Community Transport in England – Facing a Fuel Crisis

By Caroline Whitney, our Director for England 

Our recent fuel crisis impact survey gathered responses from 291 operators across England to understand how rising fuel prices are affecting community transport services. The results painted a concerning picture of a sector under severe and worsening pressure, with serious consequences looming for some of the most vulnerable people in our communities if fuel prices do not reduce soon. 

A sector already feeling the pain 

88% of operators had already experienced increased fuel costs, with reports of price rises ranging from 14% to as much as 55% in recent weeks. Some larger operators were facing additional weekly costs of up to £1,000, money that was never built into their budgets and is now eating into reserves at a significant rate. 

"We have a budget overspend and have used our reserves to pay for this. This is not sustainable." 

How long can services hold on? 

The results showed that we need to respond and support the sector now, with 53% sharing they could only sustain services for three months or less. Just 9% felt confident they could keep going for more than six months. A further 27% simply did not know, which itself reflects how hard it has become to plan ahead. 

Volunteers are walking away 

Perhaps the most urgent finding from the survey concerned volunteer drivers. Voluntary car schemes rely on volunteers using their own vehicles, reimbursed at the HMRC Approved Mileage Allowance Payment (AMAP) rate. At the time of the survey, that rate stood at 45p per mile, a figure that had been frozen since 2011. 

Operators reported that volunteers were reducing their hours, declining longer journeys, or leaving schemes altogether. One organisation told us that out of 57 volunteer drivers, three had already stopped and several others would now only do local trips. Another said: 

"Multiple drivers contact us each day to ask if we will be increasing their mileage allowance. As we are already extremely short of volunteer drivers, the risk of losing drivers over this price increase is extremely concerning and could be disastrous." 

This matters because where volunteers are the service, losing them does not just raise costs. It removes the service entirely. 

An important development: the AMAP rate has now increased 

Since we published the original report, the government has taken a significant step. On 21 May 2026, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced that the AMAP rate would increase from 45p to 55p per mile for the first 10,000 miles, backdated to April 2026. This is the first change to the rate in 15 years and follows sustained campaigning by the Community Transport Association and a wide coalition of voluntary sector organisations. 

We welcome this increase. It acknowledges what our survey and our members have been telling government for years: that the previous rate no longer reflected the true cost of motoring, and that volunteers were bearing that shortfall themselves. 

However, the increase alone does not resolve the funding challenge facing operators. Many community transport organisations are funded through grants and contracts that were agreed against the old 45p rate. Unless those grants and contracts are uplifted to reflect the new rate, operators will simply face a different kind of shortfall. We are therefore calling on government, local authorities, and trust and grant funders to review and uplift grants and contracts so that operators can actually pass the new rate on to their volunteers, particularly to help prevent all the cost increase being passed onto passengers. 

Passengers are partially shielded, for now 

Many operators were absorbing the increased costs themselves rather than passing them on to passengers. This buys some time but cannot last. Where fares have risen, as a sector we know the impact falls hardest on passengers least able to absorb it: older people, disabled people, and those on low or fixed incomes who depend on community transport. 

Rural areas hit hardest 

Rural operators faced a difficult mix of pressures. Journey distances are longer, alternative transport is limited or non-existent, and fuel at local garages often costs more than in towns. One operator described round trips to hospital appointments of 60 to 90 miles. 

What still needs to happen 

The AMAP increase is welcome, but our survey results highlight that more action is needed: 

• Grants and contracts must be uplifted to reflect the new 55p rate. The rate increase only helps volunteers if operators can actually afford to pay it. Funding bodies at every level need to act promptly.
• Emergency grant funding or a targeted fuel subsidy would give operators breathing space while the wider fuel market settles. The recent continued uplift to the Bus Service Operators Grant is welcome, but operators that responded to our survey were already receiving this uplift, so more support is needed.
• Rural communities deserve specific consideration. Any support package should reflect the reality that rural operators face longer journeys, higher fuel costs, and fewer alternatives if services fail. 

A sector that cannot afford to wait 

Community transport provides journeys that the rest of the transport system does not: flexible, door-to-door services for people who cannot use mainstream public transport. 

Even in normal times, the sector operates with little financial margin. The current fuel crisis, if left unaddressed, threatens to remove a significant portion of this provision, with knock-on effects for the NHS, social care, and the wellbeing of isolated communities. 

The 291 operators who responded to this survey are not raising the alarm lightly. Many used direct language about closure, insolvency, and existential risk. The AMAP increase is a positive development and a sign that campaigning works. But the message to government remains further action is needed now, not in six months’ time. 

We have met with the Department for Transport – and we need to hear from you again 

Since publishing the original report, we have met with officials at the Department for Transport to share our findings and make the case for urgent support for community transport operators. DfT have engaged constructively with the evidence and have asked us to continue keeping them updated on the impact the fuel crisis is having on services and operators. This is now an ongoing part of their policy development process, and the information operators provide us will feed directly into that work. 

That is why we are running a short follow-up survey. Fuel prices remain high with no end in sight. The increase in the AMAP rate is a step forward, the wider pressure on services has not eased. We need a current picture of what is happening on the ground. 

We are asking operators to take five minutes to complete our impact survey. The results will go to DfT and will be used to make the case for further action where it is needed. If you run or manage a community transport service, please complete the survey here.

Your experience and your data are what give our conversations with government their weight. The more operators who respond, the stronger the case we can make. 

The full report has been shared with the Department for Transport and we will share any updates as we get them. 

You can read the initial full report here.