Local community groups and elected councillors have come together in support of making Community Buses a reality in Renfrewshire.
The Renfrewshire Community Transport Group has successfully received £25,000 for the creation of a sustainable business case to bring community buses to the area.
Renfrewshire Council’s Sustainable Communities Fund aims to support local people and groups to develop sustainable projects that will promote and improve community collaboration, health and wellbeing, local spaces, economic development, biodiversity and the local environment.
Local community groups have been working alongside local Councillors and Renfrewshire Council Officers to assist with the aspiration of setting up a Community Transport Group in Renfrewshire with a view to attempting to address the issues experienced by communities across Renfrewshire that have a lack of public transport provision to meet their needs.
The group have been sharing best practices of how models for community buses work elsewhere and how this might be delivered in Renfrewshire and now has a collective group of local groups and organisations who want to take this forward.
With this successful application to the Sustainable Communities Fund, The Community Transport Group intends to work with a transport consultant to do some detailed feasibility work to identify things like operating costs and what resources would be required to deliver a service so that they can make this become a reality for people in Renfrewshire.
Renfrewshire Council is currently conducting a review of public transport provision which is nearing completion, the review highlights that there is a role for community transport, particularly in some rural areas in Renfrewshire where communities have been cut off by a lack of adequate public transport serving them.
Lesley Compston from Renfrewshire Community Transport said: “We are excited about the prospect of Renfrewshire to have a sustainable community transport system. We can now make progress with our plans and push on to establish a much needed community bus service.
Deputy Convenor of Housing and Communities Cllr Robert Innes said: “I am really pleased to see the Renfrewshire Community Transport Group successfully applying to the Sustainable Communities Fund, projects like this are exactly what this investment in our community is for. I’m excited to see the outcome of this feasibility study and how the group can make this a reality for people in Renfrewshire.
“For too long our bus services have been stripped back to the point that in some areas people are truly isolated because of public transport. With an ageing population in Renfrewshire this should definitely be a focus not just for now but for the future.”
Cllr Andy Steel said: “We have been looking at creating community transport in Renfrewshire for a while now, and there are great ideas and enthusiasm to take this forward. It really is heartening to see the Community Transport Group awarded this funding to continue working towards making our communities more accessible.”
“The bus service is appalling in Renfrewshire, and anything we can do to improve that should be encouraged. My hope is that this funding from Renfrewshire Council will help the group and that this project can be something to look forward to for the area.”