Online discussion: Mobility in thinly populated areas

Public transport is subsidised in almost all contexts, with the exception of few lucrative lines, such as airport buses that can be operated profitable. New forms of mobility, such as car and bike sharing schemes, demand-responsive transport or community buses should be treated as another form of public transport or as extension to PT and also be eligible for PT subsidies.

The rural context of large territories and distances and a low concentration of potential riders is particularly challenging in terms of financing of public transport operations. Social business models that are based on social value creation beyond the sole focus on money appear to be particularly relevant for rural areas. As residents value the availability of transport options and the access to mobility for their community, volunteering e.g. as driver of a community-owned mini-bus or car is an option to bring down costs while creating local ownership of new forms of mobility.

Especially in rural contexts, access to mobility allows residents of rural areas to remain connected, be able to commute to work, access education, health and leisure offers located in hubs and to fully participate in society. In this context, it is advised to weigh the cost of providing a PT offer against the costs of not doing it, and to assess the social value that is greater than the financial value. Innovative tools to measure the social value have been developed and can be used to defend rural PT against budget cuts and to argue for new and better PT services.

Economies of scale can be made when e.g. bike-sharing schemes are tendered out not by a single municipality, but at provincial or regional level to allow for cost savings through bulk purchase, thus attracting also service providers that would not apply for smaller tenders. It also limits the administrative and legal burden of tendering for individual small municipalities as only one entity needs to tender.

A more disruptive means of bundling the mobility offer is to assess the overall mobility needs of a territory across the traditional silos and to tender out all mobility services in a single agency approach: school and health transport, passenger and parcel transport, etc. This saves costs as vehicles and drivers are used in the most efficient way. However, this new approach requires cooperation across silos and a fresh approach.

Introducing new and more sustainable forms of mobility must always go hand in hand with measures to ensure community uptake. This requires traditional forms of communication and promotion for each newly introduced form of mobility. The best way of ensuring community buy-in, however, is to develop the new mobility offer in close cooperation with the concerned community through a co-creation process that puts citizens at the heart of the mobility offer and tailers it to their needs. This requires opening up of administration transport planning procedure, allowing for participatory approaches with stakeholder involvement.