Stranded
Why the millions of people who depend on rural public transport services & supporting infrastructure despair about the future
It’s been a few weeks since I published my last post here which I feel somewhat ashamed about because my firm intention was to post on a weekly basis. If I can offer an excuse, albeit it a weak one, it would be that my focus has been pulled to writing up the interim findings from a water transport research project that I’ve been working on since early summer. In short, the project examines the current health of the UK’s coastal and river ferry services, and the actions needed to put it on a firmer long-term footing.
The opportunity to work on the project arrived via funding that the Scottish Rural and Islands Transport Community (SRITC) were awarded from the Foundation for Integrated Transport (FIT) who are a UK charity that supports the development of sustainable and transformational transport solutions.
Since incorporating SRITC as a Community Interest Company (CIC) in 2021, I’ve been a Director, and helped the founder Jenny Milne to build a community of over 600 members that collaborate to address the many transport challenges facing rural and islands communities across Scotland and beyond.
We’re a small and pretty humble team at SRITC. We don’t shout as loudly as we could about our work and the difference we make to the many people living in rural areas who struggle due to a poverty of affordable and accessible transport services need someone to speak up for them.
One of the main reasons that I write these posts is because I’m motivated and often inspired by the people I meet through SRITC. At its heart this Substack is about how sustainable transport technologies can be a force for good in rural and island communities, unlocking the chains that have tied them to centralised transport systems that pay little heed to their needs.
Stranded
If there is one adjective that I feel most accurately sums up how many of these people feel right now it would be stranded. I like this word because it’s defined as
left without the means to move from somewhere
If you live in a rural community or on an island, you can frequently find that you are stranded because,
You don’t drive or have access to a car and,
The bus you depend on is cancelled at short notice
The ferry you depend on is cancelled at short notice
The train you depend on is cancelled at short notice
How does it feel to be stranded when you know that
It means you can’t get to the hospital appointment that you booked ages ago and you’ll need to wait weeks for the next one
After a long drive to the ferry terminal, you can’t get to the island holiday cottage on Scotland’s west coast with your family and you either cancel the whole holiday or find overnight accommodation at extra cost
You’ll miss the long planned family reunion
As a rural/island hospitality business your losing customers
Being a native of the Isle of Arran, I have personal experience of being stranded. Only a couple of weeks ago, the ferry I was supposed to get over to Arran was cancelled at very short notice, as were all other services that day. Thankfully, I had relatives that live close to the ferry terminal at Troon that I could stay overnight with. That’s not the case for many other people.
The Stress of Being Stranded
Over time the unreliability and unpredictability of rural transport services takes a mental toll on those who depend on them.
Business owners suffer emotionally when due to cancellations and delays, they lose revenues through no fault of their own leading them to wonder whether it’s worth the hassle of running a rural business.
The elderly suffer emotionally when they are faced with the prospect of having to relocate to be closer to suitable medical and care facilities, breaking their deep roots with their rural or island community.
The frontline staff who work for the ferry or bus operator and need to deal day in and day out with angry passengers become demoralised because in spite of their best efforts, there is little they can do to fix the systemic rural transport issues.
To be physically stranded is also to feel mentally stranded and exhausted. Is it any surprise when months and then years go by and you see no meaningful improvement to the transport services that you depend on.
I don’t need to tell you that across the UK, from our largest cities to smallest villages, our public transport network is badly fractured and in some places broken. Is it any wonder that as nation we are becoming more, not less dependent on cars. Are we really surprised that more cars on the road means more money being spent on repairing and maintaining them and less available to invest in public transport.
I’m not anti-car. Far from it but we must remember that whether its a rural car park or a ferry to Arran, there is a finite amount of space to accommodate vehicles. The fact is that demand for vehicle space is far outstripping supply, particularly in rural areas that can’t cope with the volume of traffic originating from towns and cities.
Although, the car may feel like the one thing that we can depend on when public transport services are coughing and spluttering, its worth remembering that cars do breakdown from time to time and leave us stranded. The experience of breaking down on a dark rural road in the dead of winter is one that we’d all rather avoid. Especially, when we look at our phone and realise that the mobile signal is non-existent.
Then there are EVs that need to be charged. One of the reasons that there is a hesitancy among some drivers to purchase as EV is the fear that due to a lack of good charging infrastructure in rural areas they will be stranded.
