things fall apart

Going bussed: economy and tuition fees drive the young away from the car

Sales of coach and train discount cards surge as driving becomes a minority pursuit among cash-strapped students

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• Gwyn Topham, Tom Midlane and James Brilliant
• guardian.co.uk, Sunday 26 February 2012 15.47 GMT
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Passengers board a National Express bus at Victoria coach station in London. Photograph: Micha Theiner/City AM/Rex Features

A generation of students facing higher tuition fees and lower job prospects appears to be embracing the mixed joys of budget travel in rising numbers – with the teenage dream of passing the test and driving a car now an increasingly unaffordable, minority pursuit.

Operators report that the traditional staples of budget travel, the young person's rail and coach cards, are being purchased in record numbers.

National Express, Britain's largest coach operator, reported a surge in sales of coach and regional bus discount cards last year, with 36% more being sold year on year.

Train companies said that record numbers of young people now have a railcard: over 1.2m were sold or renewed last year, almost a third higher than the 950,000 who had a discount railcard in 2005. The Association of Train Operating Companies (Atoc) said that 18-25 year-olds made over 50m journeys by rail last year, 60% up on five years ago.

Atoc spokesman Edward Welsh said: "We know a lot of under 25-year-olds are struggling to afford the costs of buying, running and insuring a car – and that's on top of paying for driving lessons."

The number of 17-year-olds taking the driving test has continued to fall year on year, as many of them deal with the loss of their education maintenance allowance coupled with a steep rise in university tuition fees. Nearly half of British 17-20 year-olds had driving licences two decades ago, but only 35% do now. Although the long-term slump in young people learning to drive eased slightly last year, the number of under-25s taking their driving test has fallen by over 20% in five years, according to Driving Standards Agency.

Rising fuel prices are dwarfed by rocketing car insurance premiums, which according to AA figures mean young men receive average insurance quotes of over £3,100.

At Victoria coach station in central London, student Lucy Hamer, 19, rolled her eyes when asked about driving. "I haven't learned to drive because it is far too expensive. I have to take the coach up to Liverpool and it's such a long journey, over five hours. The government really should be looking to cut the cost of driving but also public transport too. Every time I get on the bus it feels like the price has gone up."

Motoring organisations believe the economic conditions, rather than the emergence of a generation wilfully opposed to driving, are behind the rise in public transport use by young people. Edmund King, president of the AA, said: "You've got more young people going to university with tuition fees, and they basically don't have money to take lessons or insurance."

He maintained the dream of driving had not died. "There's still that desire, but financial circumstances have blunted the uptake. Despite the environmental talk and all else, I don't think the aspirations have changed that much."

The steep costs may have alarming effects. A recent survey for insurance firm Ingenie found that 89% of young drivers now take less than the recommended 40 hours of driving lessons before passing their test.

King warned of a vicious cycle for the non-driving young: "In times of high unemployment, it's quite useful for people to have a driving licence. For quite a few jobs, that's a prerequisite. And like learning to swim, it's easier the earlier you start. You'll end up paying even more."

If the coach has been the big winner from the age of travel austerity, not all passengers seem entirely enthusiastic, despite the promise of mod cons such as wifi, power sockets and leather seats aboard.

Also at Victoria coach station, Fay Ali, 23, an educational psychology student at Birkbeck, who paid £12.50 on the day for a single National Express journey to Sheffield, said: "I always intend to catch the train and then something happens so I'm left with nought options but to catch a coach. I had a train ticket booked but I missed it."

Alex Vardy-Meers, 25, a tree surgeon hauling his bags of tools, said that coach travel was the one thing that made his business viable. "Any money I earn would have to go straight into the costs of a car. The coach is OK. It would be easier to take a van but I can't afford that. If I didn't have a railcard I wouldn't ever take the train either."

But others have fallen in love with coach travel. Anne Wilkes, 66, a full-time carer for her husband, said it was also their favoured choice for European holidays. "If you're driving, you're low. On a coach you can see a lot more and I'm a nosy person. I like to see into people's gardens."

