NEW research from Walking Charity, Living Streets, shows that bus passengers in Scotland are routinely subjected to hazardous walking environments and inadequate bus stops, which is particularly affecting older and disabled people.

West Fife was one of the area''s for the survey and no doubt passengers in the communities covered by the CFT will have varied view on the stops they use.

Living Streets Scotland, part of the UK charity for everyday walking, carried out the Bus Connectivity Project to understand how people could be moved away from private vehicles onto more sustainable options.

A lack of information at bus stops was an issue at 95 per cent of sites survey as part of the project, followed by poor quality pavement surfaces (85%), poorly located or inadequate crossing points (80%) and missing dropped kerbs (55%).

The Scottish Government-funded project captured people’s everyday experiences of walking to catch a bus, looking at issues affecting the walking environment on approach to – and at – bus stops at 20 locations across Scotland.

Nearly every journey involved a challenging walking environment with multiple issues, from pavements in need of repair to a lack of safe places to cross and no dropped kerbs.

Our research shows that a vast majority of people (77%) rate good information as critical to choosing to travel by bus but very few stops had information about nearby facilities or services.

Despite the poor-quality experience, most people interviewed as part of the project still rated their walk to the bus as good (74%).

It’s incredibly disappointing that the public has such low expectations for basic infrastructure. Councils won’t choose to invest in these facilities until people demand more.

The Scottish Government is investing £500m in bus priority measures, however, it’s vital that councils, bus companies and regional transport authorities help to get the basics right so everyone can easily access a well-maintained bus stop with the right information and walkable surroundings.

Improving the whole bus experience is vital if we’re to move people away from private vehicle use and tackle some of the biggest public crises facing the nation – poor air quality, inactivity and social isolation.

Based on findings from the research project, Living Streets Scotland has produced its Bus Stop Toolkit with recommendations for local authorities and communities on how they can proactively improve access to transport hubs and fund these improvements.

Living Streets completed 20 audits with communities across Scotland. Sites were selected in consultation with bus companies and West Fife was one of the targets.

STUART HAY,

Director, Living Streets Scotland.