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RURAL ACCESSIBILITY

CHAPTER SIX TELEPHONE SURVEY

6.1 Following the postal surveys, telephone surveys of 250 households were undertaken. These sought to explore perceptions and attitudes of rural accessibility building on the responses in the postal survey. The questions asked are shown in Appendix C.

6.2 The survey took place during February and March 2001 and questions were asked about:

• Perceptions of isolation.
• The usefulness of various transport modes including the quality, reliability and convenience of travel by each mode.
• Changes which respondents would most like to see made to improve transport
• Limitations for access for a range of trip purposes for routine and more occasional travel.
• Convenience of access to basic and everyday services and ways in which this could be improved.
• Relationships between quality of life and transport
• Whether rural dwellers are getting a fair deal from the Council and the Government in terms of the services provided and the taxes paid and what improvements are needed.
• Willingness to participate in a focus group.

6.3 Of the 725 people that responded to the postal survey, 378 stated that they were willing to answer further questions over the telephone. The aim was to have a reasonably even number of responses to the telephone survey from each area with about 50 interviews in each area. This proved difficult since there were variations in the number of people willing to participate from the different areas and in East Ayrshire it was only possible to make 33 interviews.

6.4 Table 16 shows the characteristics of the telephone survey interview sample by area, age group, income group and car availability. The sample characteristics are a reasonably close match with the postal sample characteristics described in Chapter 4.

Table 16 - Telephone Interviewees by Sample Areas

6.5 The results of the survey are reported below for each of the main questions.

Accessibility related isolation

6.6 The first question was whether households felt isolated in any way. Many people viewed isolation in terms of the ease with which they could reach a nearby town or city, and perceptions of car and non car owning households were very different. Figure 20 shows perceptions of isolation by area.

Figure 20 - Perceptions of Isolation by Area

6.7 It can be seen that people in Wigtownshire and West Aberdeenshire are most reliant on cars and people in East Ayrshire are by far the least reliant. Further analysis shows that:

• In Ayrshire 50% of those feeling isolated are concerned about the frequency of public transport, particularly in the eveneings and at weekends.
• In Aberdeenshire 41% of those feeling isolated cite the distances to facilities, friends and relatives and 24% are concerned about being isolated in poor weather.
• In Wigtownshire the availability of public transport was by far the most common concern accounting for 62% of those feeling isolated. However, many people commented that they would take lifts from friends if they did not have a car themselves. Isolation was mainly a concern when people wanted to travel to larger cities with a supply of good shopping and cultural events.
• The weather was the main reason why people in Caithness and Sutherland stated that they felt isolated with 50% citing this as their main concern. However it should be noted that the month before the survey many people had been snowed in, in some cases up to ten days. This may have affected the attitudes at the time of the survey.
• East Lothian has relatively good accessibility but as many people in this area felt isolated as in the remote area of Wigtownshire. The main reason for feeling isolated was the distance to facilities, friends and relatives (38%). It is interesting that East Lothian and Aberdeenshire as two relatively wealthy and partly commuter rural areas should be concerned about remoteness from facilities whilst the more remote areas are more concerned about public transport.

6.8 A similar trend emerges for perceptions of isolation by income group. As seen from Figure 21 33% of people in households with an income of less than 30k per year feel isolated but this falls to 19% for higher income households.

Figure 21 - Perceptions of Isolation by Income Group

6.9 The higher income groups are more concerned about not having a car, probably since they have the most car dependent lifestyles.

6.10 The responses to the survey were also analysed by age group. It might have been expected that older people would feel more isolated, but analysis shows that, of the respondents, only 21% of the over 60 age group felt isolated whilst 37% of 18-60 year olds felt isolated. The main reason for the older group to be concerned was the distance to facilities, friends and relatives but for the 18-60 age group poor public transport was the main concern.

6.11 Overall it is clear that the perception of isolation is dependent on the rural context. In all areas more people stated that they did not feel isolated than did, with the greatest concerns from high income households who felt that they would be very isolated without a car.

Usefulness of different modes of transport

6.12 In this question people were asked to state the usefulness of each of six different modes of transport. They were car as a driver or passenger, scheduled bus or post bus, taxi, community bus, train and cycling or walking. Interviewees were asked to rank each mode as: very useful, useful, slightly useful, or not used. Based on these responses follow up questions were asked on the quality, reliability and convenience of each mode.

