RURAL ACCESSIBILITY

Appendix F Summary of Focus Groups

Lairg Focus Group Meeting held in the Lairg Community Centre.
Tuesday 19 ^th June 2001 8pm

Derek Halden provided a brief overview of the project aims and what people had said in response to the postal and telephone surveys.

The group members were then asked for their opinions on the key ideas that Derek had mentioned, and also their own personal views and experiences of travel and accessibility issues. A brief summary of the main points follows:

Experiences and examples of real travel behaviour.

Most people in the group live in households that have one car, they have to use the car to get to work because public transport in this area is scarce and it is not always convenient or easily accessible. Therefore if one person in the household wants to go out and the car is already being used, they have to walk, cycle, ask for a lift or stay at home.
Most of the people did say that they had got used to this and worked around it, for example by using the weekends to do leisure activities as they would have access to a car then.

"If you want to go anywhere you have to walk"

"I use my bike…I have no choice, my husband works and takes the car… I have to cycle to work (5 miles), it is either that or sometimes I walk home."

"It restricts me if my husband has the car, then the whole day is lost…restricts my leisure activities as I would have to walk to the gym during the day. It's a long way, (18 miles) I go to the gym two times a week and if I have no car I can't go."

There are buses from the large supermarkets to Lairg once a week, to enable local people to get their shopping. However this free service has led to the demise of local services, one participant remarked that eleven commercial businesses had closed in the last 15 years here, due to lack of demand for their services and increased variety elsewhere.

Public transport: when it is and isn't used.

Most people had a car or access to a car in the group and therefore they were not solely dependant on public transport.
Everyone in the group used a car to get to work.
It seems that not only is there a lack of public transport services in this area but the facilities that do exist do not serve residents that live off the main roads, only those close to the main roads.
School children use public transport to get to and from school however there is only one bus back to Lairg after school so pupils cannot stay on for after school activities.
Public transport fares are not an issue, if there is a service they will pay for it, but they did say that long distance train journeys are expensive.
There is a train station outside Lairg, and as it is quite far outside Lairg there is a bus to meet it. However if the train is delayed the bus goes on anyway as it has a timetable to keep.
Doctors and opticians will come out on home visits so people in this area do not have to use public transport for these health services.

"Public transport is a dead loss for an area like this, it doesn't work."

"I work at the nearest place (24 miles away) but there is no public transport to get there and back, if there was I would use it"

Community transport solutions and mechanisms.

Community transport does exist in this area in the form of a dial-a-bus and a funded taxi service. The dial-a-bus is not widely used by the local community and it is recognised that if it had not been funded it would have been taken off.
The council undertook a survey to find out what local people wanted. There was a proposal for a taxi bus or a small bus to cover a wide area but instead they got a coach service. The coach service is on the main roads only and people in scattered areas still need to get to these main roads, so they take their car instead.

"We preferred a taxi service or a bus that would go onto the smaller roads, instead we got a simple easy answer".

The group explained that one of the main reasons it is not successful is because it is mainly for the elderly and those without access to cars. The older generations are very proud, they don't want handouts and they will only take lifts etc. from people they know. So they don't always use the dial-a-bus.

"The dial-a-bus in Lairg took two years before people really started to use it, it was mainly the elderly, to go to the medical centre, bank, post office."

Some of the elderly also moved into town to sheltered accommodation to be near amenities. This has led to a decrease in demand.
Another reason for the low demand for the dial-a-bus is that "nobody wants to go anywhere at the same time as anyone else".
Dial-a-bus is subsidised for group hire and the choir hires the bus under this scheme.
Scheduled services are appreciated more than demand responsive ones especially for long journeys because people can organise their time around the services.
Some of the taxi services are funded, but there is not a taxi service in Lairg. They usually use one in Argyle sometimes they cannot use this as the driver might be driving the dial-a-bus. The dial-a-bus has to be planned the night before.
One person uses a car scheme operated through work to go shopping once a month, it works on a rota basis and the volunteers are paid by mileage. It is not a formal arrangement, as they do not want a booking scheme. This scheme is heavily subsidised through Sutherland Partnership.
Car sharing schemes are organised by "word of mouth"; they are not usually formal agreements.
There are only 6-10 people from the village that travel from Lairg to Inverness to work everyday, so it is not easy to arrange car sharing.
One person knew of someone who gets the post bus to get to work.
Once a month, hill walkers meet and hire a bus for the day. Everyone pays 5 for the hire and someone drives around to pick up people and leave them home again. By using this method people without cars can still meet the rest of the group.

