A new project is helping young adults with disabilities build their confidence and feel safer when using public transport across Northumbria Police Force area.
With support from the Commissioner’s Community Fund, facilitated by Community Foundation North East, North Tyneside Disability Forum (NTDF) has developed a youth-led programme focused on independent travel skills, managing anxiety and helping people understand where to turn if they ever feel unsafe, worried or uncomfortable while travelling.
National research shows that 54% of disabled people often or always feel anxious when using public transport. NTDF members have also shared their own experiences of anti-social behaviour, with some young people describing how they have felt targeted, taunted or excluded while travelling.
Wanting to better understand these experiences and help address some of the barriers people face, NTDF secured funding from Northumbria’s Police and Crime Commissioners Fund to devise a new project.
The work is about bringing together young people, transport providers, police and partners to help improve confidence, raise awareness of support available and increase understanding of hate-related crime and the impact of anti-social behaviour.
The project is expected to engage with more than 30 disabled people over the course of 26 weeks. So far, activities have included focus groups exploring feelings of safety on public transport, the creation of a participant-led video sharing experiences and advice, and a series of learning visits.
These visits have given young people the opportunity to explore transport hubs, meet staff, learn about safety features such as help points and emergency assistance buttons, and gain hands-on experience travelling independently. One recent visit was hosted by Nexus and was praised by attendees.
Alongside this, the organisation is working with local community police and schools to promote greater understanding of disability, challenge negative behaviours and encourage more respectful and inclusive environments for everyone.
The Commissioner’s Community Fund, established by Police and Crime Commissioner Susan Dungworth, and facilitated by Community Foundation North East supports local organisations delivering projects that strengthen communities, tackle crime and anti-social behaviour, and help people feel safer.
NTDF’s project closely aligns with these aims and complements the work of the Safer Transport Northumbria Partnership (STNP).
The partnership brings together policing, transport operators, local authorities, the North East Strategic Mayoral Authority and other key organisations to address issues that can affect confidence in public transport, including crime, anti-social behaviour, violence against women and girls, accessibility concerns and the fear of crime. Together, partners are working to ensure public transport across Northumbria is safe, welcoming, accessible and trusted by everyone who uses it.
Police and Crime Commissioner Susan Dungworth said:
“North Tyneside Disability Forum is a fantastic organisation and we are proud to support the work they do.
“Everyone should feel confident and safe when using public transport, but we know this is not always the reality, particularly for disabled people and other groups who may face additional barriers or feel more vulnerable.
“Through the Safer Transport Northumbria Partnership, we are working closely with partners to make our transport network more accessible, inclusive and responsive to people’s concerns. Listening to people’s experiences is a really important part of that.
“This project has provided valuable insight into the challenges some people face, while also giving young people practical skills, knowledge and confidence. I’m grateful to everyone who has shared experiences and is working to help improve people’s feelings of safety across the transport network in our area.”
North Tyneside Disability Forum, said: “Our project led by young people, is working to repair the harm caused by ASB by helping them to build their confidence in being out and about following bad experiences especially travelling on the metros where we have many instances of our Young Adults being ‘targeted’ and ‘taunted’ by other young people.”
Erika Allen, Quality Health Safety Security and Environment (QHSSE) Director at Nexus, said: “This is a really worthwhile project, and it is one that we fully support.
“Running an accessible and inclusive public transport network is the cornerstone of what we do. Safety is our top priority. We want people from all walks of life to have the confidence to travel on the services that we deliver. Hate crime has no place in our society.
“Nexus plays a key role in supporting the PCC, the police, and our local authority partners in keeping the public safe when using the local bus and Metro system.
“We are continually focused on improving safety and security across our networks. This builds on the work we have already done on the Tyne and Wear Metro, including the roll out of our dedicated security teams, our new trains, investment in CCTV, and the launch of our new WhatsApp message alert system to allow customers to contact the Metro control room more easily and confidentially, should they need to.”
Some experiences shared during recent discussions with young people at North Tyneside Disability Forum include:
“Sometimes I feel scared when travelling. Gangs of people make me feel unsafe and sometimes they bump into me. They say ‘what are you looking at?’ or ‘what’s wrong with you?’ or throw my bag on the floor. I just ignore it or say ‘mind your own business’.”
“Sometimes I feel safe; sometimes I don’t. When there are big school groups they say not nice things. It’s better when there are more police.”
“I don’t like going out on transport at night, when it’s dark and there can be funny people about. On a bus I feel the driver can help me.”
“Things I don’t like are things like people causing arguments, people drinking too much, people being unkind. I always feel safe when I get off the Metro at Wallsend. I was scared when I was younger, but I am more confident the older I get.”
ENDS
Notes to editors
NTDF provides cradle to grave support for all people disadvantaged by some aspect of disability, ill health or vulnerability in North Tyneside. They especially prioritise younger people, who are the future leaders of the user led charity, and older people, who have lived life experience and expertise to share. From its base in Shiremoor, NTDF provides a wide range of activities, opportunities and support, morning, afternoon evening and weekend including music and singing groups, sports, complementary health programmes, arts and crafts, and youth groups, information advice and guidance, advocacy and self help, salon services, employability and training, vocational qualifications, heritage and culture. A Community Café in the charity’s eco friendly Community Gardens works with a Social Supermarket to tackle food insecurity, fuel and white good poverty. More information from info@ntdf.co.uk www.ntdf.co.uk
