Policy paper

Future of Transport: supporting rural transport innovation

How innovative and emerging transport technologies could benefit rural communities.

• From: Department for Transport
• Published: 2 October 2023

This was published under the 2022 to 2024 Sunak Conservative government

Documents

Future of Transport: helping local authorities to unlock the benefits of technology and innovation in rural transport

PDF, 11.8 MB, 60 pages

Details

This document shows how innovative and emerging transport technologies could address some of the major challenges in rural communities. It highlights the importance of transport to everyday life rural life and provides guiding principles for the introduction of new technologies and services.

The document is primarily aimed at local authorities, but transport operators, businesses and people living in rural areas will also find it helpful.

It follows a 2020 call for evidence to understand the transport needs of rural areas. A number of issues were raised, which this document addresses. They include:

• poor access to services in rural areas
• a lack of genuine choice for completing journeys
• heightened loneliness and isolation
• commercial challenges for operators due to long distances and sparse populations

Published 2 October 2023