THE PROBLEM OF RURAL TRANSPORT

A survey of 1200 households in Merioneth undertaken to identify the demand for transport showed that over 64 percent of households had the use of a car. Data on trip behaviour showed that fewer than 10 percent of all trips were made by public transport, while over 65 percent were made by car. Forecasts of future transport usage predicted a further decline in public transport trips. However, although few people used public transport, the study showed that there was still a social need to maintain the service if hardship was to be avoided. An appraisal of public transport operations showed that for small passenger flows the railways of rural Wales were inefficient and not the least cost solution. For the bus industry large variations in costs and efficiency were found between the national bus company and independent operators. A number of policy options to improve the efficiency of public transport were examined. These indicated that for external trips a specially designed bus service was perferable to the present rail system. For internal trips improvements to the bus service might be made at little social cost, but large savings in resource costs. This paper was one of four given at a symposium-- "Transportation--Problems and Solutions"--held in September 1975. /Author/TRRL/

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/03066452
• Corporate Authors:

  Whitehall Technical Press Limited

  Wrotham Place
  Wrotham, Sevenoaks, Kent ME14 1PE,   England 
• Authors:
  • Rees, G L
  • Wragg, RFW
• Publication Date: 1976

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Figures; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 14-19
• Serial:
  • Highway Engineer
  • Volume: 23
  • Issue Number: 6
  • Publisher: Whitehall Press Limited
  • ISSN: 0306-6452

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Automobiles; Bus transportation; Costs; Data collection; Demand; Forecasting; Households; Public transit; Railroads; Rural areas; Surveys; Systems analysis; Transportation
• Old TRIS Terms: Transportation system analysis
• ITRD Terms: 1272: Bus; 1243: Car; 8525: Conference; 5911: Efficiency; 132: Forecast; 9147: Interview; 698: Journey; 744: Public transport; 328: Rural area; 8119: United Kingdom
• Subject Areas: Economics; Society; Transportation (General);

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00147650
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport and Road Research Laboratory (TRRL)
• Report/Paper Numbers: Analytic
• Files: ITRD, TRIS
• Created Date: Jun 22 1981 12:00AM