Recent changes that have had positive or negative results

The bank in Lairg is only open at certain days these are Monday, Thursday and Friday. Local people seem to resent this and some of them said that they did not use it anymore. Phone banking is used along with bank machines. There was a bank machine in Lairg but it had taken eight years to finally get it. Other people used the cash back system in supermarkets to get money.
There are new backpacker buses in the area for tourists; this is a private business not part of an integrated system.
Cycle routes are good and are used; this is good for more vulnerable areas and shops
There was little or no use of Internet shopping in the group.

Priorities

There was strong agreement that cheaper petrol would definitely be a good idea as more people would use their cars for accessibility.
Children from Lairg cannot attend after school activities unless they get a lift from parents. One group member who was a teacher said that if there was a community bus then a teacher could arrange travel for after school activities. It seems that many after school activities are missed out on by children from Lairg, due to a lack of transport.
There has also been a decline in tourism in the Highland areas. "Competition is global not just local anymore". Tourism could be encouraged more to benefit services in this area.

General comments.

High unemployment in the village is a problem, it is about 20% and mainly male. The creation of employment for school leavers was suggested as one way to improve the situation in the village. Many young people go to college and only came back to the area if their parents have businesses there, "Why should they come back?" There is a high level of elderly people in this area, possibly about 7% above the average for the rest of Scotland. It is becoming a "retirement area" with the young people leaving.
The railway line is underused said the locals, it is used by Safeway to transport containers. One local suggested railway minibuses powered by electricity and run frequently would be quicker and cheaper than trains on smaller sections and better in the winter during snow and ice. "It seems to me a more simple and cheaper way to run public transport".
The road improvements have increased accessibility but this has led to a decline in villages, and the decline of shops in Lairg.
Commuters don't get to use the local shops because the opening hours don't suit their hours of work.
"Inverness is like a big sponge, sucking everything from the north in to it".
"Kessock bridge has about 36,000 people going across it everyday, it was built to carry 10,000 so more people are using it to leave rural areas to work in Inverness".
Flights to and from Inverness are not regular and they usually connect with other flights before they reached their destination. Most people therefore have to make at least one connection. "Inverness airport has limited flights there are more commercial flights than public flights".
"It would be nice if someone came up with something original".

Cumnock Focus Group Meeting held in the Cumnock Town Hall.
Monday 25 ^th June 2001 8pm

Derek Halden provided a brief overview of the project aims and what people had said in response to the postal and telephone surveys.

Experiences and examples of real travel behaviour.

In this area there are wide variations between the villages, some of them are not very affluent such as Auchinleck (it has low home ownership and high unemployment) despite being close to Glasgow, Ayr and Kilmarnock. Others such as Sorn have high levels of home ownership. Although some households do not have cars, there are also an increasing number with two or more cars in this area.
It seems that a lot of the people in this area do not travel far to work, "Here is a born and bred area, people have an idea from childhood about working here. They have no view to look outside, education needs to be improved to tell people they can live here and work in Glasgow, they can go further than Kilmarnock." Yet many of these people take their car to work.
One person works in Glasgow and has travelled there to work for eight years, over this time her journey time has doubled. Her partner also spends a lot of money on petrol for work although they get some money back through work. She said that the traffic to Glasgow from this area is increasing and the reasons for this include, people moving to Glasgow because of better jobs and because of promotion.
A participant thought that people who owned cars probably did not use public transport in this area because it is not as convenient as the car, she herself had not used public transport for a long time and had no idea how much public transport costs.
As the volume of traffic increased there was congestion during rush hours, one place of congestion that was mentioned was Mauchline; "Mauchline is a bottleneck coming home from work."
Public transport is used a lot by school children going to and from school and by pensioners during the day.

Public transport: when it is and isn't used.

Not many people in this area seem to use public transport, most people have cars and as the bus services are infrequent in many villages, those with cars probably don't use public transport very much.
Sorn has about 500-600 people. It is quite rich with high home ownership. It is highly populated with elderly people and although there are few buses in Sorn their times suit many of the elderly that do not work. There is also great input from the Church for people that need transport facilities
There are concessions on the buses for those with health problems and for pensioners, but not for the unemployed or job seekers.
For leisure purposes people would sometimes use the bus, for example to go to Kilmarnock to the cinema from Mauchline the buses suit the cinema times, but the buses are not suitable for travelling from Sorn to the cinema in Kilmarnock.
People also use taxis to go out at night instead of their own car or bus, taxis are available and there is a market for them. Four adults in one taxi are cheaper than the equivalent price for four on the bus to Ayr and Kilmarnock for leisure.
School children in this area use the bus to go to and from school.

