Rural house prices and rentals are going through the roof as retired city-dwellers seek to escape CoVid. This is putting homes on Mull out of the price-range for locals, so there may be nowhere for their carers to live.
However no-one misses the 50-seater coaches that until CoVid sped across Mull bound for Iona, churning up the road but delivering no local spend.
None of the Safer Spaces funding for active travel has gone to rural areas.
Active travel, public transport and electric vehicles won't on their own achieve the Government's decarbonisation targets. A contribution could also we made if we learned to travel light : our love of SUVs has led to a doubling in the average weight of cars over the last twenty years.
Most drivers of electric cars charge their vehicles at home overnight, so the spread of electric charging-points may be of little relevance especially in rural areas.
Mike Willmot will be leading a presentation to Fuse Mobility on 23 October on doing the North Coast 500 by public transport and will be talking on 6 November about the role of hitch-hiking in rural transport. Meantime the Convention on the mornings of 7 and 9 October will be looking at islands connectivity and at Mobility As a Service.
Notes and photograph by John Yellowlees
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