Clair Dade: Chelmsford Community Transport

Clair Dade from Chelmsford Community Transport was today’s speaker. We have pledged ourselves to donate £1,000 to Chelmsford Community Transport for five years, of which this is the fourth.

The purpose of Clair’s visit was to bring us up to date on the organisation’s current situation. As one would expect, the Covid-19 pandemic made a great difference to their operations. They closed their normal activities and the office staff worked from home but they were able to continue employing their two paid drivers. Fortunately the public funding they received was kept at the same level.

Instead of arranging journeys they started delivering essential supplies to their regular customers. Orders and payment would be taken over the phone and the delivery made by one of the drivers.

They became aware that some of their customers had become the victims of scams, which have increased during the pandemic. They therefore made sure the customers had access to information on scams and how to spot them.

They restarted providing transport once it became feasible again, making sure that government guidelines were followed. This meant that the passenger capacity of the two minibuses was severely reduced.

Things have become easier. However, some customers are reluctant to venture out now and the number of volunteer driver has gone down from fifteen to five. Before the pandemic passenger journeys were running at about 3,000 per month. Currently there are about 2,000 per month.

Nevertheless Chelmsford Community Transport does have plans to extend its activities and start day trips again. They recently acquired a third minibus.