6.13 Figure 22 shows how people ranked each mode.

Figure 22 - Number of Interviewees by Usefulness of Mode

6.14 It can be seen that car is considered to be by far the most useful mode with 226 respondents ranking it very useful. At the other extreme, community bus is not identified by any respondent as being very useful, but eight people did make some use of this mode. The majority of the interviewees also point out that even though they may be lucky enough to be able to have one or more cars, the car itself is not a luxury. Common comments describe access to and ownership of a private car as 'essential', 'absolutely vital', 'a necessity'.

6.15 As opposed to any of the other transport modes mentioned in this survey, the car is very much a multi-purpose vehicle. It is not possible to distinguish any specific patterns of use, e.g. for travel to work or to leisure activities. Once people own or have access to a car it is used in as many situations as possible. Given the easy access to a private car all the other existing transport modes fall short in providing useful transport.

6.16 People also identified some problems with this high level of dependence on the car:

• The cost of petrol is considered to be too high especially for people living in the Highlands region. Not only are the distances greater for access to work and services but the price of fuel rises with distance from larger cities.
• For rural areas near to the major cities of Aberdeen and Edinburgh there is concern about the impacts of congestion within the city on the rural areas. They suggest that a well functioning park and ride system is high on the list of improvements that they would like to see.

6.17 When the usefulness of each mode is studied by area and age group it is found that there is a high level of similarity in perceptions. Aberdeenshire residents are slightly more likely than average to favour the car, East Lothian residents rate the train as more useful than the other areas and East Ayrshire residents consider the bus to be relatively more useful. Nevertheless the general pattern from Figure 20 is repeated for each separate area. Older people rate all modes as less useful than younger people suggesting that transport is generally less important to them. The greatest difference is for the car which is considered to be approximately 20% less useful by older people.

6.18 As shown in Figure 23 an interesting pattern emerges when the usefulness of different modes is considered by income.

Figure 23 - Usefulness of Different Modes by Income

6.19 Bus travel is considered to be more useful by less affluent households. For all other modes, usefulness rises with income (car, taxi, train) or is similar for all income groups (community bus, walk/cycle). Of particular note is the large fall in the usefulness of the car for lower income groups.

6.20 In general bus travel is used for local transportation to and from work and services. Whilst 93 interviewees find these bus services useful, few of them actually use the services and only 23 describe them as very useful. Given that there were 34 non car available households in the sample this is a very low ranking for the usefulness of the bus.

6.21 Those who comment that they live near bus routes consider the services to be reasonably convenient. There are concerns about service frequency and operating times, with hourly services considered inconvenient. A problem highlighted by a number of respondents, is that bus services only run to and from major city centres and make travel in other directions and between smaller towns and villages difficult or even impossible. Travel by bus for commuting or other purposes requires travellers to travel radially into major towns or cities and then radially out of these centres to their destination. It is therefore rare that bus services to rural areas are competitive with car travel times.

6.22 Bus fares are perceived to be to high, and in some cases reliability difficulties were also noted. One respondent pointed out that "Money seems not to be an issue in cars, apart from how much fuel it takes to fill it up. Even though the bus still is half the price of the car, people can't seem to see that." Car ownership is considered to be a necessity and therefore part of "normal" spending. When considering to chose the bus for transportation, fares are perceived as an extra transport cost on top of car ownership.

6.23 In Caithness and Sutherland the role of the bus on the main strategic routes was highlighted. The most common journeys are along the A9 to Inverness or to Wick, usually for weekly or less regular shopping. Even though bus frequencies on these routes are considerably lower than in commuter rural areas such as East Lothian, some of the interviewees expressed satisfaction with bus services running only a couple of times a day.

6.24 In Wigtownshire and Caithness and Sutherland the post bus is an option for some trips. People comment that they need to commit the whole day if going shopping to a nearby town since the bus often runs only twice a day. Also, once getting to the town there is usually only an hour or two to complete the shopping before the return trip leaves.

6.25 Flexibility and careful planning is needed when travelling by bus in rural areas for the majority of trips. People need to find out when the buses leave and from where, to what destinations you can travel, how the buses interconnect and how long you have to wait in between buses, bus fares, luggage capacity etc. These issues are particularly difficult for disabled people. Among those interviewed with different kinds of disabilities most considered that they were dependent on cars but people with poor eyesight noted that they were helped by good bus services.

