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Mobility impaired public transport users in Gateshead are now benefiting from a £10,000 cash boost from local public transport body Nexus. Metro operator Nexus contributed £10,000 to the cost of setting up a Shopmobility scheme in the town, which is now up and running (opened June 23). The Gateshead Shopmobility scheme, which includes disabled people on its Management Committee, provides mobility-impaired people with the loan of vehicles to help them get around. Vehicles available for loan include an electric scooter, electric wheelchair or manual wheelchair to help them get around the town. But the scheme is not just for shopping and members can also use scooters to access tourist attractions like the Baltic or Saltwell Park. For disabled people travelling into Gateshead, Shopmobility will give them greater flexibility by allowing them to use public transport such as buses, Metro or the Nexus-run Care Services scheme for their journey into town. Staff from the Shopmobility scheme will even arrange to deliver wheelchairs and motorised scooters to users when they get off the Metro, bus or Care Services' vehicle and collect it from them there at the end of their trip. Nexus says its involvement in the scheme reflects its commitment to integrated transport in the broadest sense and its commitment to widening access to public transport for people with mobility problems. Director General Mike Parker said: “What the Shopmobility scheme does is to allow people more flexibility and independence when they travel into town. “It means users are then free to take the Metro or bus and so we were delighted to be able to back the scheme.” Gateshead’s Shopmobility scheme operates from a unit in Gateshead Indoor Market making it ideally located for the town’s public transport interchange. Scheme co-ordinator, Brian Kendal said: “The cash grant from Nexus was a very welcome addition to the establishment of Shopmobility in Gateshead and we’re delighted to have the region’s major public transport provider on board.”
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