{"id":14262,"date":"2022-09-19T15:16:34","date_gmt":"2022-09-19T15:16:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/routes-struggle-with-the-transport-of-vulnerable-groups-in-oslo-news-oslo-og-viken-local-news-tv-and-radio\/"},"modified":"2022-09-19T15:16:34","modified_gmt":"2022-09-19T15:16:34","slug":"routes-struggle-with-the-transport-of-vulnerable-groups-in-oslo-news-oslo-og-viken-local-news-tv-and-radio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/routes-struggle-with-the-transport-of-vulnerable-groups-in-oslo-news-oslo-og-viken-local-news-tv-and-radio\/","title":{"rendered":"Routes struggle with the transport of vulnerable groups in Oslo – news Oslo og Viken – Local news, TV and radio"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This summer, the public transport company Ruter took over responsibility for bookings and the transport of users with special needs in Oslo; a service that affects almost two thousand users, many of them children and young people. It has caused major problems. In Haugerud, east of the city, the two twins Oscar and Oliver, aged 18, have recently moved into a staffed care home. They both have so-called fragile x syndrome, which is a condition that causes varying degrees of mental retardation. Bente Greaker is the mother of two boys who need special transport. Photo: Lars H\u00e5kon Pedersen \/ news Bente Greaker is the twins’ mother. – They depend on help for everything around the clock, and they have no language. They also get very restless if things don’t work around them, she says. The mother says that most things worked in the new care home, until a taxi came to pick them up at the new address. – The boys got into the car with their companion, who must be with them. But the driver only had orders to drive one of them, and refused to take all three. It ended with us all getting out of the car and I drove them to school myself, says Bente. Oliver and Oscar are well acquainted with school transport, but need it to work properly. Photo: Lars H\u00e5kon Pedersen \/ news She emphasizes that an order had been placed with Ruter that the two boys must drive together and with a companion. This had not reached the driver. On certain days, two cars have also come to pick up the two boys, who must therefore be driven together, with a common companion. Greaker says it has also not been possible to get in touch with Ruter by phone to correct the errors. What is the TT scheme? TT card provides door-to-door transport for the disabled. The intention is that everyone should have equal opportunities to participate in society. The transport scheme is a county municipal service, but it is the municipality that processes the application. Who can apply for the TT scheme? Approved TT users have various disabilities. The users can be roughly divided into mobility impaired (wheelchair users, crutch users and people with rheumatism, heart, vascular\/lung disease as well as people with reduced strength in arms and legs), orientation impaired (blind, partially sighted, deaf and hearing impaired as well as people with cognitive disabilities), environmentally impaired ( people with asthma and\/or allergies, or who react to various substances in the environment), mental disorders (people who for psychological reasons have problems moving in public spaces) and “other” (anxiety, autism, dementia, epilepsy, etc.) .). What will you get? TT cards are in principle given to people between the ages of 10 and 67, who have severe and permanent functional and\/or orientation impairments. A fixed amount is transferred twice a year to the TT card. The size of the amount is decided by the county council. This does not cover the TT card. The scheme must not be used for journeys covered by other schemes. NAV provides information on other schemes, for example health trips and work trips. – More difficult than we thought The decision to let Ruter take over the entire TT transport in Oslo was adopted by the city council in 2020. Ruter chose from this summer to build up a separate driving office internally, with new computer systems and training of new employees. At the same time, they were prepared that it would be a demanding operation. The service includes users with various disabilities who must be driven between different addresses and offers from day to day – not just to and from school. Pernille Aga is responsible for what has become a major headache for Ruter. Head of organized transport in Ruter, Pernille Aga, is dismayed that they have messed up the important driving of vulnerable groups. Photo: Lars H\u00e5kon Pedersen \/ news – We were aware that this would be demanding, and planned for it, and yet we have not managed to take the complexity into account to a high enough degree. And we see that this affects those who are most vulnerable, she says. Apologize Ruter says they are working hard to get the service working, but that it will take time. – We are increasing staffing and working to get the computer systems working, but must also improve communication with customers. Aga estimates that it will take a few weeks