Recent changes that have had positive or negative results

The Community in Mauchline largely consists of two types of people, either local families or people who moved here from Troon or Ayr looking for cheaper homes. This had led to an increase in house prices in this area and more traffic on the roads.
Mauchline library has access to the Internet, which can be booked for use. There seems to be low usage of the Internet for shopping.

Top priorities for future improvements

The price of petrol is important for the people in Cumnock, one person stated that "Fuel is more expensive as you go north, it would be better if the government sorted out one tax for petrol".
Many children can't get to see friends after school. There are few buses so teenagers have nothing to do in the evenings. Increasing the number of buses in the evenings would help.
If the buses could fit in with the visiting times at the local hospital it would be helpful.
There used to be mobile services in Mauchline about twenty years ago, but when the people who owned the vans retired, the services stopped. There are mobile services for videos, meat and fish, fruit and vegetables, an ice-cream van and also a mobile library in Sorn but not in Mauchline. If this service was extended to Mauchline it would be useful to the people in Mauchline.
If concessions on public transport were available to those on job seekers allowance, it would have two benefits, first to encourage job seekers to travel further while looking for work, and secondly to increase the number of people using public transport particularly during the day.

General comments

There is a Tesco in Auchinleck that a lot of local people use for their shopping, instead of going to Ayr, Troon or Glasgow. This store employs mostly female employees; there is high male unemployment in this area.

Only Cumnock has a bank with the regular opening hours, Mauchline, Auchinleck and Catrine have banks but they have restricted opening hours.

Sorn post office also has restricted opening hours.

East Lothian Focus Group Meeting held in the East Linton Hall.
Tuesday 26 ^th June 2001 8pm

Derek Halden provided a brief overview of the project aims and what people had said in response to the postal and telephone surveys.

Experiences and examples of real travel behaviour.

Everyone at the meeting had a car although they did not always use the car to travel to work; some people used the train.
Some people in the group were retired and they said that they did not travel by car during peak times. They also said that although they did use public transport sometimes, they did not want to use it as much as they got older.
A few of the people at the meeting had bicycles and they said that it is difficult to travel on public transport with bicycles. They wanted to be able to use the train for part of their daily journeys then cycle on to their final destinations. They have had difficulties with this especially with trying to find space on trains for their bikes and also as they found staff were not very helpful towards them when they had bicycles. They are also concerned that the new trains, which are being introduced in this area, will have no facilities for carrying bicycles.

Public transport: when it is and isn't used.

Although everyone attending the meeting had a car most of them still used public transport for various reasons. They did say that they had encountered various problems with public transport such as the cost, the state of the trains, the reliability of public transport and the lack of provision and access for bicycles.
People use public transport in this area for a variety of journeys. Public transport is most commonly use for going to and from work. In this area it is also used for leisure trips and by pensioners on longer journeys.
One man used his pensioner's card to travel by train for days out. "We took a trip to Inverness, all the links were good, no big waits. I would do it again as I got it cheap as a pensioner."
One person said that she uses the buses to get into Edinburgh because it is quicker than taking the car as the buses can use the bus lanes.
Public transport is also used regularly when people are going to the airport, because it is cheaper than paying for the car parks.
People did also say there were times that they did not use public transport. One retired man and his wife said that as they get older they don't want to get the bus so much.
Another person was a teacher in Edinburgh. "I have to be there at 8.30am I can't be late. I would like to take the train and cycle. The car is almost the same price as the train. To take the bike on the train used to cost but the new trains won't have any space for bikes so I won't be able to use public transport. At the moment there are no bus links for the train so I cycle from to work from the train, the train is usually full and very well used. On busy days when I have a heavy workload I take my car reluctantly, I would prefer not to."
They also said that they used public transport for some leisure activities but they would use it more for leisure purposes if there was a better service at weekends.

"The service to Glasgow is fantastic, if only it was spread throughout the country, it is clean and fast."

"To get across East Lothian the links are really bad, for example from Haddington to North Berwick, using buses is not secure as they might not turn up."

