The purpose of this policy guide is to achieve a nationally consistent approach for local authorities to administer the Total Mobility scheme in their respective regions.
This guide sets out the requirements, policy, principles, processes and explanatory notes to manage the Total Mobility scheme.
About Total Mobility
Funded in partnership by local and central government, the Total Mobility scheme assists eligible people, with long term impairments to access appropriate transport to meet their daily needs and enhance their community participation. This assistance is provided in the form of subsidised door to door transport services wherever scheme transport providers operate.
The Total Mobility scheme is intended to complement the provision of public transport services, which are expected to be as accessible as possible to meet different mobility needs.
Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency first published a policy guide for local authorities in 2008 and a user guide in 2010.
For the user guide:
Total Mobility around New Zealand: a regional guide to using the Total Mobility scheme
The following Total Mobility scheme purpose statement will be applied nationally: 'The Total Mobility scheme is to assist eligible people with impairments to access appropriate transport to enhance their community participation. This assistance is provided in the form of subsidised door-to-door transport services wherever scheme transport providers operate.'
The purpose statement defines the scheme's target group as people with impairments who are prevented by their impairment from using buses, trains or ferries. The purpose statement will be applied nationally.
The founding central tenet of the Total Mobility scheme, and the role of local authorities in providing the scheme, is supported and strengthened.
The scheme is founded on the central tenet that people with impairments who are unable to use buses, trains or ferries as a result of their disability should be assisted with a subsidised alternative by local and central government. This reflects the legislative requirement under the Land Transport Management Act 2003 for local and central government to consider the needs of the transport disadvantaged, and is reinforced by the NZTS (2002).
The scheme is primarily a transport service, and is no more a social, health or disability service than any other type of transport service. Any person would be at risk of social isolation and adverse health outcomes if they did not have adequate access to appropriate transport. The scheme provides its members with access to transport and the means to participate in their communities in whatever way they choose.
The Total Mobility scheme parameters are clearly defined.
The following elements clarify the limits of service provision within a finite budget. These parameters are already consistent with common practice:
The following Total Mobility scheme eligibility criteria are nationally agreed on and applied:
These new criteria more clearly outline the necessary elements of an 'accessible journey', to help determine eligibility. This is consistent with the approach outlined by the Human Rights Commission, which describes an accessible journey as follows: 'for a person to get from their home to a destination and then home again requires a number of linked steps. All these steps are of equal importance. If one link is broken or inadequate, the whole journey becomes impractical' (Human Rights Commission, 2005).
If a person has an impairment that prevents them from being able to undertake any one of the specified components of a journey, they are eligible for the Total Mobility scheme.
An impairment may be psychological, psychiatric, physical, neurological, intellectual, sensory or other. It is not the impairment itself that determines eligibility for Total Mobility – rather, it is the effect that the impairment has on the individual's ability to undertake the components of the journey.
It should be noted that people whose impairment has lasted, or is expected to last, less than six months are not eligible for the Total Mobility scheme. This includes, for example, a person with a broken leg who is expected to recover within six months. Further detail about the minimum duration of impairment is provided in section 4.6.
Total Mobility schemes may operate in areas that have taxis or other Total Mobility transport operators but not buses, trains or ferries. In the case of such areas without a public passenger transport system, eligibility must be determined with reference to hypothetical rather than actual journeys. If hypothetical journeys are used, an uncomplicated commonsense approach should be able to ascertain eligibility.
The new criteria should take effect immediately for assessing the eligibility of prospective Total Mobility users. If a prospective Total Mobility user meets the eligibility criteria, they must be recognised and accepted as eligible. However, it is acknowledged that each local authority has a limited budget available to operate the scheme, and is not necessarily obliged to immediately allocate trips/vouchers to all eligible people.
People who are currently members of a Total Mobility scheme do not have to have their eligibility reassessed as a result of the improvements.
Appendix 4 Handbook for assessment facilitators contains further information regarding eligibility for the Total Mobility scheme.
People with impairments who meet the criteria for the Total Mobility scheme and are able to use bus, train or ferry services some of the time, but not all of the time, should be eligible for the scheme.
