rural transport

East Yorkshire driver shortage leads to reduced bus services

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I’ve been working with East Riding Community Transport looking at the opportunities to address gaps in community service provision and so when I saw this article it reinforced the value of community transport particularly but not exclusively in rural areas. This story tells us:

A shortage of drivers has led to a reduced timetable being brought in on bus services in Hull.

East Yorkshire buses will be operating temporary daily service reductions planned for services 54, 56, 57, 66, 104, 105 and 154.

The company said it would create more reliable services following a number of last-minute cancellations.

Passengers are already facing disruption with a strike on Stagecoach buses.

Ben Gilligan, East Yorkshire’s managing director, said the bus industry as a whole had been impacted by driver shortages.

He said it was a result of various factors including the lifting of coronavirus pandemic restrictions, issues with the DVSA (Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency) and a “small labour market and a lot of competition”.

He added: “There’s been a lot of issues with licences not being issued promptly by the DVSA as well as general challenges in the labour market… so we’re not alone and it’s not just buses facing the problem.”

The humble minibus could be a rural lifeline

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Cracking letter this – quoted in full. Very often the simplest solutions are the best!!! It tells says:

Your report (Bus services in England face axe as end to emergency Covid funding looms, 11 January) doesn’t mention the most economic solution to connect communities to town centres – the minibus.

I am an honorary director of West Oxfordshire Community Transport(WOCT), which runs five minibus services linking estates and villages to the centres of Witney and Carterton. Some of these places used to have bus services, but the routes were hugely subsidised as there were only small numbers of passengers rattling around in expensive doubledeckers. Although overall demand was low, there was a demand for the service from people who had no access to a car – usually people on low incomes or people who are unable to drive.

A minibus of up to 16 seats is much cheaper to operate – the driver doesn’t have to have a public service vehicle licence, and the capital cost is much lower. However, all passenger minibuses in the UK are converted vans and, while the few companies that do these conversions do them reasonably well, structurally they are not really up to taking the weight of 16 passengers and a driver over a prolonged period of time.

Our services are subsidised, as most such services meeting a social need will be, by the local authorities. There is a huge opportunity for a company to be established in the UK to produce right-hand-drive minibuses for passenger use.

If it is accepted that the cost-effective solution to providing links from communities to town centres, or frequent public transport services, is the minibus then the government should seriously consider establishing a minibus production company in this country.

Mike Parker

Director, WOCT; former director general, Nexus (the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive)

UK seeks views on digital innovation in boosting rural transport

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This is a really interesting area of development. I think driverless vehicles provide real potential to tackle rural isolation. You should let the DfT have your views through this consultation, on that issue and more…

The UK Department for Transport has launched a call for evidence to explore ways of using digital innovation for improving rural transport connectivity in the country.

As part of this, views are being sought by the government on how 21st-century transport from e-bikes to drones can be used for moving people and packages from one place to another more easily.

The call for evidence will help the government to develop its Future of Transport: rural strategy, said the transport department.

UK Transport Minister Rachel Maclean said: “This call for evidence will give us a unique opportunity to harness the community spirit of rural areas to understand how innovation in transport can benefit the people and communities that need it most.

“Now more than ever, it is important that we use the power of transport to build back greener, and transform how people and goods move around the UK.”

According to the Department for Transport, in rural areas, the distance between residences and the nearest mass transport hub is nearly five miles. This makes it a major obstacle for rural residents in accessing public transport and services.

The call for evidence will explore how connecting different digital platforms together could provide a more seamless experience for people. This would include enabling them to plan, book, and also pay for travel all in one place, and to connect journeys over various modes.

It will also study how the growing popularity of e-bikes in addition to digital-mapping technology and apps can encourage more active travel in rural regions.

Also, part of the call for evidence is exploring the scope for using drones for making deliveries in rural or isolated towns and areas.

Furthermore, the Department for Transport will examine the feasibility of fully automated and passenger services operating in rural areas.

How local communities could run rural railway lines

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I begin, this week, with a break from coronavirus. This fascinating article argues for a new community enterprise approach to the provision of a number of rural rail lines. It tells us:

The Rail Reform Group – an independent think-tank of railway professionals – recently published a series of papers called The Enterprising Railway, looking at opportunities to develop a railway based on ‘the common good’.

What could work is a combination of greater local management, empowered to do much more than just run trains, with the security of being part of a much bigger network.

In its submission to the Williams Review, the Rail Reform Group argued for converting franchises – using ‘Northern’ as a pilot – into socially-owned businesses controlled by the community. It’s about applying a more co-operative approach. Government support would continue, but profits would go back into the railways, not to shareholders.

If ‘Northern Trains’ became a social enterprise with representation on its board from passengers, employees, local government and the business community, we’d be on the way to getting a railway that operates ‘for the common good’.

End privatisation to help ‘left behind’ areas of Britain, voters say

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I have to say that the market failure we often face in rural settings speaks in a compelling way to this story which tells us:

Voters believe that privatisation of public services has deepened regional inequality and “left behind” parts of Britain in the name of profit, new research has found.  

Polling conducted by Survation asked members of the public why they supported the renationalisation of public services such as public transport, utilities and the Royal Mail.

