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Goole and District Community Transport Group is a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee. It serves the Goole and Howden areas with a community transport service. It was established in 2003 as a project sponsored by Boothferry CVS.

What our organisation does

Goole & District Community Transport Group, also known as The Goole GoFar, provides a service for the inhabitants of Goole and its neighbourhood who are in need of such a service because of age, sickness, disability, poverty or lack of available safe and
adequate public passenger services.

Our purpose is to:
• Enable and facilitate the social inclusion of those who face barriers to inclusion due to transport difficulties.

• Offer enhanced transport arrangements for those travelling for medical reasons.

Main activities include:

a) Provision of mini-buses to hire service to local voluntary and community groups
b) Provision of transport for a weekly door to door shopping service
c) Provision of vehicle for Patient Transport! Ambulance work
d) A means of engaging with local members of the community wishing to volunteer
e) Provision of a quarterly newsletter to member organisations, potential members and stakeholders

The Goole GoFar has also contributed to the economic impact in the town of Goole in the following areas.

Take people shopping

We bring in people from the surrounding villages to use local shops.

Training and voluntary programme

People have gained skills to start or return to full time/part time employment.

We have safeguarded local jobs by

Using local services e.g. fuel, servicing of vehicles, local printing firm and local catering companies for buffets etc. These companies in turn benefit the local economy. We have sourced work out to local bus companies when we have been unable to offer our service.

Allowed parents to return to work by ensuring their children are taken to school and delivering them to after school clubs. This in turn keeps the after school club running and creates more employment opportunities. By being based at The Courtyard, a community building, established for voluntary community organisations, we are helping to raise awareness of the voluntary sector.

The Goole GoFar not only serves those with no public transport but also practices equal access for people with many and varied areas of disability. Those who cannot access conventional public transport by virtue of disability can usually find a place in the GoFar vehicle. Not only does the group offer a service to users but also offers volunteering opportunities giving many people a worthwhile rewarding experience. Volunteers are trained and the organisation has undertaken many training exercises including the Midas scheme.

Goole Town Council has worked with GoFar since it started and has been very supportive. To date 2 town councillors and the clerk are representatives on the board of directors for the GoFar. Partnerships have been forged and mutual benefit been derived from the relationship. Overall the GoFar is seen by the Council to be a valuable operator which specialises in building stronger communities by connecting people with a variety of services and other people and helps to reduce rural isolation and deprivation in the Goole and surrounding area. The GoFar has just finished delivering a 3 year service level agreement with the council and hope to secure a further SLA with them till 2010.
Christine Dales, Project Co-ordinator.