Epping Forest & Harlow Community Transport - Essex Community Foundation

Rural Projects

Epping Forest & Harlow Community Transport

Epping Forest & Harlow Community Transport (EHCT), helps local people who are unable to use conventional public transport, including the elderly, those who are disabled or people who are rurally isolated.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic their fleet of 18 mini-buses made around 8,000 door-to-door service journeys each month, but they had to adapt their offering in March 2020 when the country went into lockdown.

Angela Canham, manager of EHCT, said: “Although we were unable to operate as usual, we knew that our clients still needed our support.

“We applied for a grant from Essex Community Foundation and were awarded funding which meant we could buy the equipment needed for some of our team to work from home.

“They made daily calls to our housebound passengers to provide them with some reassurance that they weren’t alone and help prevent them from feeling isolated.

“We also made trips to St Margaret’s Hospital in Epping and worked with NHS Princess Alexander Hospital in Harlow to deliver medications to patients who had gone home after being treated for Coronavirus or those with serious underlying heath conditions who needed to self-isolate.

“The funding we received also meant that we could add safety screens in our mini-buses for when restrictions eased.”