My latest post on the Total Politics local government blog is below:
Our village is only eight miles from either Bath or Chippenham but it might as well be 80.
We’ve got a bus service running six days a week into Bath alone but it’s only every two hours and stops at 6pm. For the commercial operator there isn’t the demand to increase the frequency.
Since we’re on top of a hill and connected by narrow and fast country roads, walking isn’t an option for most people.
It’s frustrating to be just out of reach of bus, coach and mainline rail networks and to have to rely on the car so much.
So some parish councillors and green activists in the village have been thinking about how to bring these networks within reach.
We’ve been getting some advice from Community First on options such as a community minibus and we’ve promoted car sharing with limited success.
But what’s caught our imagination is hitchhiking.
Traffic generally uses only three principal routes out of the village and with the bus stops in place there are ideal stopping points. We’ve also got ideas on where to stand when people are heading home.
There are safety issues (we’re thinking drivers should register and carry a sticker in their car) and cutting the waiting time (blanket text alerts so people know someone needs a lift?)
The details are fuzzy but somehow we must be able to match all these people driving alone and all these people who want to travel. Any ideas on how to make this less fuzzy gratefully accepted.
Poland used to have a government-run hitchhiking scheme called the Social Autostop Committee which folded when the Berlin Wall went down. I’m trying to find out more about how it worked. Something about vouchers, Ladas and queuing I imagine.
I like the idea of our parish council adopting a Communist-inspired scheme just for the incongruity of it all - but a simple and informal system is going to work best.
According to Hitchwiki:
“Hitchhiking in the United Kingdom is feasible although the British are a little surprised (especially in England) to see people still doing it these days since it has become a dying trend largely due to the safety worries and very busy roads. You will still manage a ride somehow but you really need to be at the right spot. …For example, the rural mentality in the South West makes it a lot more easier than trying to hitch in the South East or East Anglia.”
So perhaps the scheme isn’t a total non-starter.
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