"I cycle to the train station then get the train but I get agitated as I don't know if it will arrive, I don't work peak times…train stops and bus stops are isolated and lonely places to be."

"They need to improve reliability and make it cheaper."

"North Berwick trains sometimes can't get bikes off them, some doors don't operate so I have had to get off at the next station and go back."

"There is no consideration for bikes."

"Staff are reluctant to help they moan and complain as I have a bike."

"There is a bad attitude to bikes here, in Holland bikes have right of way on motorways."

"North Berwick is so used but the line and station are so bad."

"There is no way on a train that you can secure luggage or goods for work."

"To get across to the other side of Edinburgh takes a long time but the bus is quicker as it uses the bus lanes."

"For me the train is the best public transport."

"I use public transport on special occasions to go to the rugby matches."

"To go to the airport in Edinburgh there is a good regular service it is not so cheap but it is worth it."

"If I want to get to the hospital in Edinburgh I would need about two or three buses but I can drive easily and more cheaply than public transport."

"I don't want to use buses for shopping as I get older."

"I used to work for ScotRail and we had focus groups, and there were always complaints about the North Berwick line."

"During peak times they need a regular service of large buses, but off peak times they need less and smaller buses."

"The trains on Saturday to Edinburgh are every half hour instead of every hour and I think this is a step in the right direction."

Community transport solutions

Some solutions were suggested such as a dial a bus and increasing the number of small buses during the day instead of having large infrequent buses in the area.

"There used to be a phone a bus and I think that would be a good idea for here if there was that kind of thing."

"For me as a mother, flexible buses are good as I can't get ready on time for regular buses."

"There used to be a mobile service, but not anymore maybe it wasn't making enough money."

"Two local pubs have minibuses to and from them for customers to get home at night."

It seems that people here are keen on sharing transport although not many of them had actually done it except for shopping. It was suggested that a car share scheme should be organised in the area and that the council could operate this through the Internet.
The two pubs in the area have minibuses that they use to transport their customers to and from the pub.

Recent changes that have had positive or negative results

When the local supermarket starts to deliver shopping a few people said they will shop on line.
People in this area have also started to work at home using the Internet one said, "I work from home online, travelling to work parking and coming back was the most stressful part of the day for me."
Local shops are being negatively affected, "In North Berwick they are bringing in buses to the seabird centre, this is organised by the seabird centre but it bypasses the shops so the people use the seabird centre café. It is not good for local shops, it brings more people into North Berwick but not to the shops there."
Other problems in this area include the increased price of living due to more people moving out from the city. "The dual carriageway to East Linton has increased the cost of living, my landlord now says this is a hotspot and has put up my rent and I can't do anything about this, I rely on access and transport but now it has put up the prices of living. A higher income bracket has moved in and put up the prices."
The new trains, which are due in the near future will not have space on board for bicycles, this will disadvantage many people from this area who usually take their bicycles on the train then cycle to work.

Top priorities for future improvements

The top priorities for people in this area are to increase the number of people using car share schemes and the park and ride facility. They also thought that the number of cars on the road increased during the school year and decreased during the holidays so if something could be done about this it would ease congestion on the roads.
Cheaper and more reliable public transport was also important for the people in this area. Better facilities at train stations and on trains for carrying bicycles was also important as was improving services on the North Berwick line. For those who did not live near train stations they wanted more frequent buses maybe even dial-a-buses to enable mothers with children to travel. If they could connect the times of the trains and buses and have better links for public transport then more people would be able to use it.
It was not suggested here that there should be any reduction in the cost of petrol or that it would make any difference to their accessibility in this area.

"Park and ride scheme was used during the time of the tall ships race, then it was used because it was leisure time people were not rushing to work."

"Companies should encourage public transport not give company cars, that would help."

"There should be an online site to find car share people set up by the East Lothian Council, why don't they do this?"

"The number of one person cars has increased, it is not right."

"Why don't more people work from home if they can, it should be encouraged."

General comments

The people in this group were very concerned about the hospital facilities and treatment that is available to them in this area, especially if they were sick and had to travel into Edinburgh for treatment. "There are not many new hospitals between Newcastle and Edinburgh so if there was an accident it would mean a long journey. Why not have an Accident and Emergency in Haddington? They were going to expand the Haddington hospital so why not put Accident and Emergency there."

