Better Transport

People in the East of England show us that a good way to start to cut car dependency is to try to reduce car commuting. Here the most people are a 15-minute journey to work by public transport or walking.

The popularity of taking the bus to work may be helped by the bus’s punctuality, growing network and improvements made through Kickstart funding (though hurt by fare rises) and by the fact fewer people here than almost anywhere are far from a bus stop. More journeys to work on public transport would happen if there were a tram in the region.

Your turn

What do you think of these results? Score the scorecard.

Want to know more? Read the full research or a summary report. 

Some comments we've received

Sanjay Patel in Bedford: "Somewhere like Bedford and Milton Keynes should have much less car use but both are built for driving. Bedford with its huge road building program in and out of the town and Milton Keynes is built around the car."

Mary Foord-Brown in Bawdsey near Woodbridge: "Public transport in my area is appalling. Sure, as a member of the public I understand that rural provision is difficult, however the constant snipping of ends off routes did not help, and having written to the council over many years I was not listened too in terms of buses linking with trains, at our nearest rail link Melton Suffolk, bus would arrive five minutes after departure.  One very dangerous issue is that NOBODY can reach Ipswich Hospital without the use of a car for appointments, our nearest county town. We now have a responsive transport thing in place, however this does not go to Ipswich, and should you book it to Woodbridge, should your appointment over-run then the lift back would be missed. People can also not book it on an every day basis to get them to work. The responsive transport needed to be tied in a little with access to services such as the main county library, the hospital and also the GP surgery. Also access to dentistry is a real problem. There is no joined-up thinking about infrastructure between the county council and the NHS and at the same time, using patient transport becomes increasingly difficult."

Regional results

East Midlands East of England North East North WestSouth EastSouth West West Midlands Yorkshire & the Humber