Carless whispers

Caroline Mortimer, 21, Harrogate, English student, University of Birmingham:

"Certainly the reason I don't drive, and haven't learned to drive, is the cost. I started taking lessons but I lost my job and couldn't afford to continue learning. I've always taken the train to travel between home and university and I do have a railcard, but I'm still forced to travel late at night when it's only £25 or at off-peak times as otherwise it's still too expensive. I can't take a coach either because it's not convenient where I live."

Nicholas Hughes, 21, from London, politics and economics student, University of Leeds:

"Living in London my need for driving isn't great, because the transport links are so good. However, at the same time, there's no doubt that the price of driving for young people – including lessons, insurance and petrol – is off-putting, and that's one reason why I haven't learned to drive. When I used to head up to university I would take the train, but even with a young person's railcard I feel that trains have become so expensive I've been priced out of those too. The coach is definitely much cheaper, and that's always how I travel back up to Leeds now."

Poonam Lad, 20, Ashton-under-Lyne, art student,Birmingham City University:

"I failed my test and it's far too expensive, if you fail, to have to pay for more lessons again. The cost can be hundreds of pounds. I take the train and the young person's railcard definitely makes a difference, and it's popular among students. A lot of students bank with NatWest, who provide the card for free when you open a student bank account. The NUS card is also helpful for discounts on the coach, but I still feel generally that the costs of travelling are too high at any age, not just students and young people."

Saoirse Linder, 20, Rostrevor (Northern Ireland), sociology student, University of Bristol:

"The cost of driving has been a big factor in deciding not to learn, and if you're a slow learner like myself it makes it that much more expensive. In Bristol, parking charges run into the hundreds of pounds too. Why would I drive when I can take a two-hour coach for a few pounds, and my university bus is free? Certainly railcard and NUS cards have an impact in that they are a hugely attractive alternative to driving, although whilst it is good that students have railcards you still have to pay for the railcard or your NUS card in the first place."

a very sad story

When the original S&D closed 'replacement' bus services were implemented as a sop to those who rightly lamented the end of modern transport along the route. These services didn't last long as they obviously couldn't begin to offer the speed and comfort that the trains had - even in pre-modernisation days.

Wellow, which once had a superb rail service (along with Shoscombe and Single Hill to the south) was thrown back into the transport dark ages with villagers having to either move back to civilization (ie to somewhere with a train service!) or, horror of horrors, having to buy a car to keep themselves mobile. Because of the lie of the land and roads the replacement bus services couldn't begin to compensate for what the villagers had lost. This is what passed for progress in the horrible sixties.

When the replacement bus services inevitably stopped the villagers came up with an idea - to buy their own bus and keep some semblance of belonging to a wider world. This was four years ago. Today that bus (or more correctly minibus) hit the road.

This was featured on the local TV news. It was one of the most achingly poignant pieces of reporting I'd seen for years.

Poor Wellow, once a stop on the world famous S&D, with regular local trains connecting with expresses to the south coast, Midlands and north, site of numerous heavy freight workings, was reduced to relying on a tiny, uneconomic toy bus to keep their foothold in the 21st century.

But of course it won't be that many years before Wellow gets its trains back. With regular PPMs and electric units once again connecting at Bath, the villagers of Wellow (and Shoscombe and Single Hill) will once again be able to get where they want to quickly, cheaply and cleanly. This brief few decades where they were abandoned by the rest of the world will soon be forgotten. Roll on the New S&D! Perhaps we'll even nab that minibus for our museum of transport!

majorca's future

I'm away for a couple of days from this evening to enjoy the Halloween delights of Pontins, Brean Sands.

Still on the holiday theme just a few reflections on our previous trip to Majorca.

Majorca is investing heavily in its transport future with a rebuilt railway network, new metro and planned tramways. Everything is switching from road to rail, as it should.

Majorca is, of course, primarily a tourist destination and much of its economy depends on visitors, an excellent reason for providing cheap, modern and efficient public transport. But it's also an island, and this may cause real problems in the future. Almost all visitors currently arrive by air, but air travel is doomed, no matter how much we don't want it to be.

