HcL Transport is a charity that provides supported door-through-door transport for people with mobility challenges – whether this be due to age, disability, Additional Support Needs, Health issues (long or short term) or geographic remoteness. Our services are much more than transport. They supporting people who would otherwise not be able to, to get out of their home to do their own shopping, or access other local facilities. This support helps them maintain independence and enable them to stay in their own home for longer.
What do we mean by door-through-door support? Our drivers not only collect passengers from their front door but help passengers from inside their home and onto the bus. This can include helping them put their coat on, turning the key to lock their home and assisting them from their home to the vehicle and safely into a seat and fastening their seatbelt. The driver assists them from their seat, off the bus and into their destination. On the return journey the driver provides the same assistance from where the passenger is, onto the bus and then into their home. They also, for example, take the passengers shopping from their trolley onto the bus and then off the bus and into their home.
Each of our buses can carry two wheelchair passengers in their wheelchair. Each bus is fitted with a wheelchair lift at the rear of the vehicle meaning wheelchair passengers do not have to leave their chair to travel with us. They also face forward, which they tell us is a huge plus compared to, for example, taxis.
We have been running our two services – Dial-A-Ride and Dial-A-Bus for 37 years now across West Lothian, Edinburgh, East Lothian and Midlothian. In 2019-20 we provided 86,463 passenger journeys to people with mobility issues. That is an average of 1,662 passengers a week. Our services are:
Dial-A-Ride provides a door-through-door transport service and journeys are to wherever the passenger wants to go – to medical appointments, meet friends, to church, visits to family, to the shops, cinema or theatre, to Waverley or Edinburgh Airport.
Dial-A-Bus provides transport from home to local shopping centres / large supermarkets. The Service operates at least once a week from most areas in Edinburgh and the Lothians taking passengers to Shopping Centres including The Centre, Livingston, The Gyle, Cameron Toll and Straiton Retail Park. We also take passengers to Asdas, Morrisons, Tescos and Sainsburys across the four local authorities.
Service users have told us in the last 12 months:
“If it wasn’t for Dial-A-Ride my husband would not get out. It’s an excellent service and very friendly staff.”
“It gives me some independence, when I go out, I do not have to rely on my family”.
“I cannot overestimate how very good this service is, especially having the drivers take shopping in to the kitchen for me. I have several steps to my front door and being disabled I wouldn’t be able to manage this without their help. Office staff and drivers are always very helpful and cheerful.”
“I could not do without this service. The drivers are always very helpful, I appreciate everything they do for me”.
“Dial-A-Ride gives me the freedom to travel further afield with my wheelchair. The service is reliable, and the staff are not only helpful but very cheery.”
Our services are vital to so many people in West Lothian. It allows them independence, enables them to get out of their home, meet people, reducing isolation and improving wellbeing while contributing to a sense of community. On the bus, people who would not know each other without this service, have a great comradery, they look out for each other and keep in touch out with the Dial-A services.
Dial-A-Ride is fully operational again. Services were limited during lockdown but we were operational – for key NHS appointments that the NHS did not cancel and for a few funerals. As our drivers, that were not furloughed, were not fully booked we supported a number of charities and local organisations to help deliver food parcels and meals to the more vulnerable in our community, some of whom would be our passengers in another situation.
Dial-A-Bus is not operational yet, but we do hope that this will start again very soon.