dennis enviro400 on route 388 in december 2013 slogan social justice and equality for all founded 1982 headquarters ash grove service area bristol greater london west yorkshire service type bus services routes 9 may 2015 chief executive dai powell website www.hctgroup.org hct group 1 is a social enterprise providing transport services and community services in london and yorkshire . it was founded in 1982 as hackney community transport in the london borough of hackney to provide transport services for local voluntary organisations charities and community groups . hct group is registered as a company limited by guarantee and has therefore no shareholders . the company is also a registered charity . 2 the hct group was founded in 1982 and in 2014 had a fleet of 500 vehicles and a turnover of 43.7 m 3 and employs over 700 people . in june 2011 it reinvested 37 % of annual profits into local community services its best performance to date . its chief executive dai powell joined the social enterprise as a bus cleaner . 4 contents 1 ct plus 1.1 london operations 1.1.1 ash grove hk 1.1.2 history 1.1.3 other non london buses london services 2 fleet 3 outside london 4 community transport services 5 education and training 6 social enterprise and transport 7 history 8 corporate strategy 9 references 10 external links ct plus edit ct plus is hct group s brand for bus transport services london operations edit ash grove hk edit east lancs myllennium lolyne bodied dennis trident 2 on route 388 in june 2009 optare solo on route w12 in march 2010 ash grove bus garage is ct plus only london garage and as at may 2015 operated routes 153 309 385 388 394 675 w5 w12 and w13 . 5 on 17 october 2015 route 675 will pass to go ahead london . 6 it also operates plus bus route 812 . 7 this depot is shared with arriva london . on the 27th of february 2016 ct plus required the 26 route . history edit in 2001 ct plus began operating route 153 . 8 in 2003 ct plus began operating route 388 and route 394 . other non london buses london services edit special needs education transport services in waltham forest coach and bus hire waltham forest social services transport in kensington & chelsea day center & special educational needs transport in london borough of lambeth special educational needs transport in london borough of southwark fleet edit as at may 2015 the transport for london fleet consisted of 75 buses . 9 outside london edit hct also operate a number of community and mainstream bus services outside london . services include accessbus in leeds accessbus in leeds my bus yellow painted school buses in west yorkshire for west yorkshire metro park and ride bus service in hull 10 bristol park and ride guernsey public bus operations 11 jersey public bus services as libertybus 12 community transport services edit special needs education transport services in waltham forest hct operates 13 accessible minibuses for community and voluntary groups capital call a door to door service provided by private hire vehicles for users with mobility difficulties scootability mobility scooter home delivery service plusbus bus service for those who have difficulty accessing mainstream transport door 2 door transport service provided by volunteers for hackney residents integrated transport solutions transport contract management service yourcar a door to door service for registered users with mobility difficulties in the london boroughs of lambeth and southwark education and training edit hct provides education services supported by the learning and skills council and the london development agency . the courses include bus driver training particularly for women ; social care and management . 14 social enterprise and transport edit west yorkshire metro my bus school bus service operated by ct plus in bingley the british government has promoted the delivery of public services by not for profit organisations the third sector . 15 british prime minister david cameron has stated that he wants more social enterprises running public services as part of his big society . 16 charitable legal website get legal described hct s corporate structure as allowing hct group to separate the risks associated with its business in different limited liability vehicles . the social mission of each of those vehicles is protected either through charitable status or through being cics which sends a clear message to the public that the organisation is a social enterprise . 17 hct says it aims to demonstrate and promote the social enterprise business model as a highly effective and socially responsible mechanism and that it maintains environmental health and safety and social policies and regularly measures its performance against these . 18 profit is seen by company ceo dai powell as enabling its social goals you have to be an enterprise first because if you don t make a profit you can t fulfil that social mission . . 19 hcts commercial services allowed it to invest 18 per cent of its annual profits into non commercial community transport in 2007 08 . its mission was to increase this to 30 per cent in the subsequent five years . 19 hct only competes for contracts that have high levels of accessibility and quality in the specification . 20 hct sees the provision of high quality public services as a goal in itself ... and actively seeks user input into the design and delivery of all its services . 20 the ceo claims we don t provide poor services for poor people the quality has to be there . 19 hct recruits volunteers to train people with learning difficulties and physical disabilities to use public transport independently . 