Charity calls for more action on community transport
The Scottish Government has responded to the findings of the Scottish Parliament Infrastructure and Capital Investment Committee's inquiry into the future of community transport.
Transport and Veterans Minister Keith Brown MSP welcomed the Committee's report and acknowledged that community transport services provide a "much needed lifeline for many people."
The Minister's response included a commitment to commissioning research to improve understanding of the benefits of community transport. He said that the Scottish Government would also consider a grant scheme to fund new vehicles, and look at how to support quality improvement and training in the sector. However there were "no plans to extend further the national concessionary travel scheme to community transport services beyond its existing coverage."
Age Scotland spokesperson Doug Anthoney said: "While both Mr Brown and the Committee have rightly identified community transport as vital, and that there will be even greater need for these services as our population ages, neither have grasped the nettle of how we will increase access to high quality community transport to meet these growing needs. It's unrealistic to believe that cash strapped local authorities will be able to fill the investment gap, and while potential additional funds for vehicles would be welcome, this won't in itself enable services to be established or expanded where gaps exist.
"We believe that the logistical challenges of extending the National Concessionary Travel scheme to community transport identified by the Committee are not insurmountable, for example non-technological solutions based on community transport providers existing data about service users could be sufficient to allow for reimbursement. We welcome the promise of further research into community transport, and propose that this includes trialling of extension of the NCT scheme to different kinds of community transport serving a mix of locality types."
