Great article. Love the analogy of loosening the belt. We are too struggling with how to get people to use public transport. Especially in rural areas. It needs exist in the first place! There is only one bus to the city in the morning and one back in the evening where I live. You can easily be stranded if they are cancelled. And it has to be a more attractive offering, but its all down to cost of course. Biking has definitely increased but the lanes are narrow and its dangerous as car drivers are so impatient to overtake. We do have a bookable flexibus which picks you up which as you say is the most convenient but takes more time as its going round the houses picking up people. Rising cost of petrol might encourage more people to try it.
Thanks, Carol. I'm glad you like it. 🙏🏼 Thanks for sharing your experience. Maintaining and supporting dispersed populations with alternative modes is expensive. And the more sparsely populated rural cities become, the worse it gets. For example, here in the U.S., regional rural hospitals are reducing hours, loosing staff, or shutting down all together. Rural residents increasingly are forced to travel to the nearest major city for treatments.
These settlements were healthier when the agrarian economy brought workers, customers, and revenue to town. Now they're increasingly isolated. To make matters worse, connectivity is not great making it hard for them to even connect to the digital economy. Tele-health could even ease the burdens of having to travel for medical advice. It's no wonder more and more are flocking to urban areas. But rural life has its advantages and they're filled with people who need to be connected to the larger network. Maybe something for a future post!
Thanks for taking the time to comment. I appreciate it.
Great article. Love the analogy of loosening the belt. We are too struggling with how to get people to use public transport. Especially in rural areas. It needs exist in the first place! There is only one bus to the city in the morning and one back in the evening where I live. You can easily be stranded if they are cancelled. And it has to be a more attractive offering, but its all down to cost of course. Biking has definitely increased but the lanes are narrow and its dangerous as car drivers are so impatient to overtake. We do have a bookable flexibus which picks you up which as you say is the most convenient but takes more time as its going round the houses picking up people. Rising cost of petrol might encourage more people to try it.
Thanks, Carol. I'm glad you like it. 🙏🏼 Thanks for sharing your experience. Maintaining and supporting dispersed populations with alternative modes is expensive. And the more sparsely populated rural cities become, the worse it gets. For example, here in the U.S., regional rural hospitals are reducing hours, loosing staff, or shutting down all together. Rural residents increasingly are forced to travel to the nearest major city for treatments.
These settlements were healthier when the agrarian economy brought workers, customers, and revenue to town. Now they're increasingly isolated. To make matters worse, connectivity is not great making it hard for them to even connect to the digital economy. Tele-health could even ease the burdens of having to travel for medical advice. It's no wonder more and more are flocking to urban areas. But rural life has its advantages and they're filled with people who need to be connected to the larger network. Maybe something for a future post!
Thanks for taking the time to comment. I appreciate it.