Member

We could also consider how poor public transport holds back growth. Some 57% of the working-age population in England lives in areas with low public transport access to jobs, while rural bus services in England and Wales have declined by 52% since 2008. The National Infrastructure Commission has argued that unlocking regional economic growth requires mass transit investment. Public transport in Glastonbury and Somerton is fragmented at best and simply non-existent in some areas. People who wish to travel from Wincanton or Glastonbury to Castle Cary in order to catch a train eastwards to London or Bristol, or westwards to Taunton or Plymouth, are forced to drive miles because there are few bus routes servicing towns to the train station, and where there is a bus service, they rarely integrate with the train timetable, so any potential users have very little confidence in public transport and certainly no incentive to use it.