A Derbyshire transport charity is ‘likely’ to fold by end of month, reports the BBC. Derbyshire Community Transport (DCT), which operates bus and on-demand services across the county, said it was consulting with staff on the risk of redundancy, and feared that it was ‘highly likely’ to cease trading by the end of October. Derbyshire County Council said it is looking at alternative operators to take over its transport services and is ‘keen to ensure a smooth transition,’ a spokesman adding: “We haven’t given any staff members any notice at the moment, we are consulting on the risk of redundancy. Unfortunately, the trading environment is very tough for community transport organisations.
“Many of our services are contracts commissioned by Derbyshire County Council, which is seeking alternative providers for those services.”
The charity operates a car club which allows passengers to be taken somewhere by a charity volunteer as well as a number of local bus services and the Travel Derbyshire on-demand service in and around Bolsover, Chesterfield and North East Derbyshire.
Derbyshire County Council’s cabinet member for highways assets and transport Councillor Charlotte Cupit said the council had offered DCT a new contract in the Crich area, but the company ‘struggled and agreed to give it up.’ She added: “DCT is a private organisation so we have an advanced partnership board where we meet regularly. I think the public transport network has really suffered with the pandemic, and smaller private operators like DCT have felt that in a much bigger way.
“Our public transport team are doing all they can to find operators for all of these services. We do understand how important these services are to the community.”
The operation was founded in 2010 following a merger between Ripley & District Community Transport, founded in 1986 and later changing its name to Amber Valley Community Transport, and Chesterfield & District Community Transport, which was founded in 1997.
After the organisations merged in 2010, they adopted the name Community Transport for Town and County (CT4TC), also taking over the operations of Clowne Community Transport in 2017.
In April 2018 CT4TC became part of the HCT Group, and in May the same year changed its name to Derbyshire Community Transport. In January 2020 it was mutually decided that a demerger from HCT Group was the most appropriate way forward, returning DCT to being a locally run charity.
