Community Transport in Northern Ireland - a policy review

Abstract

There has been a recent rejuvenation of community transport following the UK Government's new transport policy of 1998, and Northern Ireland's new Rural Transport Fund. The latter offers for the first time specific funding and integrated planning for community transport and public transport, at least in rural areas. Prior to this, the voluntary transport sector in Northern Ireland had been lagging behind that in Great Britain for various reasons. This paper discusses the nature of voluntary transport at community level, and reviews the wider UK policy background, before focusing on the situation in Northern Ireland, summarising the types of services available and the rapid rate of progress in rural areas between 1998 and 2000. There is now a prospect of some form of supplementary transport across the Province, but the potential demand is so great that much remains to be done.Key index words: community transport, Northern Ireland, mobility, disabled