ABILITY - Connecting people with places

Not sure if you've heard of ABILITY which is a local not-for-profit group, but just to give you a better idea about what this not-for-profit scheme is all about, we had a chat with one of the drivers who is a local volunteer for ABILITY.

Chris Carter, one of the drivers of the Northampton bus service and drives regularly for ABILITY in a smart comfortable minibus. The services supports many villages and the outskirts of Northampton such as Hunsbury and Duston.

A bit about Chris

Although ABILITY do employ some paid drivers, Chris has been helping as an unpaid volunteer for four years. Why does he do it? Chris was impressed with a similar service he found operating in Dorset which his mother used. So, when he came across ABILITY he thought he would like to help his local community. Chris’s philosophy is to treat passengers as he would like his mother to be treated.

Chris is so helpful during the shopping trip and it was obvious that he has developed a great rapport with his passengers. After 30 minutes shopping, the passengers congregate in the coffee shop. This is where the true magic of the ABILITY scheme comes to light. Having completed the mundane but essential chore of the weekly shop everyone had a really enjoyable time putting the world to right over tea coffee and cake. This is what the ABILITY shopping trip is all about, all too soon it is time to get back on the bus to return the happy shoppers to their homes, collecting another passenger from the town centre and dropping off passengers in Hunsbury then made the reverse trip back to Hackleton and Horton. Chris then returned other passengers back to Piddington. Shopping can be a daunting experience, however an ABILITY shopping trip is quite a different experience.

The service is a flexible bus service which picks people up from home or a bus stop, destinations include local supermarkets and town centres.

The basic about ABILITY is that it is a social enterprise providing local community bus services to help reduce loneliness and social isolation.

ABILITY's Northampton bus service from Hackleton area for example, operates three times per week Tuesday, Thursday and Friday providing a regular service into Northampton Town centre by All Saints Church. The service also includes the areas around Duston, Hunsbury and Wootton, taking people to supermarkets and garden centres, Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrisons, Asda, Waitrose, Lidl and Aldi.

The bronze level service is totally free to concessionary bus pass holders.

For a minimal annual subscription users can benefit from the plus service by upgrading to either gold or silver services

To use the service passengers need to be registered and journeys booked in advance.

In addition to the regular service ABILITY offers members the option to book onto the day trips, with weekly trips to popular leisure destinations around the county. Previous trips have been a great success, with destinations including Beckworth Emporium, Bourton on the water and Rushden Lakes.

It is difficult to get your head around how a service that is so good and still free to concessionary bus pass holders. The shopping trip service provided by ABILITY is wonderful and free, or if you upgrade to the silver and gold level service it is ridiculously cheap.

ABILITY's service is so much more than its strap line connecting people with places suggests. In my opinion, it is more important it connects people to places in a fantastically sociable way!

Did you know? The ABILITY bus service is open to everyone to use not just concessionary bus pass holders. Anyone can use this service.

Simply pre book your journey at which time you will be advised of the mileage fare and payment options.

As an example, the approximate cost for a single fare from Hackleton to Northampton is currently about £5 much cheaper than a taxi fare!

ABILITY Connecting people with places

ABILITY transport was set up as a not-for-profit community interest company, with the primary goal of reducing social isolation and loneliness. In 2018, directors Lynn and Nigel Hinch discovered a real need to connect isolated rural areas which had been left behind by the wider transport network. Years of reduced government spending and cuts to local bus subsidies had resulted in a significant reduction in the number of bus routes. Almost overnight, villages had which had relied upon public transport to access essential services suddenly found themselves cut off and isolated.

Nigel says, “When understand what the issues are, bus cuts are inevitable, but it comes a bit of a joke when we've got more passengers on our bus than a double decker that is driving past”.

The project took six months to set up and went live on the 1st of January 2019 with one minibus. Within days, Hackleton Parish Council called ABILITY to say that their local bus service had been cancelled. As Lynn says we had spent six months in planning and knew where we were going and what needed to be done, so we were able to start the service for Hackleton the very next day.

Ever since then, ABILITY has expanded and is currently operating with ten minibuses across 62 different parish councils. We now have hundreds of members across West Northamptonshire and North Oxfordshire, helping local communities stay connected and in turn improving peoples mental and physical well-being, supported by a great team.

So if you would like to be involved in this service please give us a call on 01327 604123.