Young people board bus for independent travel training
Published 18 October 2011
Young people from Highshore and Spa Schools boarded Southwark’s training bus last Wednesday.
The Training bus is a very successful working partnership between Southwark Council, Abellio, Transport for London's Travel Mentoring Service and The Metropolitan Safer Transport Team. During the short trip the young people receive training on a variety of situations, using role play, on all aspects of travelling safely including:
- How to board a bus
- How to handle rowdy passengers
- What to do if they are approached by strangers trying to lure them away
- Road Safety - how to get to and from the bus stop safety
Mayor of Southwark, Councillor Lorraine Lauder MBE joined the pupils on training bus today and said:
"This is great initiative for young people with learning disabilities and the programme is extremely thorough covering different scenarios and highlighting potential hazards that they may face when they travel on a bus.
"I would like to thank all the people involved in delivering the training and I would encourage anyone who has a young person with disabilities to sign up to this essential training."
The training bus is free to all on every second Wednesday of the month. It is just one element of Southwark's comprehensive Independent Travel Training programme which is delivered at schools and colleges. More information can be found on Southwark Council's website.
Wednesday's successful session ended with an excited young person announcing to the team on board "I'm going on my own soon and now I know what to do."
