Bishampton and Throckmorton experience the dilemmas common to rural areas today. As the parish becomes increasingly “dormitory” in nature, use of public transport decreases, making it less and less viable. The provision is decreased, disadvantaging the non car-owner/drivers, who are often the most vulnerable of the community – the elderly, disabled, or the young.
Public transport provision comes to be seen as inadequate, further reducing its use, and so on.
The concerns expressed in the Hot Topic Questionnaire reflect this process: bemoaning in one way or another, the low level or lack of public transport services to the parishes.
One group of comments argued the need for improved services, pointing to the difficulties imposed in rural areas by lack of services: isolation for the elderly and young, disadvantage for non car owners/drivers in respect of work etc.
A second group of comments made specific suggestions for improvements, such as a bus to a local supermarket, a more frequent service to Pershore, or a cycle lane.
Other suggestions were for a bus shelter and an argument for the use of car park charges to subsidise rural public transport.
The Parish Plan survey also highlights the dilemma of public transport in rural areas, revealing the conflicting nature of respondents’ opinions and actions.
The majority of people considered the provision of public transport as inadequate or worse; only a quarter considered it adequate and very few had a good word to say for it! (No one in Throckmorton and only 3% in Bishampton rated provision as good.)
Around a quarter of respondents expressed some interest in using a daily bus for work, and almost half said they would consider using a bus for shopping, but only 11% of respondents reported actually using public transport locally in the last year, and, of those, half had made fewer than ten journeys.
There seems insufficient uptake of traditional public transport to justify approaching bus companies to increase their provision.
The Parish Council will inform bus companies of the findings of the survey in case adjustments to services would improve use.
In an age of increasing concern about the environmental cost of our continued dependence on the motor car, and concern about rural isolation, there is an imperative to look at innovative schemes that get around the dilemma described.
The Parish Council will investigate other schemes.