A SURVEY into public transport needs is being run on the Rame Peninsula from this month until the start of May.

A year ago (March 15, 2021) Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “Buses are lifelines and liberators, connecting people to jobs they couldn’t otherwise take, driving pensioners and young people to see their friends, sustaining town centres and protecting the environment.

“As we build back from the pandemic, better buses will be one of our first acts of levelling-up.” This was to be part of a £3 billion bus revolution.

Now villagers on the Rame Peninsula are trying to follow that declaration through. They have decided to run a survey (it began on Monday, March 7) of all people aged 11 and over living in the Rame Peninsula, Deviock and St Germans areas, to see what they think about improving and developing an integrated public transport system, linking trains, buses and ferries, and ensuring that the network meets their needs.

The two public transport groups (Rame Peninsula Public Transport Users Group and the St Germans and Area Public Transport Group) have had extensive discussions with Cornwall Council, the parish councils, Community Rail Network, Go Cornwall Bus and Great Western Railway, and have received backing to carry out the survey over the next two months.

They are asking questions about the current journeys people make by bus and train - details of where they go, the time of day they travel etc.

People are asked whether they can easily get to St Germans railway station, and about any local journeys which are not really possible. What are the reasons why they are difficult (such as the lack of bus routes, problems of timing, cost, etc)? Is information about bus or train services satisfactory, and what about delays or cancellations?

Importantly, the survey asks for ideas about the integration of buses and trains (and ferries), and if people have ideas about new ways of getting to places - such as being able to phone for and book a mini-bus to get them to the main road, the ferry or the railway station (or perhaps to the seaside!)

Lizzy Stroud, chair of the St Germans & Area Public Transport Group, said “We all know that in this time of climate emergency we need to use cars less and buses and trains more - but to be able to do that we need integrated services.”

It is ironic that in these circumstances there are bus service cuts which are being proposed, and train companies are being told by the Government to reduce their cost substantially.

The Public Transport Survey is under way now and people can have their say till the start of May, using https://sgrug.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/transport-users-survey-go