A programme of research has been carried out at TRRL to assess the demand for public transport services for recreational trips into the countryside. This has involved a study centred on the town of Newport, Gwent. The research included a first home interview survey to assess the likely demand for possible new services, the introduction of four new experimental bus services, and a second home interview survey to assess the impact of the new services and establish people's reasons for not using the services. Support for the new bus services was disappointing, and only seventeen (less than 2 per cent) of those interviewed in the second home interview survey had actually used the services. About half of those interviewed had heard of the new services, the most effective forms of publicity being local press advertisements and posters. The main reasons for not using the service were the availability of a car and lack of free time, rather than dissatisfaction with the service provided. (Author/publisher)
Abstract