This was the past - what's the future for village bus services ?

The bus service in the village I have lived in for the last 10 years has gone from a service every 30 minutes, to once an hour, to four journeys to Cambridge and four back each day. Recently I was the only person on the bus from Whittlesford to the rail station - a regular situation say the drivers, welcoming the company.

 The huge subsidy paid to the bus company in the past to run almost empty buses has gone. But the approach is still the same - a big bus, a route, a timetable - and almost no-one using it.

The challenges to the budgets is forcing people to think about new ideas. For me, dial-a-ride services supported by community car schemes is the future. The advances in mapping technology and computer software able to work out the best routes in seconds means that dial-a-rides can potentially be very efficient and offer a good service. The job of the county council is to foster these schemes so that they can develop to a point where they can survive without too great a reliance on grants.