Social outreach to get more people involved
Citizens’ Rail engaged at grassroots level with young people, families, students, older people and businesses for better rail and social cohesion.
Some of our partners were already very experienced at community engagement, whereas for others it was a newer approach. We learned from each other to help people overcome barriers to rail travel – from a lack of awareness about services through to a lack of confidence about how to buy tickets and find timetables.
Find out more about involving people in the dedicated chapter of our toolkit.
What’s happening?
Community ambassadors
In Burnley, the innovative Northern Community Ambassadors worked with schools, ethnic minorities and other groups to understand, and then overcome, barriers to local rail travel.
School involvement
In Devon, school children have been taken on excursions to introduce them to rail travel. Community Rail Lancashire also engaged pupils in the Burnley area – read about one fabulous example.
Volunteering opportunities
Volunteering at stations on the Riviera Line in Devon as used as a way to improve facilities and help people feel ownership of their stations at the same time.
Community forums
Community forums were held in Aachen and Parkstad Limburg to enable local residents and businesses to be part of planning station improvements and brand new stations. We involved people right from the start of the planning process – allowing them to participate on equal terms to help define problems, goals and plans.
