A survey of the traffic patterns on an interconnected group of stage-carriage bus services in south and west Yorkshire is presented. Their value as inter-urban, urban-rural, and purely rural services is considered, together with the amount of traffic passing through the rural locations at which connections take place. The degree of bus-bus transfer traffic is also considered. Although the services as a whole show only marginal gains in traffic or revenue as a result of the provision of rural connecting services, it is shown that the interchange facilities were used by over eight per cent of the passengers at the sites, and that they were therefore of significant value to the rural community. It is suggested that local authorities elsewhere may find, in areas where bus services remain reasonably frequent, that the low support costs of providing rural connecting facilities are preferable to a financial commitment to the creation and operation of other kinds of rural bus schemes. (Author/publisher)
Abstract