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The News Desk

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Author: Abby Lucas

28 May 2021

For teachers delivering life skills based content to the thousands of students who require a little extra help, accessing the local community with their class is crucial to reaching their outcomes. Training for travel on Transperth services is crucial to achieving independence, as for many students it will remain as their key method of transportation beyond their school years.

Transperth Education recently had the opportunity to work with students from Belridge Secondary Education Support, discussing journey planning, safety and ticketing with their students both in class and out on the Transperth network.  Unfortunately for some students, some physical barriers to accessing public transport remained.

“We have many students who have difficulty walking, poor vision and spatial awareness deficits so they were at risk of tripping on the uneven surface at the bus stop. They had a big step up or down when boarding and alighting, putting students at risk of falling,” said Sue Osborne from Belridge SHS Education Support

“Additionally, the steep angle of the bus ramp would require two staff members to push the chairs up into the bus, putting our students and staff at risk of injury.”

The team at Transperth Education, through the Public Transport Authority’s Bus Stop Upgrade Program, arranged for the school’s local stops to be upgraded over the Term 2 school holidays.

“Since the upgrade to our bus stops, students can now step to safely board and alight the bus without assistance, and wheelchair users can now board and alight, for a safer experience for our entire class when accessing the local community.”

If you or someone you know is experiencing barriers to accessing Transperth services, don’t hesitate to get in touch with Transperth Education to see how we can assist getting your class out and about.

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