"For sick children you have to go to Edinburgh, there is nothing here, so I have to drive 30 miles if the children are sick."

"If you have to go to hospital in Edinburgh for unnecessary treatment then that is one more person on the road that is unnecessary."

"I can't get a doctor near work, so I have to come back out here from work, so I put off going to the doctor."

"Ken Livingston halved the prices on the tubes in London, this more than doubled the number of people using them, it's about 'bums on seats', they should reduce the cost to increase the number of people using public transport".

"Fifteen children get the bus on a narrow country road, there is no bus shelter as it is not an official bus service only a school bus, it isn't fair to leave children there with no shelter."

"When we first moved here 10 years ago there was no supermarket and we had to go to Edinburgh, now we have Tesco here so we go to Haddington instead."

"Commuter people are buying houses and increasing the prices."

"I travel to Edinburgh from here over the last ten years, the journey time has increased by five minutes per year."

"Off peak hours the train from North Berwick to Edinburgh hasn't got six people on it."

"European countries have better services, for public transport there is a flat rate in Rotterdam, and you can put your bikes on them. Belgium has a great public transport system."

Aboyne Focus Group held in the Victory Hall in Aboyne.
Thursday 28 ^th June 2001 8pm

Derek Halden provided a brief overview of the project aims and what people had said in response to the postal and telephone surveys.

Experiences and examples of real travel behaviour.

Everyone in the group had a car, which they thought was important for living in that area. "It is very important to have access to a car, even to go from village to village especially for children to get access to services."
Most people used their cars for all their journeys and rarely used public transport although some of them said that younger members in their family use buses to go to and from Aberdeen.
They also used their cars to go between villages because some people lived off the main road so it wasn't easy to get the bus.
Some of the group also used their bicycles or walked to the nearest village, one said "My wife walks 5 miles to get to activities here if one of the cars breakdown, then I pick her up."

"I cycle around but it is rather dangerous."

"I would cycle within the village but it is too far from village to village."

A few people in the group were retired and they said that they don't travel at rush hours.
No one had ever used the park and ride, they said there were too many journeys so there was too much time taken up.
During school time roads are very busy, but in holidays there is not as much traffic.
One member of the group use said he would use public transport if he could. "When I used to go in to work in Aberdeen I would travel earlier and come home later to avoid the traffic."

Public transport: when it is and isn't used.

It seems that the young and the elderly use the public transport here. The young people use it to go to school, to other villages and to Aberdeen at weekends. The elderly seem to use it on longer journeys because it is cheaper and not as stressful as driving.

"If I go for a long distance then I use the train, it is cheaper."

"As a family we use public transport, I have two sons and they use it extensively."

However some of the group said that they would use public transport if there were more frequent services and if the bus stayed on the main road through Banchory instead of going through various residential areas.

"I drive everywhere but it's not by choice, if there was good public transport I would use it."

"To drive to Aberdeen from here is worth it, but if there was public transport from Ballateer to Banchory it would be good."

"If the bus did not spend so long in Banchory going around I might use it."

"If there was a bus every hour or half hour I would use it to come to Aboyne but it isn't available."

"In what I do for work it is not appropriate, but if I worked in Aberdeen I would use it."

Community transport solutions

There is a dial-a-bus by the Aberdeenshire Council.
There is a village hopper bus but it only runs twice on a Friday, it only goes half a mile off the main road.
The group also seemed interested in car sharing but only one person had ever used it. He said that it only works to a point, he tried it for work but he said there were problems because if someone was late for the lift then everyone was kept late. Other people said that if there was good infrastructure then they would use car share.
In Alford there is a community car scheme which operates to take people to the hospital either to attend appointments or to visit. It is a voluntary service although the passengers are invited to make a donation towards the cost. The Alford Car Transport Service is funded by individuals. It has been running for about 15 months and has a pool of volunteer drivers. To organise the lift you ring the organiser and say how many are travelling and when. It covers only the area that is covered by the health area. They consulted the ambulance and taxi services before it was set up. The driver waits for the person at the hospital until they are ready. There is no funding from the government and the donations don't cover the costs, so there is fund raising to support it. Most of the drivers are retired or females with no other responsibilities and no work. This is a generous village for donations and drivers get 20 pence per mile for petrol as a token gesture.
There is also a local taxi service but this isn't funded, one person said, "I worked it out that if my wife took a taxi to and from work everyday in Aboyne it would be cheaper than the car."

