My Route to Success: James’ Story

Travelling independently for the first time can be a nerve-racking experience, both for the individual and for their parents, carers or guardians. For over a decade, Pure Innovations has supported young people with the skills and confidence needed to understand public transport and make use of it in everyday life.

James’ situation wasn’t unique to Pure. At the time, he had no independent travel experience under his belt and daily commutes to and from school were in a family car or through a taxi company. Despite this, James’ parents were keen to take the next steps and travel training ticked all the boxes:

“It wasn’t fair on James to keep him wrapped up in cotton wool and as parents we had to push ourselves outside of our comfort zone.” Says mum, Rebecca. Though James felt this was the perfect opportunity and was eager to sign up: “I wasn’t worried about it at all. I was looking forward to learning about the bus routes and places I could travel to independently”.

The programme is tailored for each person’s individual needs, empowering them to make key decisions with confidence. This became particularly useful once James had completed the training as his dad was taken into hospital and needed an operation. James was able to stay with his grandparent’s and continue to travel safely to school, allowing Rebecca to get on with her busy schedule of work, helping with the family business and hospital visits:

“Now that James is travelling independently, I can structure my day more efficiently, as I work from home. Taking time out of my work day to drop off and collect him impacted how much I could get done”

The key skills James has picked up from the training is starting to have a knock-on effect in other areas of life too; meeting up with friends after school, using new modes of transport like the tram, and even making friends on holiday! His parents are now looking ahead towards an exciting future:

“Travel training is one of the best life skills that James has ever learned. It has given us amazing hope for the future in how much James can achieve. It has had a massive, positive impact on his life and confidence.”