Picture this! You are old and frail, live outside a small village and want to shop in town - but you have no car and the nearest bus stop is a mile away; how do you get there? Or you are a young student living in a rural area and you want to go to the cinema with some school friends from town- but how do you get there if your parent cannot take you? You are a young mother who wants to do a course, you can get child-care locally but your partner needs to take the car to work, so you've no way of getting to the course venue. You are unemployed in a rural area but have been promised a job in a town, but you've no transport and you can't afford to rent and live in town. Challenges like this are an everyday occurrence in rural areas of Ireland off the main bus and train service routes.

In 2002 an innovative project started operation with the intention of developing an approach to transport that would address many of these concerns. Ring a Link, a community transport company began operations in the three county area of Carlow, Kilkenny and South Tipperary, offering innovative flexible transport services using a 'demand respond transport' (DRT) system. The project will involve nine separate rural transport services across the three counties, in areas that are difficult for conventional services to operate. It is proposed in time, (finances permitting), to offer the service to all areas of the region. The service will benefit all residents of the region, but particularly those with a car or other private transport. Following a good deal of research, BNS concluded that a demand response transport would offer the most effective solution to the needs of the rural areas.

Demand response transport (DRT) is a very simple idea, based on the concept that instead of running a fixed route system, the transport operator will offer flexible routes and services suitable to the area and the prospective customers. This basically involves the intending passenger contacting a central office which will make the arrangement for the pick-up. It is a sort of a cross between a taxi service and a conventional bus route. . A crucial aspect of Ring a Link's ethos is the intention to link with other bus and train services in the region and not to duplicate existing services. Recent developments in information technology and in-vehicle communication have now made what was previously a complicated and time-consuming coordination job much easier and quicker.

Barrow Nore Suir Rural Development (BNS) through the LEADER programme initiated and supported the development of Ring a Link since its first conception in 1999 to its successful launch and operation. The Ring a Link Board of Directors comprises representatives from all three counties; also BNS has a seat on the Board. Each county has a broad-based steering group to oversee the on-the-ground implementation in their areas. In line with its commitment to the 'improvement of the quality of life' of rural residents and its focus on 'the use of new technology and know-how', BNS has part-funded a number key aspects of the new company's operation, including the purchase of the computer software and hardware needed to coordinate the dispatch system. The Manager and staff of the new company needed this equipment to fulfill the potential of the DRT concept. Ring a Link has now established itself as a market leader in the country in the utilization of the DRT concept, with visitors from as far as Japan visiting to learn from the experience.

Ring a Link services have been very successful since their launch in Spring of 2002 and the company hopes to increase the services to more areas of the three-county region by the end of 2003. The project was also supported by other development agencies and significantly by the Department of Public Enterprise's 'Rural Transport Initiative'. In October 2003 the company initiated a car polling coordination service, to be funded through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Click here for the Ring a Link website