This improvement covers situations where an impairment is fluctuating (eg epilepsy), or the impairment is constant and non-fluctuating but is affected by environmental changes (eg people with a visual impairment that makes independent travel at night very difficult). This may also include people with impairments (such as Alzheimer's) that restrict travel on buses, trains or ferries to very familiar routes.
The fact that a person may be able to undertake all five journey components some (but not all) of the time does not therefore affect their eligibility. However, this will affect their level of need for Total Mobility trips, which will logically be less than if they were unable to use bus, train or ferry services at any time.
People who meet the criteria for the Total Mobility scheme and have an impairment that has lasted, or is expected to last, for six months or more should be eligible for the scheme.
This improvement adds a concept of time to the proposed eligibility criteria. Consistent with the definition used by the Ministry of Health, Statistics NZ added a concept of time to the World Health Organization definition of disability for the purposes of the New Zealand Disability Survey, ie the disability must have lasted or be expected to last for six months or more. Incorporating this same time duration requirement into the eligibility criteria for the scheme will provide consistency with the above interpretation.
It is important to note that this does not imply a six-month stand-down period before a person can become eligible for Total Mobility. This improvement allows for the six-month period to be either retrospective or anticipated. Therefore, a person who has an impairment that has already lasted for six months or more may be considered eligible (provided they meet the criteria). Whether the impairment is expected to last another six months is immaterial to the person's eligibility. Appendix 4 Handbook for assessment facilitators contains further information.
Children with impairments who meet the criteria for the Total Mobility scheme should be eligible for the scheme.
The scheme should be available to children to support their independent participation in the community, in ways that are similar to other children in their peer group who do not have impairments. This could include trips to visit friends or to see a movie. If the child's impairment prevents them from being able to use a bus, train or ferry, and it is reasonable to expect that children in their peer group can independently use such transport, then the child should be eligible for the scheme. Conversely, if the child is so young that other children in that age group would not be reasonably expected to independently use such transport, then the child would not be within the scope of the Total Mobility scheme.
It is not intended that the scheme should be a substitute for transport services that are the responsibility of other government agencies, such as the Ministry of Education, which is responsible for all school-related travel. The Ministry of Education provides taxi transport for 'special needs students', which covers transport from home to school and return. In some cases, special education transport assistance may be approved between a respite care facility and school and, in some cases, taxi transport to classes may be provided. The ministry also provides a conveyance allowance, paid to caregivers, based on the distance to the nearest school able to meet their needs.
People with impairments who meet the criteria for the Total Mobility scheme and live in residential care should be eligible for the scheme.
It is expected that the scheme should be available to people who live in rest homes to support their independent participation in the community. For example, this may be to visit friends or family or to go shopping.
It is not intended the scheme should be a substitute for transport services that are the responsibility of the rest home provider, or be used by the rest home to provide transport for organised activities.
The Ministry of Health advises that rest home providers are responsible for meeting the cost of transporting its residents for stipulated health services, including needs assessment and service coordination services, laboratory services, radiological services, dental services, specialist medical services and podiatry services. While rest home providers must ensure that residents also have access to services such as advocacy services, voluntary organisations (eg Stroke Foundation) and socialisation outside the residential facility, they are not responsible for meeting the costs of transport for these.
The fare subsidy for the Total Mobility scheme should be nationally consistent and standardised at 50 percent.
Some local authorities have occasionally reduced their fare subsidy towards the end of the year to manage the budget. Improvement 9 precludes this as a budget management option. The main budget management mechanism available to local authorities, once signed up to phase 1, is the allocation of trips/vouchers.
The Total Mobility scheme should have no minimum fare threshold.
Any minimum fare penalises scheme members who only make short trips. The policy of one voucher per trip will still apply.
There are no restrictions on the purpose of the trip for the Total Mobility scheme.
Any limiting of the purpose of allocated trips is inconsistent with the purpose and central tenet of the scheme, which is concerned with providing access to subsidised transport, rather than prescribing appropriate or inappropriate destinations.
It is not intended that the scheme should be a substitute for transport services that should more appropriately be the responsibility of other government agencies, such as those in the health sector or by the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC). The Total Mobility application form (see appendix 5 for a template) requires applicants to declare any transport-related assistance already being received from other government agencies.
