Abstract
A lack of transport opportunities has been shown to be a barrier for accessibility and social inclusion in contemporary society. In rural and sparsely populated areas, access to public transport is often poor compared to urban areas, leading to fewer possibilities to participate in normal relationships and activities among rural dwellers. Based on qualitative interviews with rural dwellers in Sweden, the aim of this study was to explore how access to transport can meet the needs of mobility and activity participation in everyday life and how different modes of transport are being used. The study has been permeated by the time-geographical perspective, which considers people’s use of time and space and the restrictions they face in order to carry out activities, including travel. The results show that travel by private car plays a central role in realizing everyday activities for rural dwellers, as well as a perception of the car as being the norm in contemporary society. Frequent car use is the consequence of a combination of time-space restrictions, habit, and a lack of services, activities, and public transport in rural areas. Poor public transport services limit children’s and adolescents’ independent mobility in particular. Further, the physical environment influences the ability to use public transport, for example if roads and bus stops are seen as unsafe. Based on the results of the study, several measures and improvements are proposed that could increase mobility and accessibility in rural areas and reduce car dependency.
Highlights
A lack of transport opportunities has been shown to be a barrier to accessibility and social inclusion in contemporary society, especially among people living in rural and sparsely populated areas (McDonagh 2006; Farrington and Farrington 2005)
The present study has shown that the car is the dominant transport mode in rural areas in Sweden
Several space-time restrictions exist that limit the ability to travel by public transport: public transport is not adapted to times when people want to travel; school buses are not open to the public; administrative borders makes it time-consuming or too expensive to travel between counties; no public transport connections between places which the individual need to travel; and locations of bus stops are often too dangerous for children to wait for the bus
Summary
A lack of transport opportunities has been shown to be a barrier to accessibility and social inclusion in contemporary society, especially among people living in rural and sparsely populated areas (McDonagh 2006; Farrington and Farrington 2005). Several long-term developments in contemporary society have affected mobility and accessibility in rural areas. Demographic changes due to ageing populations imply a change in transport needs and a declining number of people who commute to school and work. One of the issues highlighted in the literature on rural mobility is that the car has been the dominant mode of transport for a long time (Brake and Nelson 2007; Velaga et al 2012) and has overtaken the use of public transport. “The car supports the creation of distances and obstacles only it can overcome”
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