Environment Audit CommitteeWritten evidence submitted by the British Youth Council
Executive Summary
Following a poll of 65,000 young people and a vote in the House of Commons, “Make public transport cheaper, better and accessible for all” is a priority campaign for the British Youth Council and the UK Youth Parliament in 2011–12.
We believe that young people who can’t access the public transport they need are being discriminated against. Access to public transport must not be a barrier to young people’s use of services and opportunities, such as education and training or leisure facilities.
There needs to be regular bus and rail services especially in areas away from big transport hubs, to avoid leaving young people in rural isolation. Young people also need to be informed about public transport services in their areas, with published and accessible timetabling information and details of prices and concessions. Access to public transport, and therefore public services, is not limited to availability but includes young people’s willingness to use it based on concerns such as cost and their safety.
In light of our findings future discussions and decisions regarding transport and the accessibility of public services should take account of the following:
Every local area should actively involve young people in transport planning and decision making.
Government should encourage transport operators to build links with young people locally using existing youth representation such as youth councils.
Considerations of accessibility must include more than just availability and costs of services, ie safety concerns of potential passengers.
Changes in education legislation, school leaving age for example, must be reflected in changing transport legislation.
For the purposes of this document we utilise four separate surveys which were designed and carried out by the British Youth Council and completed by young people aged under 25. Specific reference is made to these as the document develops and their details are listed below:
July 2009—“Your Experience—Getting work, getting paid, getting out”. Sample size: 364
January 2010—“Your Experience—Being Safe”. Sample size: 450
May 2011—“Young people’s involvement in Decision Making”. Sample size: 1,147
April 2012—“Have Your Say”. Sample size: 38
(1) Barriers to Access
(i) In July 2009 a survey was created and carried out by the British Youth Council (BYC) into young people’s experiences of “Getting work, getting paid, getting out”. This survey was made up of a sample of 364 young people and it found that nearly 40% of them felt that “Travel Issues” prevented them from doing more organised leisure activities.
(ii) Fares: One of the first concerns raised at the Youth Select Committee was that of concessionary fares. Both the Youth Parliament Members and Tim Loughton MP felt that the varied age at which different areas considered a passenger to be an adult was causing a lack of equality of opportunity to access. Following a survey created by the BYC in April 2012 called “Have your say”—a survey aimed at use via mobile technology to allow young people to answer whilst on public transport, we found that 80% of the young people surveyed disagreed strongly with the idea that the fare they paid on public transport was fair. On top of the existing arguments for a more uniform approach to concessions we feel that the increase in school leaving age means that concessions must at least cover young people up to the age of 18 to allow fair access to public transport and therefore education.
(iii) School Transport: Concerns were also raised about the restraints on public spending leading to a lot of the, discretionary, free school transport being affected by cuts. We are concerned that despite the changing legislation regarding the school leaving age Tim Loughton MP indicated that it is unlikely that the Government would make any change in the age for the mandatory provision of school transport. This obviously echoes our concern about providing equality of access which arises with varying ages for concessionary fares. We are also aware that over £500 million is spent on transporting children with special needs to and from educational organisations but believe that the heavy reliance on taxis is a hugely inefficient use of this money.
(iv) Rural Transport: As bus provision is not mandatory and four out of five bus services are run on a fully commercial basis the coverage of more rural locations is left to the discretion of the local council. We understand that these are often run at a loss but with tightening budgets these services are shrinking or being cut all together. This is a large concern when you consider that bus routes in these rural areas are often relied upon to transport people to education, work and leisure activities. As such we would like to see more guidance and motivation provided for local councils to provide services where and when there are gaps left by commercial services. It was also indicated by Tim Loughton that he supported development of a website that would make information more easily accessible regarding what bus services are running and what schemes are available to young people. This is in response to the often haphazard approach to information dissemination caused by various operators covering single areas. This is a proposal we are keen to see come to fruition and one that should be extended to all transport services in all areas.
(v) Safety: It is important that when considering access to public transport and then public service destinations that we are not only discussing the provision of a service but the ability and willingness of potential passengers to use it. If safety concerns prevent young people from using the service then it is as ineffectual as no service. In January 2012 BYC created a survey called “Your Experience—Being Safe” which was completed by 450 young people. Following this survey we found that only 27% of the young respondents felt safe waiting at a bus stop after dark. In total, the findings showed that 60% of the respondents felt unsafe on using any form of public transport after dark. Many young people, however, do not have the choice as to when to travel due to education or work commitments and as such we are concerned with ensuring that measures such as lighting paths, routes and waiting areas are all included in transport plans and developments.
(vi) Public Transport Experiences: During the BYC survey it became evident that over half of the respondents had had a bus driver be rude to them. We are aware that unfounded concerns about young people’s use of public transport has created a barrier between drivers and young customers and that more training needs to be provided to staff as to how to deal with young people, and especially those with particular needs.
(2) Involvement in Decision-Making
(i) We feel that in order to provide a transport service that can specifically meet the needs of young people it is absolutely vital that they are included in the discussions and decision making processes. In May 2011 BYC created and carried out a survey called “Young people’s involvement in Decision Making” which was completed by 1,147 young people. The results of this survey which looked to ascertain the level of involvement young people had we found that over 95% felt that involving young people in the decision making process helped build relationships between them and their community. Around 92% also argued that it leads to the improvement of services for young people.
(ii) BYC carried out a survey of people working to support local youth councils and found that one third had not been consulted on transport in their area.
(iii) Furthermore, of those that had been consulted on transport only 22% agreed that the consultation had a positive impact on public transport.
6 September 2012