About This Project
Fermanagh Community Transport (FCT) is a registered charity established to provide services throughout Fermanagh for its members who have difficulty accessing services due to a lack of transport or other mobility issues. Their aim is to provide accessible, affordable and efficient Community Transport to people who would otherwise be socially or rurally isolated. FCT are a ‘members only’ organisation. Individual membership is free and available to anyone living in a rural area outside of Enniskillen town. Additional qualifying criteria for most services are that you do not have access to a car or access to public transport. FCT have approximately 16 staff and 8 volunteer social car drivers and is governed by a voluntary Board of Directors. FCT’s core service is the Dial-A-Lift Service, and they receive funding from the Department for Infrastructure (DfI). DfI also works in conjunction with DAERA to support the Assisted Rural Travel Service (ARTS), which allows members to use a valid SMARTPASS on the Dial-A-Lift Service. FCT also provides group transport for Community/Voluntary/Sports/ Church groups. These groups can hire a vehicle with their own driver or with an FCT driver at competitive rates. FCT also provide driver training to enable group drivers to gain the required standards to drive a minibus.
Design Thinking Workshops
Twelve participants attended an online Design Thinking Workshop on 14th November 2025. Participants comprised a mixture of FCT staff and voluntary directors, service users and service user representatives (South West Age Partnership – SWAP), carers and carer’s representatives (Western Health & Social Care Trust – WHSCT Carer’s Support Officer), and representatives from another local Community Transport provider (Easilink). Participants were provided with an overview of the STRIDE Programme, an introduction to the Design Thinking process, and an introduction to the broad challenge.
Deliverables
STRIDE deliverables included:
• A system matched against the outcomes of the Design Think Workshop
• Cash Payment Process simplified (time/manual error reduction)
• Email Report for Sage Invoicing (cost reduction)
• The existing system has an online registration facility for members, and the FCT Manager has asked for it to be integrated.
The FCT Manager has requested a timeline for the Service User App currently being developed alongside the existing system, but this remains unconfirmed.
Results & Impact
Impact assessment in progress.