Enhancing Understanding Through Passenger Insights
As part of the Community Transport Association’s ongoing Mapping England project, we are excited to complete research focused on the very heart of community transport—the passengers.
Our Passenger Survey was designed to gather critical insights into the demographics, motivations, and experiences of those who use Community Transport. If you’d like to participate.
About the Survey
The Passenger Survey served as a crucial tool for collecting valuable data that not only enriches our understanding of the community transport landscape but also empowers you, the transport operators, to leverage this information. With access to detailed feedback, you can enhance your services, influence policy, and strengthen your funding applications.
Who Participated?
- Members across England completed the survey with a cross section of their passengers with 250 individual responses shared with CTA.
The Results - 2024
Headline Results
46% of passengers said that they would not travel on the day they were surveyed, if it weren’t for Community Transport. This reinforces the findings of CTA’s evaluation of the Tackling Loneliness funding, that a key impact of Community Transport is to reduce isolation and improve access for those who would not otherwise travel.
This finding also highlights that Community Transport is for passengers who would not be able to access other forms of transport, either because of accessibility needs or due to a lack of other transport in their area.
Respondents were asked what it would mean to them if they were unable to use Community Transport for the journey they were making.
"I would be unhappy, love this bus and to mix with people I couldn’t volunteer, I would not get out and do something helpful."
" I need help to get to get to the hairdresser so wouldn’t get there without you"
"It is the only time of the week I go out of the village and would miss meeting people on the bus"
The comments illustrate the importance Community Transport for reducing isolation, accessing services, improving mental health and supporting relationships.
A quarter of all respondents stated that they wouldn’t be able to go out and would miss important activities if they were not able to access the Community Transport service they were using when surveyed.
Economic Impact
On average, passengers who volunteered their average spend, were spending £22.89 when using Community Transport, excluding the cost of fare.
The CTA’s Mapping England research estimated that 13.8 million passenger trips were made amongst CTA England members in 2022/3. Taking this average spend for those trips provides an overall annual spend of over £317 million in
local economies by Community Transport passengers.
Given that 46% of passengers would not travel without Community Transport, we can estimate that over 6.3 million of these passenger trips would not happen by other means. The spend amongst passengers who wouldn’t travel without Community Transport was slightly higher than average, at £25.52 per trip, meaning that over £162 million of annual passenger spend would be lost to local economies without Community Transport services.
View the full results below
