News / Community transport moves up ZetTrans agenda
PUBLIC transport managers in Shetland hope to see a flowering of community groups operating their own buses and other vehicles over the next five years.
Shetland transport partnership ZetTrans wants to encourage more groups like the Burra and Trondra Community Minibus Association, which has been hiring out a minibus to local folk for more than a decade.
While some are concerned this could clash with existing operators, ZetTrans insists this is not an attempt to provide public transport on the cheap.
Instead it believes non profit organisations could fill the gaps in public transport and eventually compete for contracts and create “quality jobs” in communities.
Next Thursday ZetTrans will meet to discuss putting more staff time and resources into supporting community groups to set up their own transport schemes.
The partnership has already been approached by two community groups, who they hope to help run pilot projects that could be emulated elsewhere.
In her report, SIC policy officer Emma Perring says that community transport has been “underdeveloped” in Shetland, and people have a poor understanding of what it is. She says it could be of especial benefit for people on low incomes.
Schemes could cover everything from ferries and planes to cars and bicycles, the most popular idea being community mini buses such as Burra’s, though car sharing is also mentioned.
The aim, she says, is for keen and enthusiastic volunteers to be playing a “full and sustainable part in Shetland’s mixed transport economy” by 2019.
Transport planning manager Michael Craigie said the aim was to set up a “task group” of experts who could help community groups get over the hurdles involved in setting up a transport scheme.
He said community groups were in a better position to access external funding than the council to provide a service run by volunteers to meet local needs.
But he added that community transport added up to much more than “volunteers driving kids to youth clubs”.
He said: “Community transport is far more rooted in the communities themselves and gives them an opportunity to address what they need.
“When they work at their best they are able to do what any transport operator could do…and can be a way of creating good quality jobs in communities.”
Bobby Hunter, a former chairman of the Burra minibus group, said it had been “a tremendous success” and they were now on their third minibus, which was used every day by different groups for sports events, or outings for old folk or the local women’s guild.
However Fetlar development worker Robert Thomson, who was involved in generating public funding for the island’s £84,000 community electric minibus, raised concerns about the council’s plans.
“If you are going to set yourself up as a community transport association you have to know what you are trying to do, how you are going to make your money, does the community really want it, are you going to be able to get the contracts from the council, what are the risks, how are you going to access money for your vehicle – you need to know what the end goal is here and that’s what I’m not clear about,” he said.
“In some cases communities are already hard stretched to run things they are already running and is this just a way to cut council costs and put more strain on communities?
“What I would like to see is clarity on the council’s strategy.”
Craigie said this was an attempt to improve the overall mix of public transport in the isles and not a means of saving money.
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