Glasgow, Drumchapel
Project: Drumchapel Community Transport
Grant Awarded: £100,000
About
This grant was awarded to secure the future of Drumchapel Communuity Transport as a sustainable community-led social enterprise, providing a valuable service to groups and individuals in the neighbourhood. Funding was provided as the project was in its second year following a period of pilot funding, allowing it to expand and professionalise its activities. Until recently, local voluntary groups in Drumchapel could also access minibus hire from Drumchapel Adventure Group - a local charity providing outward bound type services across the city - operating a fleet of minibuses, which are made available to other groups during downtimes. Though, unlike Drumchapel Communuity Transport, groups using the buses would need to provide their own MIDAS trained driver.
Within the last year, Drumchapel Adventure Group has been wound up and its operation subsumed within Glasgow Community & Safety Services, a charity established by Glasgow City Council to operate a range of community safety/anti-social behaviour programmes and consisting of various former council departments. As a result the minibus fleet has also transferred to (effectively) council ownership. As a result, the minibuses have no longer been available for Drumchapel groups to access at downtimes. A number of groups that formerly used the Adventure Group's buses have taken up membership of Drumchapel Communuity Transport as a consequence.
The existence of Drumchapel Communuity Transport as a dedicated, community-led community transport charity has ensured that those organisations and their members and service users are still able to access affordable transport locally. This demonstrates the project's success in ensuring sustainable local services - one of the FST aims.