6.26 Interviewees made use of trains for longer distance travel and commuting. For those in Aberdeenshire and East Lothian who are able to use the trains for commuting it seems to be a convenient mode of transport, since it is quicker than the bus and often the car and more convenient to use than the buses. Opinions differ on whether buses or trains are more reliable. The train is also mentioned as preferable to car travel when visiting larger cities since the hassle and the costs of finding parking spaces are avoided.

6.27 However to use trains most rural people need to travel considerable distances usually by car but sometimes by bus. A common complaint is that the interconnections between buses and trains are sometimes not well planned. Only six of the respondents ranked the train as a very useful mode but more of the interviewees used trains than buses (124 for trains but only 118 for buses)

6.28 Fewer people made any use of taxis than for buses or trains. Taxi use was identified under four main categories:

• For social purposes - One interviewee described this as "when I get drunk". However several people commented that they would use taxis in the evening to travel to and from social events.
• Travel to stations and airports - When people need convenient and reliable local transport as part of a long distance rail or air journey then taxis were popular.
• In emergencies - Taxis are used in emergencies and on occasions when the other transports options cannot meet their needs.
• For regular travel - A small number of people use taxis for everyday travel for shopping and visiting friends. Although this can be more expensive than owning a car or additional cars some people find it more convenient.

6.29 The most common criticism of taxis was that they were too expensive for most trips. However in the remoter areas people commented that there were usually no taxis available. Often there would only be one taxi in an area and this would be fully booked at weekends and holidays.

6.30 The majority of the people interviewed did not know whether there was a community bus in their local area. Those that thought they were aware of community buses identified them under marketing names such as village hoppers or dial-a-bus. None of the respondents had ever used a community bus even if they knew how it worked. However 11 people considered that the services were of some use to them because they knew that they could use them if they needed to.

6.31 Cycling and walking for transportation was naturally only appropriate for local trips. People who walked for a utility trip almost always made their journey to a nearby town or within the village or town where they lived. Very few respondents considered cycling for transportation.

6.32 It is perhaps surprising that in the discussion of quality, reliability and convenience of each mode, few of the interviewees considered their choice of transportation from an environmental or health point of view. Only 12 of the 250 people interviewed mentioned the fact that their use of cars conflicts with their wishes to live in a pleasant environment. Of those, a few households described measures they had taken to reduce the environmental impact of their travel. Most common was moving to a location where commuting was possible by public transport, but others were involved in car share schemes for commuting.

Suggested changes to improve transport

6.33 When asked what changes the interviewees most would like to see made, the suggestions were usually specific local schemes but some general suggestions were highlighted.

6.34 The most common comment was the need for increased frequency and greater number of buses running together with extended hours in the mornings, evenings and at the weekends and reduced prices. The expectation that this sort of improvement should be possible tends to be more frequent in the areas surrounding bigger cities like Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Ayr and Kilmarnock.

6.35 In the remoter areas like Caithness and Sutherland few of the respondents hoped to see any improvement in public transport. In these areas the interviewees commented on the difficulties in achieving their desired level of change in scheduled bus services, highlighting sparse population as a reason why it would not be economically feasible to have good bus services.

6.36 Several people suggested the organisation of a dial-a-bus service and locally managed mini-buses perhaps sponsored by local companies as possible improvements. However, most of these people commented that they probably would not use it themselves since they had access to private cars. Others suggested that smaller buses could be used to reduce bus fares since the large existing buses rarely had more than a few passengers.

6.37 There were also comments on practical obstacles that hinder people from using the buses. One issue is that buses are not very buggy friendly, thereby making it difficult for parents to bring their children on the bus. For elderly people, but really for everyone, an increased use of low loaders would be helpful. One person suggested that to increase the convenience of using the bus for weekly shopping etc. they should re-introduce the old system of having refrigerators on the buses.

6.38 In three of the areas surveyed, most of the services are contracted by the Councils. These mechanisms for regulating rural bus provision were not widely understood and interviewees suggested greater regulation of public transport to:

• Make better use of the limited fare income from fragile services in rural areas.
• Reduce competition between bus companies which results in competing services running at similar times during mornings and afternoons with limited options for travel at other hours.
• Co-ordinate pricing and fares with co-use of travel cards and agreements on concessions between different geographical areas with different operators.
• Improve integration between bus and rail services.

