CILT’s Rural Logistics and Transport and Policy Group has released a new paper titled Solving the rural bus crisis: a fares-free travel experiment to encourage the development of controlled trials of low-risk fare free rural bus routes.

With buses playing a very important role in rural communities, CILT’s Rural Logistics and Transport and Policy Group has produced a paper to help inform key stakeholders in tackling the decline in rural bus provision and ensure that bus transport remains part of the rural transport landscape.

This Paper is focused on how, through the National Bus Strategy for England and Bus Service Improvement Plans (BSIPs), CILT can encourage the development of controlled trials of low-risk free fares rural routes.

Building on the £2 fare cap trial, the paper argues that an opportunity exists to promote the development of a series of trials to identify the extent to which price is a determinant in peoples’ travel choices.

The paper proposes a co-ordinated series of trials in different socio-economic and spatial geographic areas provides an opportunity to understand the dynamic behind the decision-making of rural dwellers, by age, income group etc.

According to Morag Robertson, Chair of Rural Logistics and Transport and Policy Group at CILT and lead author of the report, the provision of a bus service should be seen as an agent through which government can level up local economies, provide better health and wellbeing outcomes by access to services and importantly as a means to reduce car use in pursuit of our legal Net Zero by 2050 goal.

“Often rural is considered an issue that needs to be ‘solved’ but this needs to be reframed as an opportunity to be taken. Rural communities don’t want or need the same as urban spaces. The solutions need to be based around local needs. We know that rural mobility will be made up of a lot of different types of transport options and this proposal highlights one of those options,” she says.

CILT’s Rural Logistics and Transport and Policy Group is keen to engage with key stakeholders to establish how this concept can be developed and implemented. 

For more information, and to read the report click here.