In 1981, Action Hampshire (then Hampshire Council of Community Service) undertook a voluntary transport survey which recommended that the county council appoint a broker to act as a contact between community transport services and users. As a result of this, HCC appointed a voluntary transport officer in 1982 – the first role of this nature in the county!
This new and “progressive” model was promoted as a national recommendation in a 1985 report which said, “If greater use is to be made of minibuses within the community, then more resources will have to be made available for advice and coordination on a local basis. The development of such resources and expertise within county councils’ public transport coordination sections is essential and we would encourage the establishment of more posts similar to the Voluntary Transport Officer in Hampshire”.
One of the early successes of this role was to bring 220 minibuses owned by parent-teacher associations for school use under the Council’s insurance scheme, which made these resources available to the wider community. HCCS’s report laid the foundation of all of the community transport offerings in the county today.
Source: Community Transport: Policy Planning and Practice, 1995 (available via this link)
