Rural bus needs

Providing better services

POOR PUBLIC transport is one of the greatest problems faced by Yorkshire’s rural communities, and a significant factor in the economic decline of many.

Lack of buses isolates the elderly in particular, causing difficulties in attending medical appointments or going shopping, and can lead to loneliness by making it hard to stay in touch with family and friends.

Infrequent buses also aggravate the wider difficulties facing the countryside, including a shortage of jobs and affordable homes for its young people, the challenges of establishing new businesses caused by slow broadband, falling school rolls that can result in closures and thinlyspread public services.

Today’s report by the Council for the Protection of Rural England underlines just how vital buses are to the welfare of the countryside – and how inadequate the level of Government funding for them is. Whilst last week’s announcement of a £3bn investment in improving Britain’s buses was undoubtedly welcome, it was apparent that even such a large sum would not make transformative changes, given that it is spread nationally over the course of five years.

The CPRE contends that five times that amount

– or £2.7bn a year – is needed to provide rural communities with anything like adequate services. Even so, that amounts to only one bus an hour, which is a considerably poorer level of service than residents of urban areas take for granted. The Government needs to think again on funding for rural buses. They are at the heart of countryside life and must not be neglected.