6.39 Other changes suggested included the following:

• Better information about bus departure and arrival times, destinations and fares.
• More widespread re-introduction of trains on existing tracks where the traffic was stopped during the 1960's. The suggested improvements were in Deeside, westwards from Aberdeen, in east-westerly direction in Dumfries and Galloway and in East Lothian.
• Many car users called for reduced tax on fuel, roads and cars. Some suggest that these could be reduced only for rural areas, whereas others comment that even if fuel prices were the same as in urban areas this would be a major improvement.
• For those living in very remote areas some people suggest subsidised costs on use of taxis, since there are no other options available.
• Requiring everybody to pay additional taxes or charges to fund transport services which ensure easy access for everybody.

6.40 Despite these many suggestions many people commented that they were happy with the existing situation and they could not think of any improvements to make.

Convenience of access to services and ways of overcoming limitations

6.41 These questions were constructed to try to find out how people in rural areas overcame the accessibility limitations that rural life involved, for access to work, leisure activities, and different services. The interviews also explored specific differences between short and longer distance travel needs.

6.42 In general the respondents are aware of the facts of rural living, "you can get basic needs catered for, but for more specialised services or goods you have to access larger urban centres".

6.43 Most of the respondents do not feel they face any limitations in access to local services. They are within reach by car for all their needs. This high level of satisfaction is qualified on two points:

• Firstly access to a private car is essential. Public transport is not flexible enough for access to different services or for travel to and from work.
• Secondly facilities and local services should not be reduced any further. In some areas where opening hours have been reduced and/or some basic services like banks and health care centres have been shut down, the local population have organised themselves for protests against these changes. In at least one case they managed to save the bank, but no one knows for how long.

6.44 This reinforces the findings of the postal survey that even amongst non car owning households car travel is the most important mode for many trips.

6.45 There are some differences between the study areas for the convenience of access to services. Most of these differences can be accounted for by the socio-economic characteristics of the sample but people living in East Lothian are most satisfied with the convenience of accessing everyday services.

6.46 It might be expected that rural dwellers would make more use of telephone services and the internet for access to services than their urban counterparts. The surveys did identify: some people who used telephone banking, a few who used the internet for shopping or other types of service provision, and a few who used catalogues for shopping. People using the internet for shopping purchased mainly books, CDs, electrical equipment and computer related goods which otherwise would have required travel to a regional centre. Several interviewees were interested in or already made food shopping purchases on the Internet, mainly via Tesco, but in some cases they were too far away to be included in the delivery area delimited by the shop. As shown in Figure 24, the use of telephone and internet shopping and banking rose with income group.

Figure 24 - Internet and Telephone Banking and Shopping

6.47 The lowest income groups are most likely to have lower mobility so telephone and internet services have considerable potential for growth amongst these people as ways of improving their accessibility.

6.48 A number of specific comments were made about accessing local service provision as follows:

• There was widespread agreement that local health providers took a flexible attitude towards their clients taking account of any access problems. However people living far away from GPs and local surgeries expressed concerned saying that it sometimes made them feel insecure.
• Local shops often supply the basic needs but lack variety, particularly for fresh produce. They are also perceived to have high prices. Less regular shopping, such as weekly food shopping, clothes, shoes, and more specialised goods are undertaken in larger towns. Some commuters to larger cities made most of their purchases in the city but others preferred to do the bulk of their shopping locally in an attempt to support the local service. In this respect there was a clear difference between respondents based on income group. People from lower income groups were more concerned about the price of local goods and sought opportunities to shop at cheaper stores.
• Banks were widely criticised for recent closures of local branches. Even where branches remained open, the restricted opening hours could be inconvenient. The interviewees most concerned about these services did not generally use telephone or internet banking to overcome these problems.
• Post offices on their own, or in shops, are seen as very valuable for everyday needs. In the more remote areas of Sutherland and Caithness, the post van was highlighted by some as being the single most important local service.
• Mobile services like green grocers, fish vans, mobile cinemas and banks, or visiting dentists and opticians are considered to be essential local service providers.

