The first community bus project began operation in Norfolk in November 1976. By mid-1978 sixteen community bus projects were operating in several counties in England and Wales and had risen to more than 60 in 1984. The community bus has become a popular form of rural transport innovation, with many counties who have yet to sponsor or experiment, actively considering doing so. The purpose of this paper is to review the role of community buses in rural areas and to examine the reasons for their success using case study material collected in Nottinghamshire by the Community Transport Services Research Unit (CTRSU) at Trent Polytechnic in Nottingham in the period 1978 to 1984.
Abstract