The research, commissioned by CPRE and carried out by the Campaign for Better Transport, shows that outside England’s major cities, communities are being left without adequate bus and train connections, leading to social exclusion and economic hardship.
These ‘transport deserts’ have come about over the past few decades, as local authorities struggle to meet their responsibilities to provide ‘socially necessary’ bus services where commercial services were not viable.
Claire Walters, Chief Executive of Bus Users, believes the time has come for a change in the law: “The research produced by Campaign for Better Transport clearly shows that the situation is intolerable and action needs to be taken urgently. Transport deserts are the result of years of austerity in which local authority budgets have been cut to the bone, especially in many rural areas and most coastal towns.
“If we are to stand a chance of reversing this decline then, along with the promised national bus strategy and more funding for local transport, we need a change in the law. Section 63 of the 1985 Transport Act must be reformed to give local authorities a ‘duty’ rather than a ‘power’ to consider and meet the transport needs of local communities.”
Find out more about the research from CPRE
Read Bus Users’ paper on Reversing the Rural Bus Decline