Recent changes that have had positive or negative results

The Alford Car Transport Service has benefited many people in this area.
There is a high level of Internet usage among the group although it was not clear if it was used for shopping or just leisure and work purposes.
The increasing cost of petrol.
There has just been a Co-op built in the last six months so people do not have to travel so far for their shopping.

Top priorities for future improvements

There is a high percentage of Internet access in this area, which is not usual in rural areas. Internet charges are high and the group said that the service was slow and that improvements are needed to the service.
Lorries should be taken off the road and the freight put back on the railways.
The local railway service should be resumed.
Cheaper petrol is also important for this group.
The group agreed that, "There are enough roads out here but the maintenance is poor."
Better parking at railway stations would be good.

"There can be several solutions, make travel not as expensive, work from home, using the internet for shopping and work, there needs to be a set of changes to reduce the number of cars."

"You need to change peoples attitudes to not wanting to use the car so much."

"Most people work in Aberdeen and their problems are not Aberdeenshire problems but problems with Aberdeen."

Kirkcudbright Focus Group held in the Kirkcudbright Town Hall .
Tuesday 28 ^th August 2001 8pm

Derek Halden provided a brief overview of the project aims and what people had said in response to the postal and telephone surveys.

Experiences and examples of real travel behaviour.

Everyone in the group used a car to travel and they hardly ever used public transport.
One employer has been surprised to find that it was almost impossible for a temporary employee to get to work by public transport. It was essential to get a lift in a friend's car or get a taxi.
An elderly group member explained that driving would soon not be possible on health grounds so either public transport needed to be improved or they would need to mode house.
The economy of the area now depends on growth amongst small businesses and this travel virtually all needs to be by car.

"I couldn't live where I live without a car, there too few buses and as I get older I would have to move away if I hadn't a car."

"In our village there is virtually nothing for shopping, and not enough people to keep the shop open. If there were more elderly people without cars then the shop would be fine. I shop locally to protect it but it doesn't have milk so there is a journey I have to make."

Public transport: when it is and isn't used.

Although they did not use public transport they did have views on it and they would use public transport if there were more buses.
Given the fragile economic situation in the area there was a need for more tourism and there were strong views that the current bus services were not useful for tourist travel.
Some of the group were disillusioned with public transport since nobody knows what service is running when. There are many different operators and there appears to be very little organisation of when and where they run buses.
There are considered to be plenty taxis but poorer people cannot afford to use them.
Younger elderly people want good public transport as they still want to travel. They are old enough to have retired but still young enough to want to travel.
One person lobbied hard for a bus and when the Council ran a new service they used it loyally for years.

"I would pay more for buses if there were some."

"I would use the bus but there are no buses, the economy is geared to the car, there is no other way of getting around."

"I would fly south rather than drive or take public transport, but I prefer public transport than driving."

"I want to stay where I am when I get older, if there was more transport I would feel more secure."

"Public transport focuses on going from small towns to big towns but travel needs in the area go both ways."

"There is no integration of bus and train services"

"The money being put into public transport is political rather than practical"

Community transport solutions and mechanisms.

No group members were aware of community transport schemes but they had some views on what was needed. Better organisation of lift sharing was the most popular idea but it was also felt that some people would prefer to travel by small community minibuses rather than large commercial buses.
The idea of demand responsive services managed by area or route was received positively.
There was agreement that community transport could play a much greater role in the future provided duplication with public transport was avoided.

"If people need hospital runs, then people here help each other out, there is great community spirit in this area."

Recent changes that have had positive or negative results

The population of the area is perceived to be growing especially small businesses and this has had a positive effect on the area.
There are many retired people moving in and this could be more of a benefit if local services were developed to meet their needs.
The improvements to the road network east of Gatehouse of Fleet have improved accessibility by road.

"Roads in this area are very good."

Priorities

Lower fuel tax is needed to support rural development.
There is a need to introduce specific buses aimed at the tourist market.
Concessionary travel should be less generous freeing up funding for investment in new bus services.
Better integration between services is needed including between bus and rail in Dumfries.

General comments.

"There is a brain drain from this area."

"Existing resources should be spent more efficiently."

"There are a lot of old people driving in this area who would be better travelling by bus."

"Not many elderly people have computers and they are too old to start now."

"Because of transport concerns people see that they have to move, but there are advantages by moving to social areas."

« Previous | Contents | Next »

The Scottish Government

Research

On this page: