Independent Travel Training -Frequently Asked Questions

Independent travel training is the teaching of the skills required to enable an individual with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities to start travelling independently and safely to and from school/college or place of work and within their local community with confidence.
Travel training involves teaching an individual to walk a particular route or travel by public transport, some methods of transport may be more appropriate than others depending on the individual or where they live.

Traveling independently is an important skill to gain as part of preparing for adulthood and developing an individual’s independence, confidence, resilience and self-esteem. It enables easier access to future educational and employment opportunities and a vast range of transferable skills will be developed. 

To be eligible for independent travel training a young person must:

• Be aged 14 years old and over

• Have Special Educational Needs and Disabilities

• Live within Bedford Borough

A young person or someone on behalf of a young person (a parent/carer or professional) can refer for independent travel training, please find our referral form here.

On the referral form we will ask for some information that will help us start to learn about the individual being referred, the level of support they may need and if travel training would be suitable for them.

Once a referral has been received, it will be reviewed by the team, if the referral is accepted it can proceed to the next stage, where an in-depth assessment will be completed with the young person and their parent/carer. The assessment will take place at the family home and where we will gain more details about the young person, their individual needs, their strengths and where they need additional support to ensure independent travel training is a safe and suitable option for them.

To apply for independent travel training please complete the referral form below

Independent_travel_training_referral_form

Once a young person has been accepted onto the independent travel training programme, each young person is assigned their own Travel Trainer who will support them on a 1:1 basis whilst they are learning to become independent. Although on occasion a different Travel Trainer may support the young person, this will provide an opportunity for the young person to experience change, meet new people and maintain their skills with someone who is less familiar.

The travel training process will occur in 5 stages:

Stage 1:

The young person and the Travel Trainer will do the journey to and from a selected destination (school/college/workplace), this will enable the young person to have full support whilst they learn about all aspects of their journey. This stage includes pedestrian training including, how to safely walkalong a road, how and when to safely cross a road. If buses are a part of the young person’s route, they will learn how to use their bus passes, learn how to understand bus timetables and routes.

How to identify people of safety in the community (bus drivers/police/etc) will also be covered should the young person need assistance.  The young person and Travel Trainer will continue to repeat this stage until it becomes familiar to the young person.

Stage 2:

Once the young person, their parent/carers and the Trainer are happy and feeling confident, the amount of support will slowly start to withdraw. This will be different for each young person and a discussion will take place before the support starts to be withdrawn. At this stage the young person should start to take short unaccompanied journeys, for example, instead of the Travel Trainer and young person meeting at the young person’s house, they will start to meet down the road, then at the end of the road and then at the bus stop.

If buses are not required as part of the young person’s journey the points at which they meet the Travel Trainer will continue to move away from the starting location and closer to the destination. This stage will happen slowly to ensure the young person is comfortable and confident throughout.

Stage 3:

This stage is referred to as shadowing, this is when the young person will start to do their journey by themselves with the Travel Trainer sitting or walking nearby in case, they need support. The young person will see the Travel Trainer at the bus stop, and they will both get on the same bus but sit separately. Don’t worry the Travel Trainer will ensure they can always see the young person on the bus.  
If buses are not part of the young person’s journey, the Travel Trainer will shadow the young person walking to their destination. In all situations the Travel Trainer will speak to the young person once they reach their location to see how they felt doing the journey.

Stage 4:

This final stage before the young person is independent, the young person will complete their journey on their own and meet the Travel Trainer at the destination. This will occur a few times to ensure the young person if confident and happy with completing their journey on their own.

Once this stage is complete the young person will receive a certificate confirming they have successfully achieved independent travel training.

Stage 5:

The Travel Trainers will remain contactable by phone or email after the training programme has finished, and they will arrange to catch up with the young person and their parent/carer about 4-6 weeks after completing they training to see how they are getting on and gain feedback from the whole process.

Prior to moving onto the next stage throughout any part the training programme a discussion will take place between the young person, their parent/carer and the Travel Trainer.

Independent Travel Training will cover the following areas:

• Road safety

• Stranger awareness

• Personal safety

• How and where to ask for help

• What to do if things go wrong

• What to do in an emergency

• Planning a journey

• Learning routes and landmarks

• How to use timetables and buy tickets

• How to access public transport

The young person will be given a booklet and tools upon starting travel training which will support them throughout and beyond the training programme.

This depends upon the young person themselves, as we do not rush them through training. It is estimated that a young person will be fully trained within 6-12 weeks, a review of their progress will occur 3-6 weeks after they have started their training programme or earlier if there are any concerns.

Ongoing support will be available following the completion of their training via phone calls and/or emails and a check in 4-6 weeks after they have completed their initial training.

The decision that a young person has completed their training is made by the parents, the Trainer and the young person together.

 This will be different from one person to the next and ranges between 1 and 5 days a week. This will be discussed as part of the assessment process and will be outlined in the young person’s action plan. 

This will be different from one person to the next, some young people will start their travel training but just doing their morning journey to school/college then progress to doing morning and afternoon journeys. Others may start their travel training by doing both the morning and afternoon journeys in the first instance.

An action plan is a document that will be created after the assessment which will outline everyone’s roles and responsibilities whilst the young person is learning to travel independently. This includes the young person, their parent/carers, the Travel Trainers and the Transport Team.

The plan will include a rough timeline travel training is expected to take, what days and journeys will travel training be taking place.

Transport arrangement will remain in place until the young person has successfully completed their travel training. A discussion will take place with the young person, parent/carers, Travel Trainers and Transport before any transport arrangements are stopped.

