One of the difficulties often highlighted by the rural population focuses on mobility. Together with greater ageing (and greater difficulty of mobility), the decline in the direct provision of some services contributes to making rural mobility a very topical issue. _x000D_
This research focuses on 4 rural districts in Valencia, where a wide-ranging survey was carried out to find out about the transport habits of the local population and, from there, to detect bottlenecks and, where appropriate, alternatives to alleviate them. The data show that more than 80% of the surveyed population makes journeys. The main reasons are work (1/3 of journeys), specialised shopping (15%), leisure and sport (12%) or for medical services (8%). The county seats, both in the county itself and in neighbouring counties, attract most of the trips. _x000D_
Nevertheless, when analysing mobility by public transport, this barely accounts for 5% of all journeys. The main reasons are very diverse, but always present are access to medical services (25%), studies (20%), and specialised shopping (10%). _x000D_
The gap between private and public transport-based mobility highlights a huge mismatch between the current configuration of public transport services and the needs of the population, and the need for a profound rethink of this configuration. However, there are two major obstacles. Firstly, the “mortgage” of long-term concessions to private companies, which, due to their subsidies, they have no interest in changing. Secondly, the fact that a very large part of the population indicates that, even with a greater and more adequate supply of public transport, they would continue to use the usual private means of transport, due to the greater flexibility of the latter. Therefore, public transport seems to be “condemned” to focus not on a general offer for the rural population, but on those segments of demand that do not have the alternative of private transport (students, housewives and elderly people).

Herráiz, C., Esparcia, J.
University of Valencia (Spain)

 
ID Abstract: 905