6.49 When asked about access to more distant services and possible limitations in using them, the same patterns repeat themselves. People, including non car owners and less mobile people, are generally content with their situation. Again car travel is cited by nearly all people as essential.

6.50 The greatest concerns raised were about access to hospitals. Those who can drive are less concerned even though they would normally not drive themselves for major treatment, and the cost of travelling significant distances can be considerable. For those who use public transport, many trips require an overnight stay. This is a particular problem for those who require to make regular visits given the substantial cost and time involved.

6.51 Overall the surveys suggest that most people find ways to overcome their accessibility limitations but the costs of achieving this accessibility for both local and longer distance trips are greatest for the least wealthy people.

Suggested changes in the way services are accessed

6.52 About two thirds of the respondents had no suggestions as to how the provision of basic and everyday services should be improved. Of the remainder most suggested transport changes such as improved bus frequencies, lower fuel costs and better maintenance of the roads.

6.53 However a few non transport improvements were suggested including:

• Longer opening hours of banks and post offices.
• Larger local shops with improved choice.
• Co-location of all the basic services within rural villages to improve the viability of service provision and the efficiency of staff utilisation.
• More mobile services.
• Increased local presence of medical services.

Transport and quality of life

6.54 The majority of those interviewed explained that the benefits of living in their particular rural area outweigh any difficulties in transportation. Even though people living in rural areas are more dependent on transport, and pay higher transport costs, they would in general not want to leave. The reasons given for this are common to most people interviewed: the peaceful and quiet life, the beautiful surroundings, fresh air, easy access to the nature, low crime rates, friendly people and in a number of cases the community spirit.

6.55 Rural living is also perceived to be very good for children, although some comment on the problems of driving teenage children everywhere due to the lack of public transport as a negative influence on quality of life. Even though people are generally content, the respondents point out that the transport system could be better and, most importantly, their satisfaction is in many cases conditional on having a car available.

6.56 There were fifteen people in the survey who were seeking to move out of the rural area, and the three main reasons quoted were: transport problems, lack of job opportunities and growing older and needing to live closer to social support networks.

6.57 People in the Ayrshire sample had very different views on the quality of life in their area from the other rural areas, and listed many problems. In some villages there were considered to be social problems with some of families moving in, who were perceived not to fill the expectations on "rural behaviour". Some of the respondents in the area also mention the general economic deprivation of the area as one reason for their dissatisfaction. The critical quality of life issues were not therefore considered to be transport related.

A fair deal in taxation?

6.58 This question concerns the relation between the taxes the respondents pay, such as Council tax, income tax, fuel tax etc, and the service provided in return. About one third of the survey population considered that the overall tax burden was satisfactory, whereas the rest of the interviewees had some objections. Some of the main points made were:

• For the car owners, the costs of fuel and taxes associated to the car were considered high in relation to the investment in roads, particularly road maintenance and winter gritting.
• Although there was widespread concern at the level of the Council tax, several people stated that they would be willing to pay even higher taxes if they could be assured that the services would be maintained at a high level. The quality of schools was considered to be high but people were concerned that other services were provided at a lower quality in rural areas than urban areas.
• Variations in the level of concessionary travel available to elderly people attracted comments from several interviewees since this did not appear to relate to the level of the Council Tax.

6.59 Concerns about high fuel taxes were greatest in Sutherland and Caithness. Otherwise it seems to be the age and overall family situation rather than geographical area that were the most decisive factors in affecting attitudes to tax.

Summary of telephone survey

6.60 People with cars in rural areas do not generally consider themselves to be isolated but people without cars often feel isolated.

6.61 To obtain basic accessibility non car owners rely on lifts from car owners. Cars are considered to be an "absolute necessity" by most people.

6.62 Expectations of rural accessibility are consistent with the type of area and people are generally content. However in all areas people expect some services to be provided locally.

6.63 Satisfaction with bus services is higher in the commuter rural areas. In more remote areas careful planning and flexibility from travellers is required for buses to be a practical option for many trips.

6.64 Awareness of community transport is very low. However when asked what improvements they would like to make they suggest community transport solutions.

6.65 Protecting the rural environment by using cars less is not a major factor amongst the vast majority of people.

6.66 Opinion was divided on whether to tax more highly to provide a better service or whether to reduce taxes on transport. Interestingly better road maintenance was the top transport priority to improve accessibility.

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