4 July 2006
Mobile Travel Centre heads for Arran
Strathclyde Partnership for Transport’s mobile travel centre will be paying its first visit to the Isle of Arran on Tuesday 11 July and the island will be added to its programme of venues to be visited from now on.
The mobile travel centre - the only one of its kind in Scotland - is manned by SPT staff and will be parked in the Co-op car park, Brodick from 11am to 2.45pm that day. SPT is grateful to Caledonian MacBrayne for their assistance in transporting the vehicle at this busy time of year.
It promotes the use of public transport by bringing the information to rural communities and provides people areas with details about local bus and ferry services, trains, express and long distance coach services, day tours and short stay breaks.
The mobile travel centre is fully accessible to people with mobility impairment and also for those using wheelchairs. It helps passengers with journey planning as well as providing information on trips around Strathclyde, Scotland, the rest of the UK and even destinastions in Europe.
Last month SPT Chair Cllr Alistair Watson, accompanied by Vice Chairs Cllr David McLachlan and Cllr Tom Selfridge, spent a day on the island meeting local Cllr Marjorie Currie and North Ayrshire partnership member Cllr Sam Taylor. The purpose of the visit was to get first hand experience of some of the transport problems faced by islanders.
Cllr Watson said: "Although SPT has worked in partnership with the ferry and train operating companies to ensure timetables deliver joined up journeys and integrated travel, we are not prepared to rest on our laurels and recognise more work still needs to be done.
"I am grateful to Cllr Currie and Cllr Taylor for their time and the visit confirmed there is a need to improve passenger facilities on both sides of the ferry operation. We agreed to work in partnership with North Ayrshire Council and Caledonian MacBrayne to initiate a study into the creation of transport interchanges at both Ardrossan and Brodick and I am expecting this work to start in the autumn."
ends