Many rural areas suffer from ongoing population decline. In this project we try to find new ways of providing public transport in rural areas, e.g. by focussing on the transport demands of individuals. The aim is to develop policy recommendations for transport service providers with new ways of dealing with decreasing demand in rural regions.
Currently, we are working on the third phase of the project. The first phase revealed a serious crisis in public funding and customer demand in some rural areas, while the second phase evaluated two case studies and determined causes as well as possible solutions to the problem of public transport and population decline. In the third phase we will evaluate the viability of our propositions and attempt to come up with a practicable model of individualized public transport.
Reallocating transport funding could increase efficiency. Not only might it cut costs, but its decentralized organization could also be much more flexible. It is innovations like these that we try to initiate. In the third phase we try to identify pre-conditions for focussing transport services on a core area. Pupils living outside this core area will be provided with mobility vouchers. These will be the equivalent of a certain amount of money, which will induce parents to form car pools, hire transport companies or self-organize in other ways to get their children to school. Whether this would be acceptable to parents and pupils alike, as well as to other actors like schools, public administrations (regional) and transport companies are other important questions. To answer these, we will conduct expert interviews.
For more information please contact Astrid Karl
