Encouraging figures from the RAC (via the BBC) suggest that fuel pricing may be reducing unnecessary car use with a third making fewer short journeys. Hooray!

As mentioned in the article, rural areas tend to find this a difficult issue as public transport coverage is usually sparse and often absent. For example, around here, you have the choice of two buses in the morning (before 9am) and one in the afternoon (after 4pm) should you want to venture into the nearest city.

Alternatively, you can walk a couple of  miles to the next semi-important road junction and try to synchronise your arrival with the bus from the village up the hill. Getting to any of the nearby towns requires either going into the city or splashing out on the on-demand Go-Flexi Taxi-Bus – the sobriquet Taxi-Bus presumably derived from the fact that it replaced the scheduled bus service and costs as much as a taxi!

Cheaper than a Taxi-Bus

I can only guess that some wit on the local council branded it Go-Flexi because a flagrant and irresponsible attitude to personal credit cards is a prerequisite to using it on anything approaching a regular basis. For the four of us to get to work and school in St Andrews – and home again too -  using this “award-winning taxibus service”, costs a budget-bruising £64.00 per day.

“You just phone to book a journey and your fare will be similar to a bus fare.” Errrm…no! We regularly take the train to Edinburgh for less.

Joined-up transport policy?  Not in Fife!

I wish I was back on two wheels…

r:B