Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
It is unsurprising that concern about rural
accessibility is strongest in countries where
larger proportions of the population are
deprived of the regular use of a car and are
dependent on public transport; also, such
concern originated in an earlier era, when car
ownership was lower. In the UK, the issue arose
around 1960, when rural bus and train services
began to decline from their previously generous
levels (Thomas 1963). Since then, rising car
ownership and declining public transport have
exposed a widening social gulf between haves
and have-nots. It is common to categorise the
non-car population as the elderly, the disabled,
those on low incomes, the unemployed, those
living alone, children and adolescents. However,
it is important that identification of transport
needs is based upon
individuals
rather than
households, such that in a family owning one
car, a journey to work might be catered for,
while someone else's shopping trip, school
journey or evening entertainment would
probably require a transport alternative. It has
been recognised, belatedly, by governments that
such problems can never be 'solved' by rising
car ownership, and there will always be a need
for at least a basic level of public transport.
From the point of view of public transport
operators, rural areas have always been difficult
territory. There is a basic incompatibility between
the type and scale of transport provision and the
dispersed nature of demand. The fixed routes and
timetables of trains (especially) and buses,
unsuitably large vehicle capacities, and formal
operating procedures have left public modes
without the flexibility to adapt to rural conditions.
For decades, transport companies have found it
impossible to operate commercially, and have been
forced to withdraw services and/or negotiate
subsidies from local authorities. Attempting to
reconcile demand that is highly dispersed in time
and space with transport supply that is inevitably
concentrated has proved as fascinating for
geographers as it is frustrating for operators and
planners.
CONCEPTS: ACCESSIBILITY AND
MOBILITY
Geographers and other researchers interested in
analysing problems of this type have a choice of
two fundamentally different approaches.
Accessibility
is essentially a measure of 'spatial
opportunity', the ability of people to get to places
under prevailing conditions, in terms of
what is
possible,
whether or not these journeys are actually
made. Relevant data can be obtained from
secondary sources—maps, the census, transport
timetables—and, depending on the technique
used, analysis could be done largely as a 'desk
study' with relatively little fieldwork in the study
area. The alternative approach is to focus on the
travel patterns
of people in the target area, i.e.
mobility
(see below), and from the number and
type of journeys actually made to deduce the
extent of any disadvantage experienced. Data on
trip-making behaviour can only be obtained from
household questionnaire surveys, which obviously
demand a lot of fieldwork, hiring teams of
interviewers, and considerable expense. Although
it could be argued that complete understanding
requires both strategies to be applied in the same
place at the same time, this is hardly ever done in
practice.
The contribution of geographers over the years
has been to convince policy makers of the
importance of accessibility as the central concept,
that the problem resides with
people
at local level,
and that it is essential to take a consumer
viewpoint. This differs crucially from the
traditional interpretation, which was
overwhelmingly economic, such as a
preoccupation with the financial problems of bus
companies or railway branch lines. The purpose of
transport is to provide accessibility to distant
places, where people can obtain goods and services
or take part in activities that are not possible at
their home location. Transport itself is not the
desired product but a means to an end. Its role is
to overcome the distance barrier that separates the
point of demand (e.g. an isolated house) from the
point of supply (e.g. a market town). Accessibility
should be seen as a system that coordinates the
