| 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 |
