Independent Travel Training Programme

AFK’s specialised travel training programme helps individuals overcome anxiety, develop essential skills, and navigate public transportation with confidence.

Through personalised support from our experienced trainers, participants learn to safely travel to school, work, social activities, and more – opening doors to education, employment, and community connection.

We recognise that for many young people and their families this is a big and sometimes frightening step, but we believe that by listening to young people and their parents’ concerns and with the right training and support any young person can make remarkable progress towards independent travel.

Assess you to make sure you are ready to do the training (our criteria are here)

Find out what support you need and what you need to learn

Agree with you and your family one journey that you want to travel on your own

Plan your journey with you and your family

Give you your own travel trainer who will support you

When you do the journey with your trainer, you take the lead and do as much as possible on your own.   

Your trainer will support you with skills such as crossing busy streets, understanding information, following signs, using Citymapper, getting help from TfL staff and practice solving problems together. 

As your skills and confidence grow your trainer will let you do more things on your own. 

Criteria for Travel Training

Please note, a candidate may be assessed as not ready for travel training for reasons not covered in the criteria described below.

1. The candidate must be motivated – they must want to learn how to travel one route independently, and this must involve using public transport.

2. The candidate must be assessed by AFK as safe to train, they must be:

• Physically able to travel on public transport.
• Have no underlying medical or physical conditions, mental health or behavioural issues that would put themselves or others at risk.
• Aware of dangers and react accordingly or have potential to develop these skills.
• Able to understand and follow instructions or have potential to develop these skills.
• Able to communicate and get help or have potential to develop these skills.
• Able to learn and retain knowledge.

3. Travel training is for 1 route only, e.g. to school/college and back.  AFK will not train the trainee to travel to other locations unless it has been agreed with the travel training coordinator and the new route has been risk assessed.

4. Trainees must have access to a working mobile phone and valid travel pass.

5. Training will continue so long as the trainee continues to be safe to train, follows instructions, and makes progress towards travel independence.

6. Travel training must be funded.

Download the AFK Travel Training Toolkit

Apply to join the Programme

Contact Laurence Orrell, Travel Training Coordinator:

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Call: 07384 79 55 35

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Or email: [email protected]