to get the transport going as it should. She is aware of the major consequences of the failure of the important transport system. Pernille Aga has one thing to say to all those affected. – I want to say sorry on behalf of Ruter. It shouldn’t be like that. So easy. And we will fix it and we will get to a point where they will be able to trust this service again, she says. Meanwhile, the daily episodes continue for users. – Lucky that it hasn’t gone wrong Magnhild S\u00f8rbotten is regional leader of the Handikapforbundet in Oslo. She mentions an episode where a user should have been driven from school to a relief home, but the taxi instead drove the young person home. There would normally be no one at home, but by chance a brother of the user was at home and able to receive. Regional leader of the Handikapforbundet in Oslo, Magnhild S\u00f8rbotten, is in dialogue with Ruter about the driving that is not working, and fears that something serious will happen. Photo: Lars H\u00e5kon Pedersen \/ news – In some of these cases, it has been pure luck that things have not gone really wrong. It is about the fact that there are people who are unable to say that they have been dropped off at the wrong place. It is simply irresponsible, says S\u00f8rbotten. She believes that the consequence of the lack of transport is also that disabled people cannot be as spontaneous, in that they stop taking trips in their spare time as well. They simply do not trust that the cars will arrive as ordered. Problems across the country But it is not just Ruter in Oslo that is struggling to organize the daily transport of users with special needs. In a number of cities in Norway, there are similar challenges. The Handikapforbundet has asked its regional teams about their experiences, and received the answer that the offer is worst in the districts, where there are fewer cars and even more unpredictable in terms of whether the transport will arrive in time or at all. But also in other large cities, the special transport is creaking: In Troms\u00f8, the capacity for wheelchair transport is very limited, and there are often long delays. Patient journeys can also be delayed by several hours. There is a shortage of drivers, and the number of cars used for wheelchair transport is being cut. In Bergen, capacity is limited, and it is unpredictable whether you will get transport or not. In Tr\u00f8ndelag and Agder, there have been major problems when new players have taken over the tender for TT driving. This has been particularly demanding in relation to school transport. Skrotet Ruter’s scheme Bj\u00f8rnholt high school is located in the very south of Oslo. Here there are several special classes for students with special needs, and this is where Oscar and Oliver are driven every day. Espen Erstad is head of department for the adapted teaching at Bj\u00f8rnholt, and is very frustrated on behalf of the students. At Bj\u00f8rnholt upper secondary school, Espen Erstad is responsible for special education. But the students have struggled to get to school. Photo: Lars H\u00e5kon Pedersen \/ news – We have no guarantee that the cars will show up at the right place at the right time. We got students here who were misled, and just brought here. Then we had to go round to find out who they were and where they were going, says Erstad. As long as students are not confident that the taxis will come and take them to school, they lose the desire to go to school, he says. – What was supposed to be a good start to school has for many become a start to school characterized by uncertainty and insecurity, and when time passes, it is extra demanding. He perceives that Ruter has not been prepared for what they were getting into. – They do not have a system that is equipped to deal with every single incident. The school has now chosen to drop the collaboration with Ruter for the time being, and instead has a direct agreement with Oslo Taxi, which works better. This means that Oscar and Oliver are also picked up as they should be, and all three who are going to drive together get to join. Oscar and Oliver’s driving works better after their school scrapped Ruter’s scheme, and made a separate agreement with Oslo Taxi. Photo: Lars H\u00e5kon Pedersen \/ news
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This summer, the public transport company Ruter took over responsibility for bookings and the transport of users with special needs in Oslo; a service that affects almost two thousand users, many of them children and young people. It has caused major problems. In Haugerud, east of the city, the two twins Oscar and Oliver, aged […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14263,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4036,151,16,11,152,293,1157,1413,150,2970],"class_list":["post-14262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-groups","tag-local","tag-news","tag-oslo","tag-radio","tag-routes","tag-struggle","tag-transport","tag-viken","tag-vulnerable"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14262\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}