Very important news for all Suffolk bus users – particularly those in the countryside.
SCC is ‘consulting’ again – and again giving minimal time over a holiday period for you to respond to important questions. This time its about whether their favoured ‘demand responsive transport’ solution (that only benefits you if you don’t have to be anywhere by any specified time and don’t have to go home again afterwards) is a good replacement for regular, reliable scheduled bus services.
I have given my view before in this blog : Demand Responsive Transport – the Limousine That Lets Us Down – make sure you give them yours via this link
In my work I have met a lot of people who live in areas where DRT has replaced scheduled services.
These services are fine for people who want to go somewhere and are not constrained too much by time – or date. Therefore they suit people who might use them instead of the hassle of driving a car. This does not appear to be a best-use of scarce resources!.
DRT services are not useful for those who traditionally relied on the bus for regular transport (eg to work or college) because they cannot be block-booked. They are also poor for people needing to meet appointments (eg doctors) because there is no guarantee they will arrive at the time required – or indeed that the DRT would be able to take the person home again afterwards. (I recently talked to an elderly woman without a car in Orford who could get to a doctor’s appointment by DRT but was not able to get home till the following day! )
Finally DRT services do not support tourism – a chance tourist to Suffolk would have no idea as to how to access them and would thus use a car. This is not only failing to support an important and sustainable means of income generation for this county (unlike Norfolk where ‘Hopper’ buses (http://www.coasthopper.co.uk/)run regularly and cheaply along the coast – even on Sundays and Bank Holidays to support both local transport and tourist transport) but it makes a mockery of Suffolk’s boast to be the Greenest county. Greenwash, more like!