Our Travelling with Confidence project, grant-funded by the Motability Foundation, empowers hundreds of disabled people to develop their confidence, skills and resilience when planning and making trips by rail and connected modes.
Southeast Communities Rail Partnership is one of four core delivery partners for the project. Read on to hear about how their team has worked with a local college to co-produce initiatives and empower disabled people to overcome barriers to travel.
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For many young adults, catching a train is part of everyday life. However, for some learners – including those at The Oaks Specialist College in Kent – rail travel can be unfamiliar, confusing or overwhelming.
While some learners at the college were already travelling independently, others needed support to build the confidence and practical skills to access their community, future workplaces and wider opportunities. This is where the Travelling with Confidence programme came in.
“I had a small group of learners who could potentially gain employment during their time at the college,” saidTracy Simmonds, careers coordinator at The Oaks. “These students were a mix of first- and third-year learners, including those who live locally as well as out of county. All required education on rail safety, how to use a train, and how to communicate with rail staff to buy a ticket and ask for assistance when travelling.”
The need was clear. Because The Oaks supports young people aged 18-25 with learning disabilities from across a wide area, including the London Borough of Bromley, Sussex and the Isle of Sheppey, bus travel alone is not always possible. If a learner secured a work placement, volunteering role or future job, they might need to travel by train, and Tracy wanted her group to feel confident and prepared before that moment arrived.
“Helping young adults with special educational needs to find employment or voluntary roles within their local community can be challenging,” Tracy explained. “If we are successful in securing an opportunity for our young person, we want to do everything we can to ensure they are equipped to feel safe, confident and happy – and we do not want travel to be a barrier to their future prospects.”
The programme began with Southeast Communities Rail Partnership facilitating a workshop covering how to plan a journey, buy a ticket, ask for help and navigate trains and stations safely. This gave the learners a good foundation of knowledge before they stepped onto a platform. With co-production at the heart of the Travelling with Confidence programme, the participants shaped their own learning by sharing their personal travel goals, which included taking trains to London and Birmingham to visit relatives, and going to the seaside during the holidays.
Starting to plan their trips gave the participants a chance to use a variety of train apps, which became an important tool. Being able to check journey progress while on the train helped them feel more in control.
The students’ first journey was to Hastings. They bought tickets using both ticket machines and via the ticket office, where they could also practice speaking to railway staff to ask for support. For many, this was a chance to test skills they had only discussed in the classroom. For others, it was the beginning of overcoming deep anxiety about public transport and communication.
The group also identified some gaps in their own knowledge which could be addressed through further training, such as using the monorail and changing between different types of public transport. As part of the programme, they planned a further trip to Gatwick Airport, changing trains at Redhill and experiencing the monorail first-hand.
Following this, the students completed an even more complex journey: a train to London Waterloo East, Thames Clipper to North Greenwich and Tube back to London Waterloo. Each journey added another layer of confidence, demonstrating that unfamiliar routes, busy stations and different modes of transport could be managed with the right preparation and support.
One of the most significant changes came from two participants who began the programme with specific barriers. One participant with anxiety did not use any form of public transport and had a fear of using buses. Through building trust and understanding, he developed a stronger sense of safety and built a greater understanding of the tools available to help him. Despite being fearful, he went on to complete the full programme.
Another participant was already confident using buses but avoided independent train travel because she found it confusing, busy and difficult, particularly the Underground. By the end of the programme, she successfully used the London Underground with the help of noise-cancelling headphones. What had once felt overwhelming became possible.
For The Oaks, the benefit of travel training was not limited to learning how to buy a ticket or read a timetable. The programme helped learners develop confidence, problem-solving and communication skills and, above all, enjoyment in travelling by train.
Ellen Cameron, Travelling with Confidence programme coordinator, said: “By the end of their engagement with Southeast Communities Rail Partnership, students from The Oaks had seen more than practical progress. Learners had challenged fears, navigated new environments, used apps to support their journeys, communicated with railway staff and experienced travel as something that could bring freedom rather than anxiety.
“The full impact may continue to emerge over time, but the early signs are clear: travel training had opened up a whole world of new possibilities.”
Madeleine Mills, education officer with Southeast Communities Rail Partnership, said: “Before we received funding from the Motability Foundation, our ‘Try a Train’ programme consisted of one workshop and one train trip. The Travelling with Confidence programme has enabled us to offer several workshops and trips for a far better learning opportunity.
“Whilst working with the group of young people over an extended period of time, I have seen them grow in confidence in front of my eyes. One young person had a fear of missing her stop, so on every journey we would count the stops together until she was confident to do it by herself.
“Each trip reinforced their learning from the previous trip and expanded their horizons to show them what’s possible in the future.”
Ruba Aljarf, programme director at Motability Foundation, said: “We believe transport problems should not be a barrier to disabled people living the lives they choose, so we act together to find solutions to the challenges they face.
“A particularly valuable aspect of the Travelling with Confidence project has been its co-production approach. Delivery partners have worked closely with beneficiaries to develop travel training and resources, while also creating opportunities for disabled people to share their lived experience with the wider rail industry.”
Keep up to date with future news, projects and events from Southeast Communities Rail Partnership via their website.