群馬県松井田町における路線バス廃止後の住民の対応

Abstract

This research aims to clarify the inhabitants' response after discontinuance of the local bus line service in Sakamoto, Hosono and Tsukumo districts of Matsuida-ma-chi, Gunma Prefecture. The results are summarized as follows;As to the use of the local bus line service directly before the discontinuance in 1980's, it can be said that the number of users was not so many, since frequency of per-capita use was generally low.As the local bus line service was discontinued, many inhabitants came to depend on private car sharing. But not only persons getting a ride but also persons giving a ride are reluctant to use this system. Persons getting a ride have difficulties to adjust to persons giving a ride, feeling ill at ease in many cases.As soon as the local bus line service was discontinued, the local authority introduced the taxi ticket system, with upper limits, for the mobility handicapped, especially the elder. But this system is hardly to function well, because 1) it is only applied to taxi companies within Matsuida-machi, 2) some settlements are far from the town center, where taxi companies are located, requiring higher fares, and 3) the subsidies for this system are limited.Especially the elder are reluctant to receive both private car sharing and taxi ticket systems. As a result, activity opportunities and spheres of the elder have been reduced.The inhabitants of settlements need the local bus line service more as distance grows since the distant settlements tend to have a higher rate of unlicensed inhabitants, mostly elder, the main users of the local bus line service. Many of them now feel nagative influence on their daily life affected by discontinuance of the local bus line service. The anxiety also includes uneasiness of the future mobility handicapped.Most inhabitants recognize the need of public transportation. But they tend to rely on the local authority. The author thinks that all inhabitants must consider this matter as their own problem since everyone is or will be involved in this current issue.