The SRITC Cafe from Glasgow chaired by Jenny Milne: Friday 24 April 2026.

Buses and garages, the twin lifelines of rural areas, were themes at the Scottish Rural and Islands Transport Community (SRITC) cafe on 24 April chaired by Jenny Milne unusually from Glasgow.

John Carr recalled how at the start of his transport planning career in the 1960s the Jack, Beeching and Buchanan reports came together to transform perspectives on rural mobility. UK policy has since then unfortunately become driven too much by process rather than by outcomes. From 1977 the Government's Rural Transport Experiments allowed a taking-stock of the situation, and during his time in Strathclyde saw some successes including the classic dial-a-ride Medwyn Gypsy and also the Linwood Clipper and later the Border Courier, which conveyed passengers along with prescriptions.

Using social service vehicles for public transport has proved an enduring achievement, and a delight from his time in Yorkshire was when in 2007 the Yorkshire Dales Society challenged North Yorkshire County Council to give them the subsidy that was being withdrawn from conventional operators, resulting in today's expanding Dalesbus network. However the UK postbus operation was murdered by bureaucratic accountancy when the Post Office decided to charge full instead of marginal costs, and The Scotsman's transport correspondent Alastair Dalton recalled covering the last Scottish postbus run on 19 August 2017 in Sutherland.

Mick from the Tighnabruaich District Development Trust told us that with the impending retirement of its operator the scattered rural community in South-West Cowal became aware of its reliance on the village's petrol station since the next one was twenty miles up the road. Consultants helped make the case for a community buyout, which was achieved last month with recognition of the building's heritage value since it had been the pierhead in the days of regular sailings - now it may also provide community spaces for purposes such as meetings and training.

A bid to the Rural and Islands Infrastructure Fund provided for upgrading of the kit, with card-payment pumps and a new roof. Funding has also been secured for two fast-charging points for electric vehicles which will require an upgrade to the power supply, and next up may be a further consultation on community transport, looking at electric bikes and electric minibuses.

For further information on the Scottish Rural and Islands Transport Community, visit their website at ruralmobility.scot/

Report by John Yellowlees.