21 west yorkshire metro noted that a community transport provider ... spends its surpluses on transport services in the community which are not commissioned from public bodies but that commissioning from the sector can however carry risks ... organisations can lack capability and professionalism and be over reliant on individuals leading to instability . 15 hct group is no more immune to labour relations problems than any other bus operator . 22 the socialist worker described hct as no friend of workers and its workers as some of the lowest paid drivers in london . 16 hct group prefers social enterprises and co ops as business partners and suppliers ; 23 when they raised 500k impact investment from the phone co op in 2014 their ceo explained with investors as well as suppliers they want to buy social . 24 history edit dai powel the ceo of hct group formerly a coal miner in wales 25 joined as a bus cleaner in 1990 26 hackney community transport was established in 1982 when 30 community groups in the london borough of hackney formed a pool of six vehicles with a grant from hackney borough council to provide low cost van and minibus hire for local community groups and a door to door alternative to public transport for people with disabilities . 26 the company s services were staffed by volunteers 26 but over the next decade a small group of paid staff built up to assist the volunteer workforce . 27 hct group received loans from london rebuilding society to finance its entry to the bus industry . 28 in 2004 hct was contracted by eduaction to deliver 500 local special needs children to school and back each day for london borough of waltham forest from a new depot in leyton . 29 in march 2006 hct expanded outside london to run eight yellow my bus school transport routes in and around wakefield for west yorkshire metro a further seven runs added in september 30 and three more in september 2007 . 31 in july 2006 hct merged with lambeth & southwark community transport . 30 on 1 october 2006 hct began to operate the accessbus service in leeds 30 and in 2008 merged with leeds alternative travel . 32 in march 2009 hct group published its first impact report 33 in february 2010 ct plus yorkshire took over the hull 701 priory park & ride route 34 with the aim of investing any surplus from its park and ride operation to expand a local community transport service and to set up training for long term unemployed people in hull . 35 in february 2010 hct group raised 5 million via a social loan . 25 by 2010 hct had grown by over a hundredfold since 1993 from a turnover of 202k to a turnover of 23.3 m in 2009 10 . 36 corporate strategy edit social services transport in kensington and chelsea hct group s corporate strategy is to generate profits from providing commercial transport services then to use these profits to provide community transport services for people unable to use mainstream transport . the two modes public transport and special need transport are fully integrated under their model the investment in responsive community transport services is made possible by running the commercial activity well . 20 the financial times reported in 2010 that turnover had grown by about 25 per cent a year for the past eight years and is expected to top 20m in the year to march 31 2010 when profits will be around 1m . . 25 hct s rapid growth is achieved by merging with smaller community transport organisations . 19 hct group ceo dai powell in an article explaining the group s strategy 36 said the business aims to double in size every five or so years for the foreseeable future seeing scale as ... crucial . the better we do commercially the more we can do for the communities we serve as a social enterprise . the strategy is maximising the good that we do ... to be as bold as a commercial firm but to the benefit of our communities not to the owners of capital . it also has the advantage of keeping our social mission absolutely central to our approach . powell contrasted this approach to that of many third sector organisations where risk is to be mitigated at worst and eliminated at best . this is simply hopeless for rapid growth . he describes the process as ... so much more rewarding than spending your days maximising shareholder value whatever that means . 36 references edit companies house extract company no 1747483 hct group our structure on hct group website retrieved 1 october 2009 the phone co op invests in public transport social enterprise on co operative news website dated 2014 12 09 viewed 2014 12 17 research shows start up explosion in deprived communities on the guardian website viewed 10 september 2011 carr ken may 2015 . the london bus guide 5 ed . . boreham visions international entertainment . p. 116 . isbn 978 0 9931735 3 0 . carr ken may 2015 . the london bus guide 5 ed . . boreham visions international entertainment . p. 122 . isbn 978 0 9931735 3 0 . route 812 hackney community transport 1997 2003 on hct group website retrieved 18 october 2009 carr ken may 2015 . the london bus guide 5 ed . . boreham visions international entertainment . p. 24 . isbn 978 0 9931735 3 0 . london group wins hull park and ride deal on thisishullandeastriding.co.uk news website retrieved 1 october 2009 hct group social enterprise bus operator all the latest news from hct group liberty bus home community transport services on hct group website retrieved 1 october 2119 our learning centre on company website retrieved 4 january 2011 a b agenda item no 16 . subject community transport on west yorkshire metro website retrieved 9 october 2009 a b east london bus drivers picket bosses over pay on socialist worker website retrieved 6 january 2011 hct group case study on get legal website retrieved 4 january 2011 corporate responsibility on group website retrieved 4 january 2011 a