All aboard
Guess the topic of the very first research project I commissioned on becoming a think tank director 14 years ago. Social justice, human development, climate change? No, transport and not even a sexy form of transport at that – buses. As this excellent report from the Campaign for Better Transport states, two thirds of public transport journeys are made by bus and it is a particularly vital service for people on lower incomes. So while the final report may not have hit the headlines, it was a vital piece of work.
I was thinking about buses again as I prepared for a short speech I am making tomorrow to the Community Transport Association. Prepping has involved me getting to know a bit more about the sector. I am impressed. First, it is big and growing with at least 2,000 community transport associations operating in England and the number of permits and grants going to the sector continuing to rise. Second, it is vital to fill in the gaps between the major operators, gaps which are growing larger as a result of public sector austerity. Third, it releases the hidden wealth of community enterprise and volunteering with, for example, only ten percent of rural community car schemes employing even one part time employee.
In the CTA’s ‘State of the Sector 2012’ report its chief executive Keith Halstead identifies volunteering as one of three key issues, the others being funding (inevitably) and the potential of the Localism and Public Services (Social Value) Acts to increase awareness of, and support, for the sector.
But in my ten minutes tomorrow afternoon I will flag up two other key issues. The first is the accelerating drive towards city devolution. With Nick Clegg announcing the extension of city deals and the impressive Heseltine Report, this week will surely go down in the history of public administration as when the tide in England turned decisively against centralism and towards stronger urban governance. One of the areas being more fully devolved in some of the deals is local transport so a key challenge for community transport will be to get a place at the table as local authorities and Local Enterprise Partnerships take a grip on longer term transport planning and investment.
The second key area is technology. The combination of satellite tracking, on-line payment and social media technology is not only going to improve the economics of community transport but it is likely to lead to the expansion of precisely the slice of the market where community transport is often the main provider – between taxis and buses. There are many very ambitious commercial projects in development which draw on the scope technology provides for people to come together to share the use and costs of door to door transport. The technology is getting cheaper and cheaper, better and better, but unless small volunteer organisations are lucky enough to have technology experts in their ranks, and at least some money to invest in new systems, there is a danger (a) that they fail to take advantage and (b) that their services end up being crowded out (and made financially unsustainable) by bigger more commercial providers.
Indeed my reading has convinced me of the need for a quick and practical research project exploring the interface of community transport, economic devolution and technology. I might even propose it tomorrow.
Comments
3 Comments on All aboard
-
Robert Burns on
Thu, 1st Nov 2012 8:00 pm
-
Nicholas Cole on
Mon, 5th Nov 2012 7:46 am
-
Andrew McCloy on
Mon, 5th Nov 2012 2:40 pm
Matthew,
you’re on to something here.
Effectively, most people face to two main choices when it comes to making local journeys that are too long for walking, either they travel on a scheduled bus or train service or make bespoke door-to-door transport arrangements using either a privately owned vehicle or a taxi.
You rightly identify an undeveloped gap between these options.
Now I am sceptical about the sustainability of volunteer based services, but I do think there is considerable scope for commercial development of services in this gap.
The following would need to happen:
Operators should not be crippled by a requirement to provide a ‘social service’ to the ‘poor’.
Instead it should be targeted (at least initially) on those most able to pay and making the biggest contribution to road congestion, vehicle emissions and the balance of payments deficits caused by vehicle and petroleum imports.
The first step would be eliminating the prairie like employee car parks that surround many business premises – also targeted would be ‘park and ride’ car parks – and replacing them with the use of chartered transport of the kind being proposed.
The infamous ‘school run’ should also be eliminated and replaced by this service.
Once the service had captured this market and worked out the operational bugs it could move ‘down market’ and out from urban areas.
Such a service wouldn’t compete with present volunteer based community/social service providers for a considerable time, if ever.
I am consistently impressed by the quality, consistency, and affordability of the bus networks here in South Korea. It completely decimates anything I’ve experienced living in Canada or the UK. That being said I think the biggest challenges facing bus transit in Western states are actually cultural in nature. While there is still some level of cultural bias towards personally owned vehicles, using a bus here is simply something one does when they have to, without a high level of stigma attached. Buses are not specifically designated for or targeted at low-income people, but rather treated as a necessary service for everyone. As such they are extremely affordable, reliable, and accessible. As someone with a low to mid-range income it is quite simply the most empowering thing I’ve found about life here so far. The huge number of routes and trips available is only possible given significant public subsidization. Until public support is mobilized through an understanding that this mode of transit is something that anyone can use and everyone should have access to, I feel it will be difficult for most governments to provide public transportation that empowers a broad swath of the population rather than helping a sliver of it scrape along.
Matthew
I found your short presentation to our conference last week highly stimulating, including the taxi joke, and as someone involved in community transport can I offer the following response.
In deep rural areas like ours (the Derbyshire Peak District), quite apart from the fact that it’s a popular national park, the local authority is withdrawing its subsidies and marginal bus routes are beginning to disappear fast. This is only matched by the speed that commercial operators are abandoning any service they see as non-profitable. CT is, realistically, all that stands in the way of non-car driving residents in the myriad rural villages and hamlets being completely isolated. Self-help social enterprises like community transport organisations are taking the initiative in the countryside partly because no one else is; a shift towards urban governance that you identify might be a welcome develpoment, but that has to go hand in hand with a more enlightened and progressive attitude from county and town halls towards rural transport for the hard-to-reach.
As an aside, here’s another taxi joke for you:
Driving along a road, a taxi passenger tapped the driver on the shoulder to ask him a question. The driver screamed, lost control of the car, nearly hit a bus, went up on the footpath, and stopped yards from a shop window. For a second everything went quiet in the cab, then the driver said, “Look mate, don’t ever do that again. You scared the daylights out of me!” The passenger apologised and said, “I didn’t realize that a little tap would scare you so much.” The driver replied, “Sorry, it’s not really your fault. Today is my first day as a cab driver. I’ve been driving a hearse for the last 25 years.”
Tell me what you're thinking...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!
RSA Animate
RSA Mobile
RSA Comment- RSA Projects Blogs
RSA Bookshop
The RSA Bookshop, in partnership with Blackwell's the UK's leading academic bookseller, offers Fellows and friends an opportunity to purchase books and to explore our speakers’ ideas in greater detail. Visit the RSA Bookshop.