Young people's views on transport wanted

Scottish Rural Action want to find out how travel issues and costs affect young people in their work, studies and personal lives.

They also want to know if the impacts are felt equally across Scotland's rural areas or if there are particular issues in different parts of the country. Scottish Rural Action are carrying out a short online survey to gather information from 16 to 26-year-olds.

In previous results on rural transport surveys, Scottish Rural Action were told:

• "Bus journeys take forever, don’t join up and are very expensive"
• "Public transport is so poor in rural areas that unless you have your own car you have very little hope of holding down a job"
• "Transport is a joke. It's ridiculously expensive and only geared towards bigger towns"

Emma Cooper, Chief Executive of Scottish Rural Action said:

"Education is a right, and young people from rural areas are saying that the cost of transport is one of the barriers they face. 
 
"Many rural young people cannot drive or afford to own a car, and have to travel long distances, on multiple buses, to reach college or university. The cost of this can be significant. To ensure young people can live in rural communities, and access the training and education they need, we have to ensure they have an equitable access to public transport services – and that means removing or reducing the cost barrier. 
 
"At the moment we are trying to find out more about these challenges, as the Scottish Government consults on the potential for free bus passes for Modern Apprentices aged under 21. We welcome this step forward, but question whether more needs to be done to address this inequality."

The information collected in the survey will be used to inform Scottish Rural Action's response to the Scottish Government's consultation on free bus travel for older people and modern apprentices.

Take the survey