The newly-formed B&NES Rural Transport Group has got off to a flying start by delivering a staggering 7,000 survey questionnaires to houses along the 179 bus route in the Somer Valley, and is appealing to as many residents as possible to take five minutes to complete and return the survey by Wednesday, 31st July.

David Orme, the Group’s Programme Manager, said: “This type of ‘users upward’ approach is new in this area, and with a target of 7,000 houses, it is hoped to provide good information about transport needs, to inform future rural transport planning. This is particularly important at the moment, as we don’t yet know what bus service might be put in place when the current First 179 service comes to an end in November this year. We anticipate the survey will confirm the true potential demand for the 179 along its route and its value to users.”

The organisers of the survey are keen to emphasise that they do not only want to hear from regular users of the 179 bus. The aim of delivering the transport survey to every one of the 7,000 houses along or adjacent to the 179 bus route, is to find out how all residents currently travel, but more importantly, how they would like to travel in future.

The core issue with many bus services is that there simply is not enough of these remaining passengers to support regular services. It is very similar to the story of the village pub or the village shop. Those most vulnerable in society, through being unable to afford cars or due to age or disability, increasingly face being left isolated and unable to get to the shops or to vital doctor and hospital appointments.

In addition, at a time when car congestion, parking costs and clean air are all key issues in city centres like Bath, some would argue that the time has come for even the people who have cars to maybe think again and return to the buses. This is a key reason why the B&NES Rural Transport Group needs to understand the wider needs of all residents locally.

The survey has been funded by local Parish Councils and can be completed online as well as using the paper copy delivered to local residents. It can be downloaded from: www.BANESRuralTransportGroup.org, or using this link: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/BANES_Rural-Transport-Group

“I would encourage everyone to complete this survey; it shouldn’t take longer than five minutes, but will bring really useful data to the transport planners,” says Rosemary Naish, Chair of B&NES Rural Transport Group.

It will be interesting to see the results of the survey and going forward how these can be used by the Group to achieve real change at not just B&NES level, but also to lobby the Mayor of the West of England Combined Authority.