For example: depending on the arrangements agreed in the action plan a young person may have travel training on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday and have their usual transport on Tuesday and Thursday

To take part in travel training a young person will preferably need;

• a mobile phone is preferred (fully charged and with credit and internet access)

• Bus pass (if eligible a disabled person’s bus pass)

• Weather appropriate clothing/supplies (i.e. coat/gloves/suncream/ umbrella)

• Some emergency money (i.e. enough for a single ticket)

• Emergency contact details (parent/carers and an alternative person)

• School/college or work placement details

• Medication (if applicable)

• I.D. or Pegasus card (if applicable)

Emergency contacts and school/college contacts should be stored in the young person’s phone, but it is advised to have a copy of the contact details on a piece of paper in the young person’s bag.

A disabled person’s bus pass can be applied for online, please visit https://www.bedford.gov.uk/parking-roads-and-travel/public-transport/bus-pass/bus-pass-how-apply

If a paper copy of the application form is preferred, these are available for collection from the Customer Service Centre or Borough Hall Reception.

A Pegasus card is aimed at those whose disability or illness makes it difficult for them to communicate when speaking over the phone or face to face. It’s designed to make it easier to contact the emergency services quickly and easily. It’s a secure database which contains details registered by an individual, such as medical conditions, emergency contact details, the individual’s personal details. They only have to say ‘Pegasus’ and give their pin number on their card or show their Pegasus card to a member of the emergency services.

A Pegasus card can be applied for online, for more information please visit https://www.beds.police.uk/Pegasus

Travel Trainers have extensive experience working with children and young people who have a variety of needs and abilities. They also have DBS clearance (Disclosure and Barring Service) and have received up to date training relevant to supporting young people with travel training, such as first aid training, medical awareness training (epilepsy/asthma/anaphylaxis), Autism awareness, risk assessment and health and safety training. If a young person has specific needs and additional training is required this will be considered but could delay the training start date whilst this training is undertaken. 

Different Travel Trainers may work with the young person throughout their travel training, this enables the young person to gain experience transferring the skills they have learnt between different travel trainers.

Whilst we aim to inform the young person and their parent/carers who the young person will be working with as part of the action plan, the trainer can change with late notice, but we will inform the young person and their parent/carers at the earliest opportunity

Travel training is offered free of charge, to young people who meet the eligibility criteria.

Depending on the young person’s circumstances the travel fare may be paid for by SEND or School Transport if they are eligible for school transport. Alternatively the young person or the parent/carers may need to contribute to some of the fare or pay for the full fare. Anyone taking part in Travel Training will be informed which applies to their individual circumstances.

For more information on SEND Transport please visit 

https://www.bedford.gov.uk/schools-education-and-childcare/schools-and-colleges/school-transport/send-school-transport

To keep young people safe during travel training, full risk assessments are undertaken for each individual young person’s needs, the route they’ll be taking, as well as a general travel training risk assessment.

We will ensure young people are given the time they need to be confident with every stage of their journey before moving onto the next stage. Discussions will be held with the young person, their family and other relevant professionals before the young person progresses onto the next stage throughout the travel training process.

The Travel Trainers will endeavour to prepare young people to deal with a wide range of scenarios through ‘what happens if…?’ style questions and discussion. These can include how to cope with: crowds, noise, missing the bus, traffic, diversions/road closures and delays.

If the bus is delayed or if the young person isn’t going to make it to school or home on time, the Travel Trainers will teach and encourage them to phone their school and parent/carers from their mobile phone so that they know where they are and that they will be delayed.

Please be aware whilst the aim is to prepare the young people for many different scenarios, it is not possible to prepare them for every scenario. Many of the skills they will learn could be transferable to many unexpected situations. If there is a particular scenario a young person needs support with please let the travel trainer know as soon as possible.

Following the initial assessment if it is deemed that travel training is not suitable at this time, it is not a no forever!

The young person will be informed in writing by the independent travel training team and if applicable, the team will advise on what to work on to potentially be accepted for travel training in the future. For example, a young person may need to be a bit older for travel training to be suitable or they may need to develop their skills more before travel training can take place.

There are some tips below on what can be done at home to get ready for independent travel training and there is more information in the travel training leaflet.

There are lots of things parents and carers can do to support the young person before they start Travel Training. They can start to have discussions with the young person about safe strangers, what to do if they are lost, how to use their phones to navigate where they are, and they could make some local journeys together to help prepare them for being out and about in the community. This could be walking to the post box to post a letter or visiting the local bus station, so the young person knows what to expect.

The young person could have more responsibility at home to help prepare for independent travel. Things like packing their own bag before going out or going to school, charging their mobile the night before going out and fastening their own coat before leaving the house can help them to become more independent. Encourage the young person to check the weather for the day so that they are prepared and can learn what is suitable for different weather conditions.

Independent travel training enables the young person to have and utilise skills for making journeys independently whatever the weather.
This includes learning how to travel in rain, snow and sunshine, including what to do if a service is delayed, diverted or cancelled.
In the event of severe weather and closures, travel training will be cancelled.

If staff sickness occurs, we will do our best to get another Travel Trainer out to do the travel training, but we cannot guarantee another Trainer will be available due to them supporting other young people.  

We will inform the young person and their parent/carers in any situation where the training will be cancelled at the earliest opportunity. We will aim to arrange alternative transport, if not it will be the parent/carers responsibility to get their child/young person to school.