Public Funding for Selected Projects Consulting Ltd

A Fleet for Change is a new female led community interest company; we exist because we believe a thriving future for all is possible and we want to help realise it. Our current mission is to craft innovative transport solutions that acknowledge and overcome the challenges women face when navigating night-time travel. A government commissioned IECD report (2017) found that the level of threat experienced by women on public transport can lose the UK economy up to 3.7% in GDP each year. Such negative perceptions lead to a reduction in access to employment and training, and poor connectivity to the local economy. This is a major equality issue that needs addressing now. Sheffield city council have attempted to tackle this problem multiple times in the past, however, these attempts have not been successful in encouraging women to use the services provided and were therefore terminated. With public funding we will engage with a breadth of stakeholders, including end-users, venues, South Yorkshire Police, and Sheffield city council. We will use feedback and outputs from research to test novel in-app safety features, along with the accompanying service design, to create a safety net for women they can trust in. By partnering with both the FØRGE and Hope Works nightclubs in Sheffield, we will have access to a large client base for primary research, and develop a strategy for how a multi-agency approach can solve this critical problem. Thankfully, women's safety is rapidly moving up the agenda for national government, the police and local authorities, as awareness grows of just how difficult transport is for women and girls. However, there are still no forthcoming solutions that genuinely address the issue. Being female led, we not only understand the problem first hand but are fully invested in creating a safer world for everybody.