Poor bus and rail ‘hampering young’

TRANSPORT: Poor bus and rail services are undermining the attempts of young people starting out on their careers in towns throughout a Yorkshire district, council officials have warned.

POOR BUS and rail services are undermining the attempts of young people starting out on their careers in towns throughout a Yorkshire district, council officials have warned.

A draft report which has been compiled by a Wakefield Council scrutiny board says the cost of public transport in the district is a “barrier” to young people seeking employment and the system is in need of improvement.

The paper, which will be discussed by councillors next week, has made recommendations for improving experiences for passengers in the region.

In its key findings, the report said “young people lack confidence in public transport”, noting that concerns relating to transport were in the top three issues raised by the Youth Forum.

The study’s authors said: “A key issue is the timing of bus services which are at the start and end of the school day. This places significant limitations for some pupils wanting to access after-school

activities. There is a need to raise the aspirations of young people in order to access more opportunities through better and more frequent transport connections.”

They added that the cost of transport “is a barrier to education and training”, despite concessions offered to 16 to 18-year-olds. The report also recommended that connectivity between West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire be improved, having consulted with several town and parish councils.

It said: “Generally dispersed rural areas are less well provided

for than urban ones or ones located on main corridors. Crossboundary provision from South Yorkshire is quite weak.”

In response to the consultation, Ackworth Parish Council said that parts of the community were “isolated”.

“Ackworth residents are poorly serviced by public transport, especially at the beginning and end of the working day,” the parish council’s response said. “The services currently provided are inadequate to enable a person to get to and from a place of work or education easily and those that run are not reliable.”

Hemsworth Town Council also said people were struggling to find employment because of the high cost of travelling to South Yorkshire.

It added: “We also have crossboundary issues with the lack

of public transport to Barnsley where development is taking place and jobs are available.”

The report recommends that Wakefield Council and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) undertake research into where young people are working and speak to bus operators to improve school services. The WYCA has also been advised to make sure up-to-date information on bus services is available to passengers without smartphones and that it continues to support the desire for better trains in Castleford and Pontefract.

There is a need to raise the aspirations of young people. Authors of the study compiled by a Wakefield Council scrutiny board.