The Economic Impact of Being Stranded
No-one as far as I’m aware, is counting the cost to the UK economy of all of the occassions when employees, patients, suppliers and tourists are stranded.
How much productive working time is being lost because a rural bus, train or ferry service is cancelled?
How many UK families are choosing to travel overseas on holiday because it’s too much hassle to deal with unreliable domestic transport systems?
How many rural businesses are shutting for good because they can’t attract staff to work for them, customers to use their services or afford to wait supplies to arrive with them?
It’s no exaggeration to say that many rural and island communities are slowly but surely dying through a 1000 small cuts, many of which are transport related. There is limited media commentary on these cuts because they are drowned out by the latest story on immigration or outrageous statement that Donald Trump has made.
It’s only through the spirit and charity of locals that they are still alive. These are the people who volunteer their time to drive community buses and cars, offer lifts to those who urgently need one, and sit on the boards of groups that are trying to find a grant to keep a vital service operational.
The thing about rural businesses is that because most are micro in size and are distant from the centres of political and economic power, the critical work that they do supporting the UK economy goes unnoticed most of the time. Occasionally, the ones that are doing well get there moment in the spotlight but where is the support in their time of need?
Stranded really does the best job of describing how they feel. They are being left without the resources or finances to move forward with confidence. Furthermore, if they close, who will step in and try again - or try something new - if there’s a strong probability that they’ll also find themselves stranded in the near future.
Too Old to Move, Too Young to Stay
If there is no meaningful improvement to rural transport services and infrastructure over the next few years then we’ll see a further fracturing in the social fabric of communities. One where the elderly decide they are too old to move elsewhere unless they are dragged kicking and screaming, and the younger people realising that they need to move because they have too much living still to do and don’t want to regularly get stranded.
Rural and island areas are fast becoming retirement homes which is a sure pathway to depopulation and ultimate death. It makes me eyes water when I think about this trajectory. So much of this is avoidable.
We shouldn’t Despair
We really shouldn’t because there are reasons to be optimistic even if it feels hard. I’m optimistic because I can see a near future where decisions about investment in rural transport services and infrastructure are made not on profit but on social value and community benefit. This is how we overcome traditional decision making process that prioritise population density (more people = higher return on investment).
The value of rural areas must be determined based on how they support the emotional and physical wellbeing of the country not how many people live there. We’re a stronger country when we have rural custodians who manage the countryside so we can enjoy it recreationally. We’re a healthier country when we eat produce that has been grown locally.
I’m also optimistic because through all of my work in the field of rural transport, I meet and build great relationships with hundreds of people who are as passionate and committed to the cause as I am. The more people that join the conversation the stronger we will become.
Closing Thoughts
I opened this post by highlighting that my absence from Substack over the last few weeks has come with regret but has afforded me the opportunity through other projects to reflect on the work I’m doing and the things that I enjoy write about. Rural Charge will continue to be the vehicle through which I share my thoughts on the evolution of transport across the countryside as we transition from a fossil fuel dominated world to an electrified one.
What I won’t lose sight of is the sobering reality that the ills that affect our rural and island communities won’t magically be solved when the roads are full of EVs or the ferries powered by batteries or hydrogen.
The issues I’ve discussed here are deep rooted. Unrooting them will require a complete mindset shift about how rural transport services are organised and delivered. The easy option of trying to fit urban based policies and systems into rural areas must be erased. The concept of “rural proofing” has been used as political fodder to win over voters but there is scarce evidence of it delivering results on the ground.
The term “stranded asset” describes an asset that loses value prematurely due to unforeseen changes, often from market shifts or the transition to a low-carbon economy. Perhaps we need to start thinking of our rural communities as stranded assets?
For sure, many communities are losing value prematurely due to unforeseen changes (e.g. cuts to transport services). With doubt there have been unfavourable shifts in the market (e.g. importing more food from overseas and centralisation of healthcare and financial services facilities). What about the shift to a low-carbon economy?
Ironically, its rural communities that are supposed to be the big winners in this shift because that’s where most of the renewable energy generating infrastructure will be located. However, there is justifiable fear that the people who live in these communities may be left with the crumbs from all of the investment directed towards building this infrastructure, and stranded (there’s that word again!) with these “assets” once they have reached the end of their operational life.
I’ve downloaded a lot of thoughts from my head on what I believe is an important topic. If you share my concerns and perhaps have your own thoughts on how we can tackle them then please join the conversation.