Celebrating Community Solutions! Community Transport Week 2024

What is community transport? 

Community transport is a community-run scheme that enables local people to get around; without these services some would often face difficulties or be unable to be mobile. Traditionally involving community minibuses, car shares or scheduled bus services, community transport now often describes active travel schemes such as bicycle and e-bike hire. Community Transport initiatives can be found across the UK and at Community Energy Scotland (CES) we see great work being done day in and day out by our members from Hawick to Yell, and from Barra to Aberdeen.  

Why do we need community transport?  

Many, or even most people, may never need community transport. But community transport is important because of how irreplaceable and vital it is for some people, especially in rural areas. It gives more people greater access to the services and activities available in their area, tackles isolation, and can even create employment. A community bus reduces the need to drive individual cars for the same journeys and reduces carbon in the environment. It also allows people to take those journeys, take part in a group activity and feel a sense of belonging.   

Supporting our community transport operators  

CES has been empowering community groups across the country for almost two decades to find material value in the energy resources on their doorstep.  Traditionally this has been turning the wind into electricity to either reduce the cost of powering and heating a community building or to supply energy to the grid for income.  But just as importantly, when you look at mobility in the community, delivered by the community, beautiful things can happen.  

N76 Energy in Motion 

A CES project now in its third year, N76 aims to connect communities through sustainable and community transport. Throughout the course of the project, the N76 officer and N76 partners have been reminded of the importance of support for the community transport providers operating locally.   

One of our members, Kirkconnel Parish Heritage Society, explained how N76 supported their work in year 2 of the project: 

Since taking up the role of Development Manager at the Kirkconnel Parish Heritage Society, I have found the N76 team, particularly Rosie, to be approachable and knowledgeable. The contacts I have made have helped the Society to further their commitment to affordable and accessible transport.   

With the help and advice of others within the N76, we are on our way to securing funding for a new minibus which will be more accessible for those with reduced mobility. This has only been possible with the support of the N76 group as I wasn’t sure how to secure the funding or indeed, just how important community transport is to rural areas

Kym Clements, Development Manager, Kirkconnel Parish Heritage Society

Rural Energy Hubs

At the opposite end of the country, the Rural Energy Hubs (REH) project is seeking to enable local communities in Shetland and Orkney to develop sustainable community transport plans fit for their individual communities as part of the wider project. These will feed into a plan that can be rolled out to other areas across Scotland and the rest of the UK for communities who wish to use them.  

CES, with close to 20 years of experience, has found time and time again that when you consult the locals as the experts, then plans and strategies mean more, and have more relevance to and ownership by the community.  This is what the REH project is aiming for, with the idea of being the starting point for new and expanded community transport and mobilities services distributed across Orkney and Shetland, and replicated across the rest of the country. 

Some of the community groups involved will also acquire new electric mini-buses and chargers, which will not only have immediate benefit to the local communities but will also feed into the lessons learned from the project in real-time. 

The North Ronaldsay Trust saw the introduction of their electric minibus (pictured) in April this year.  This has already seen benefits in leveraging additional income to the island (which has a population of around 80) by transporting cruise ship passengers who disembark here.  It has also enabled the Trust to transport larger groups around the island, such as council officials, birdwatching groups, and visitors to the annual drystone wall festival.

It is important to note that this acts as a mechanism to ensure the vehicle is able to create enough income to maintain the transport service for the community. 

We are delighted that community transport has its own spotlight in the calendar every year in October – so many of our members work hard to deliver their community transport facilities and this provides an opportunity to celebrate them all and encourage others to jump on board!  

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