The most popular reason given by supporters of public ownership was that extra funds should go back into services rather than to shareholders, with 41 per cent citing this as the reason for their support.

A roughly equal number, 40 per cent, also said they believe that “privately owned companies prioritise profitable areas over providing a good service to everyone”.

The finding comes after a torrid few years for railway services in the north of England that cumulated with the government taking the Northern rail franchise back into public ownership on a temporary basis. 

Rural Oxfordshire buses to be funded with £588k government cash

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A good example of rural transport regeneration in action. This story tells us:

RURAL bus services could soon be boosted by £588,000 given out from a government grant, though concerns about a quick turnaround to apply for the money have been raised.

Oxfordshire County Council was offered the £588,403 pot of money from the government’s one-year supported bus services fund in February.

The council’s cabinet member for the environment, Yvonne Constance, signed a letter to the government confirming OCC wanted to use the money to protect bus services in rural areas across Oxfordshire on Thursday.

According to the statement of intent letter sent to the government, the council will spend the money is three separate ways.

  • £125,000 will be spent on improving supported bus services, including the 136 between RAF Benson and Wallingford, and new Sunday routes between Banbury and Chipping Norton, Watlington and Oxford, and Woodstock and Witney.
  • £253,400 will be spent on restoring lost bus routes between Chipping Norton and Kingham station, Southmoor and Oxford, and Abingdon, Berinsfield and Cowley.
  • £210,000 will extend current services including a service between Lambourn and Swindon, an evening service from Oxford to Banbury, and a new Sunday service from Wallingford to Henley.

Bus cuts turn rural areas into ‘transport deserts’

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Good piece of lobbying here from CPRE. This article tells us…..

Bus route closures have left nearly a million Britons at risk of being cut off from basic services, research has found.

A study by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) found that 56 per cent of small towns in the southwest and northeast of England were “transport deserts” or on the verge of becoming one, with residents unable to get around without driving.

Buses are the most popular form of public transport and account for more journeys than all other types combined. However, almost £400 million of local and national government funding has been cut, causing hundreds of services to be reduced in frequency or scrapped, and leading to fare increases of 63 per cent in real terms.

Buses: Government unveils £50m plan to create first all-electric bus town

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I’m up for more in the context of innovation around bus usage. I have often found local taxi drivers are the ones who are tricky to navigate when trying to do things which they perceive to challenge their business, which in many cases is founded on the lack of a viable local travel solution for vulnerable people.  A rural all electric bus town would be a great outcome to this story which tells us:

England’s first town to have all-electric buses will be created through a £50m fund, the Department for Transport (DfT) has announced.

Local authorities can bid for money to help pay for a new fleet of electric buses.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said buses had “a crucial role to play in bringing down emissions”.

Darren Shirley, head of the Campaign for Better Transport, called it a “good start” after years of cuts to services.

The DfT said that the winning town would be used as a model by government as it aims to ensure all buses are fully electric by 2025.

The announcement comes as part of a wider package of measures for buses.

About £70m will go towards high-frequency “Superbus” networks. One is already in place in Cornwall, where a mix of lower fares, more frequent services and lots of bus lanes has proven successful.

Electric car revolution not confined to cities, says Honda UK

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This article provides very interesting food for thought and identifies behaviours we might not have anticipated. It shows the value of getting more electric charging points into rural England. It tells us:

Japanese firm has found that rural EV registrations are high in the UK, where access to petrol stations is limited. Motorists in rural areas are challenging the stereotype that electric car buyers are confined to cities.

That’s according to research by Honda UK, which found that there are electric car hotspots in rural communities where buyers don’t necessarily have easy access to petrol stations.

At the launch of the Honda e – a small electric vehicle targeted at inner-city buyers – the firm’s UK division said buying habits were challenging established views.

Phil Webb, head of car for Honda UK, told the PA news agency that the research had raised the question: “Why is there an intense number of electric vehicle registrations in rural areas, particularly Cornwall and the north of Scotland?”

He explained that one visit to a dealer in Scotland proved particularly eye-opening, saying: “He’s a dealer in a village and there’s not a lot else there. He was telling me that people are going down the electric route because their nearest petrol station is 15 – 20 miles away, but all they want to do is pop to the shops or take the kids to school, so in an electric car, for them, it’s self-sustaining.

“They’re in control of when they charge it – overnight for example – and no longer have that inconvenience of having to go out of their way to a petrol station.

Greater Anglia: Nearly half of operator’s rural trains late

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Anyone in rural settings who relies on regional railways will recognise the issues set out here. This story tells us:

Nearly half of Greater Anglia’s rural trains failed to arrive on time during the Christmas period.

In the four weeks to 4 January, 54.9% of those services did not arrive at the station within 59 seconds of schedule, according to the operator’s statistics.

Cabinet minister Therese Coffey MP previously criticised the “catastrophic performance” of Greater Anglia’s newly-introduced trains in December.

Greater Anglia said it was “very sorry” for the problems in December.

Figures showed that the number of rural services arriving within 59 seconds of schedule dropped by 14 percentage points in December, compared to 69% arriving on time across the previous 12 months.

More than 10% of those services also experienced cancelations or arrived at their final destination more than 30 minutes behind schedule.

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