taxi Card – Trevor Mosses
The Forum would like to express it’s thanks to Stewart Ruston for all his hard work. The Forum welcomed Trevor Mosses who will now be attending the group
Trevor introduced his report.
Blue Badge Guidance will be given out at the next meeting of the Forum
Trevor provided an update on the Taxi Card overspend - we are still waiting for a decision from TfL on this matter and Trevor will feedback to the Forum via John as soon as he has any further information.
Jack Windus – Who are the people who will lose out on FreedomPass?
Tokens are being issued to people who can’t use Freedom Passes do you know about this scheme?
Answer – People who currently hold discretionary passes will be assessed and if they no longer meet the criteria they won’t be issued with a new pass.
The tokens are a scheme which Help the Aged is promoting. We are interested in this scheme but need to get back to Help the Aged for clarification on the details. We hope to do this by Easter.
Chunilal Jobanputra – Can we have a list of where you can & can’t use blue badges in other London Boroughs?
Answer – some Boroughs enforce their own regulations by using different coloured bays etc. These are primarily set aside for badge holders who are residents in areas where parking space limited.Westminster, Camden, City of London and Kensington and Chelsea, currently operate their own scheme. More information can be found by consulting the DfT’s leaflet “Blue Badge scheme: rights and responsibilities in England” which is issued to all blue badge holders. Further copies are available from:
Tel: 0870 1226 236
Fax: 0870 1226 237
Textphone: 0870 1207 405
Or online via / TM
TM
TM
8. / Public Transport Liaison Group – Stephen Aselford
Stephen introduced his report on the new St Pancras International station.
Engineering works mean that this line is currently closed on Saturday’s and Sunday’s.
The 130 Bus route will go straight through Thornton Heath once the island has been removed
Jane Avis – Is there a train from East Croydon to St Pancras at the weekends?
Answer – No. The works mentioned above affect trains from East Croydon to LondonBridge then the underground link to St Pancras
Jack Windus – Do we know about changes to the 466 bus route and are all bus stops to be made request stops?
Answer – Arriva have won the contract for the 466 route from Metronet. The bus number will remain the same. Consultation on making all bus stops request stops is going out shortly.
Chunilal Jobaputra – Can the Metrobus number be publicised to enable people to make complaints?
Answer – you can phone the London Buses customer services as they collect information on all of the operating companies. Call 0845 300 7000 Monday to Friday 9am to 6pm. You will need to provide them with the following information:
- Route Number
- What Stop
- Direction of Travel
- Date & Time of Incident
- Running Number (which is displayed in the front windscreen or on a yellow or white metal plate on the side of the bus.
Southern
Matt Smith has now left and Southern are hoping to appoint a new officer within the next four weeks
First Capital Connect
Andrew Sharp has taken up a new post at First Capital Connect. Lee Millard is has taken over the role and will be attending Forum meetings
9. / Road Safety Partnership – Robin Hunter
Robin introduced his report.
The Road Watch Scheme was a three month pilot in response to community concerns around speeding and an evaluation is now being done by the Police. There is a possibility that equipment purchased for this pilot can be used by other safer neighbourhood teams.
Mairead Barnes – the 20 mile an hour zones outside schools are there time limits and are they enforced?
Answer – the zones are 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days per year. In these zones traffic calming measures have been added to help enforce the speed. The Police don’t enforce speeds below 30 miles an hour / DSZ
10 / Cabinet Members Report – Aiden McManus
Clarification was given on the communication link back to Cabinet.
There is a formal link via the monthly bulletins produced by Cllrs Chris Wright and Steve O’Connell. Members of the Mobility Forum Steering group were asked to look through the bulletin’s and call in any items of concern
Members re-confirmed their support and commitment to the group. Cllr Chris Wright added that although Members might not be able to get to meetings every time, they are contactable.
West London Line
Cllr Wright reported that 6 Boroughs have joined together to try and get the line extended down to East Croydon but the response from the Department for Transport so far has not been satisfactory.
Stephen Aselford – The Freedom Pass on London over-ground service goes to Watford Junction but the Epsom Southern line will only allow the pass to be used as far as Harrow & Wealdstone – can we put pressure on to have the area of the Pass extended?
Cllr Wright will raise this at the next London Councils meeting.
South Central Franchise
This is up for renewal in 2009.
Cllr Chatterjee reported on behalf of Cllr Steven O’Connell that should you see a crime in progress call 999. For other incidents call the normal Croydon Police Station number or the neighbourhood wardens. / CW
11 / Any Other Business
Jack Windus – Accessible Transport Event
Jack had attended an event in November that was organised by Transport for All calledAccessible Transport – Is there light at the end of the tunnel? A workshop was held in the afternoon where delegates discussed the DDA and transport and proposed improvements to accessible transport. Transport for All will be publishing a report on the event. Jack requested that the mobility forum members should be encouraged to support Transport for All to obtain funding from London Councils to enable them to continue their valuable work.
Cllr Russell Jackson has been approached and will be lobbying London Council’s for funding for Transport for all.
Other Items
Jack Windus – Will Forum Members who are not at the meetings be made aware of items that concern them?
Answer – Items are recorded in the minutes, together with actions required, which are then circulated to all of the members.
Trevor Mosses introduced his Strategic Review Paper – a copy of which is attached for your information
10 / Dates of Meetings:
Mobility Forum Meetings:
2ndApril 08
28th May 08
30th July 08 (AGM)
Focus Groups (Members Only):
27th February 08
30th April 08
25th June 08
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