Transport; can getting there be a barrier?

I'm not a fan of travelling, especially if there are delays, traffic jams or leaves on the line.  These types of issues can get the day off to a difficult start, but what if you are reliant on transport to comply with conditions as part of a licence or Community Order? 
Your freedom may be linked to getting to appointments.

I have worked in offices that include rural areas with very limited public transport.  Alongside the limited access to the transport, the travel time can also be long.  I discovered today that this is not just an issue in rural areas, but it can be replicated in more urban areas.

This issue relates to desistance, in that an individual's circumstances could hinder engagement and compliance with reporting instructions.  I would suggest that difficulties in relation to travel are an overlooked diversity issue that need to be recognised to support the people we work with.  These are difficult times with the financial pressures, but maybe we need to look creatively at how we minimise transport difficulties.  One idea that was given to me today was having fortnightly appointments with longer supervision sessions rather than weekly sessions with shorter supervision sessions.  The reason given to me was that it reduces the total travel time but increases the amount of effective work completed.  I think that this is a common sense approach.

Of course it remains the responsibility of the individual to attend their appointments.  If there are difficulties in attending, then open discussions should be encouraged to find solutions.  It may not be this simple, but if we can work collectively then improvements may be made.

There are many different issues and barriers to attendance to be considered but I think that it would be helpful to consider transport in this.