wmsnt (West Midlands Special Needs Transport)

The Charity providing solutions for those with limited mobility in the West Midlands

OUR VISION

Accessible mobility for all.

OUR MISSION

To increase the social well-being of all the people of the West Midlands who find it difficult or impossible to use conventional public transport through being recognised by our stakeholders as the provider of first choice in meeting their accessible transport needs.

OUR STRATEGY

To increase the availability of high quality and fully accessible transport in the West Midlands through advocacy for the improvement of support to people with mobility issues, and by forming and maintaining partnering arrangements with Centro/ITA, local authorities, health bodies, and other appropriate organisations and passenger groups.

OUR MAIN ACTIVITY

The Charity’s main activity for helping people with mobility problems is its Ring and Ride service which currently provides around 1.9 million trips a year for the Charity’s 70,000 or so registered Passengers.

The Charity also provides a further 200,000 trips a year for children with disabilities, enabling them to travel to and from Special Schools within the area. It also runs a demand responsive local bus service for one of Transport Authorities in the region.

 

The Charity lists amongst its achievements:

  • It is the world’s largest non-statutory provider of door-to-door transport services for people with mobility problems (only Stockholm, Sweden and New York provide more trips for their local populations)
  • The UK Government’s Department for Transport and the Department for Education and Skills have identified the Charity’s contract services for Birmingham Education Department as an example of Best Practice. In their joint Report entitled ‘Travelling to School: an action plan’ they stated that "Parents and pupils like the driver continuity, flexible and responsive service and vehicle quality. Schools like the new service because the contractor has taken over route planning, freeing up time for two teachers in the school".
  • It successfully led the lobbying campaign to persuade Central Government to extend Fuel Duty Rebate to the Voluntary Sector. The resultant Bus Services Operator Grant has been used to provide the Charity’s registered Passengers with improved services in the form of a Cross-Boundary Ring and Ride service.
  • It has supported specialist suppliers in the UK (such as vehicle manufacturers and converters) in their development of equipment and services which have improved the quality standards provided for Passengers.
  • It has established itself as a provider of quality Training Services within the Community Transport sector with NVQ and RoSPA qualified trainers and assessors. This has enabled it to provide disability awareness and customer care training which has improved standards in other areas of transport which people with disabilities may use, such as Taxi services in Coventry.
  • It is recognised in the Community Transport Sector as a provider of cost-effective and innovative quality transport services for its Passengers and has hosted and assisted a number of local, regional and national organisations in setting up similar dial-a-ride services.
  • In 2001 Councillor Renée Spector, who was then Chair of the Charity, was awarded the MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for her work in promoting accessible transport.

The detailed activities of the Charity are described elsewhere on this web site and further information may be obtained by contacting us at the Charity’s Head Office at:

West Midlands Special Needs Transport
Head Office
80 Park Road
(via Upper Thomas Street)
Aston
Birmingham
B6 5PL
Tel: 0121 327 8128
Fax: 0121 327 9559
Minicom: 0121 359 0593
E-Mail: enquiries@ringandride.org

The Charity is a Member of the Community Transport Association.

It receives financial assistance towards the cost of providing its Ring and Ride service from the West Midlands Passenger Transport Authority in the form of a Grant paid on behalf of the Authority by Centro (the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive).

 

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The Board of West Midlands Special Needs Transport

The Charity has a Board of 14 non-executive Trustees and is a Company Limited by Guarantee. Board Members are elected for 3 year terms of office and consist of persons who have a direct or indirect interest in the provision of community transport services. Please refer to our Annual Report for more information.

Several of the Board are registered Passengers of the Charity’s Ring and Ride service.
In addition to regular Board Meetings, the Board Members maintain a link to the beneficiaries of the Charity (the ‘Users’) by means of the news material distributed by the Charity in printed and audio formats and through an Advisory Group structure.

There is an Advisory Group in each of the eight Ring and Ride operating areas and they in turn elect representatives who sit on the Central Advisory Group which meets under the Chairmanship of the Charity’s Vice-Chair.

The MANAGEMENT of the Charity

The Charity’s day-to-day activities are administered by a management team which is located at the Head Office in Aston, Birmingham and at each of the eight depots from which Ring and Ride and Contract services operate.

The Head Office houses the offices of the Chief Executive, the Operations Manager, the Finance Department and the Personnel Department. It also accommodates the in-house Training facility where wmsnt staff and external staff are trained.

There are nine Ring and Ride depot contacts as follows:

The Wednesbury depot is the base for operations in both the Sandwell and Dudley operating areas and there is a depot at Witton, Birmingham which is the main base for the Charity’s Contract operations.

All of the employees of the Charity are employed on a full or part time basis.

Enquiries, Complaints and Compliments

In the event that you wish to complain about, draw attention to good service or make suggestions about how Ring and Ride operates, the first point of contact should be to ring the District Manager of the operating depot on the numbers indicated below or you can complete the feedback form in User's Voice.
If your call concerns a specific incident please have details of the time, date and location where the incident occurred so that any investigation can be conducted speedily. All complaints will be treated in confidence.

In the event that you wish to contact any of the following Head Office Departments please

call: 0121 327 8128.

fax: 0121 327 9559,

email:enquiries@ringandride.org

 

or write: wmsnt Ltd, Head Office, 80 Park Road, (via Upper Thomas Street), Aston, Birmingham, B6 5PL

(Open 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday)

 

Minicom (for all areas): 0121 359 0593

  • Personnel Department (including Training Department)
  • Insurance matters / Accidents
  • Fleet Management
  • Finance Department
  • Development Manager
  • Office of the Operations Manager
  • Office of the Chief Executive

To contact your local area office and speak to the Depot Manager responsible for Ring and Ride services in your area, ring the following telephone numbers:

Contracts - Telephone: 0121 446 6172
Coventry - Telephone: 02476 602177
Dudley - Telephone: 0121 505 7316
North Birmingham - Telephone: 0121 326 7860
Sandwell - Telephone: 0121 505 7316
Solihull/East Birmingham (also Taxibus) - Telephone: 0121 782 9317
South Birmingham - Telephone: 0121 453 9682
Walsall - Telephone: 01922 402232
Wolverhampton - Telephone: 01902 421515
Minicom (for all areas) - Telephone: 0121 359 0593