Whilst resorts on the mainland will be served by high speed rail in the future there's no such future for Majorca - the island simply lies too far off shore to be connected by tunnel. So visitors in the future will need to arrive by boat. Will people bother? If anything Majorca will have to make itself even more attractive so investment in public transport is likely to increase.

We had a comment the other day from a group in Majorca that are opposed to the extension of the Manacor line to Arta. They are quite seriously suggesting buses can do the job! To be fair to them they are not anti public transport, and think the money that will be spent on the Arta line will be better spent elsewhere. But they obviously haven't had their Peak Oil Moment yet. How exactly will buses carry freight? How will buses tempt travellers from their cars? They haven't anywhere else in the world, so what will be different in Majorca? Trams tempt people from cars, as do trains. Trains and trams can carry freight. They are also not subject to congestion.

The line to Arta will be built, as will the proposed branch to Porto Christo. The anti rail group are 100% wrong.

But then there are still people who think the Earth is flat!

prepare the stocks

(Evercreech Junction 1968 Jeffery Grayer)

I was leafing through a copy of Colin Maggs' 'The Last Years of the Somerset and Dorset' and found the chapter on the run down of the line really interesting. The S&D was closed despite an assurance from the (surprise surprise!) Labour government of the day that no major railway closures would be implemented without a review of the Beeching Report. Evil witch (surely an oxymoron?) Barbara Castle went ahead and closed the line anyway, making it the longest line closed under Beeching. The bits about the poor people of Wellow and Shoscombe (in particular) having to cope without their trains was heartbreaking. At one point a minibus was put on to replace the trains! Nobody on this side of a lunatic asylum could ever claim that was progress. From having fast modern transport using a dedicated right of way they were suddenly thrown back a hundred years and forced to crowd into a six seater bus that was expected to crawl along little single track roads and then fight its way through the Bath traffic. (This is starting to sound like the Cambridge Guided Busway LOL!)

This madness needs to be dissected in the 21st century to find out what really inspired the closure of the original S&D. Perhaps a few of the perpetrators are still alive and can be called to account. The deliberate switching of freight to less direct routes, the deliberate running down of stations and rolling stock, the dreadful timetable that made almost every journey unbearable if not impossible, the refusal to consider track rationalising or using DMUs - the whole thing was a national disgrace.

It merely confirms to me that the S&D should never have closed, which basically means that there is now no reason for it not to be rebuilt.

Next year the new limited company charged with rebuilding and operating the line will be born. Hopefully the board will, as well as including prominent local businesspeople, have the Chairs of Midsomer Norton, Shillingstone, the New S&D and Washford as members.

At the same time I'll be working on 'The Case for the S&D' taking an incisive look at the hard-to-believe mischief used to deprive hundreds of thousands of people of their trains. And the now unarguable case for bringing them back.

I'm glad I'm on THIS side of the fence and not theirs!!

glastonbury solution

(Glastonbury ca 1970 courtesy Jeffery Grayer)

No doubt you've all been watching the Glastonbury Festival over the last few years. Too mainstream by half for me, though a few acts were okay.

My point is that every year the festival causes traffic chaos around Pilton. Many festival goers do come in by train, but they have to be bussed from Castle Cary, making the road congestion even worse.

There is of course an ideal solution. Our trackbed actually currently serves as an internal road within the festival site! When the rails return - for Glastonbury is FAR too large a town to be left without trains - I'm sure the S&D will be more than happy to ferry passengers directly into the festival site, serving a special station. Not to mention bringing in much of the equipment etc in special freight trains. This is the future.

a different angle

I saw the station from a different angle today - from the window of a Frome to Midsomer Norton bus! The car's surprisingly in for repairs so I needed to reluctantly sample the alternative - and it was a mixed experience. Very nice to sit back and let someone else drive, but two and a half hours for the 25 miles from Frome to Brislington? Ridiculous. Had the Frome-Bristol line still been open it would have taken less than an hour to get to Whitchurch. More on the Looking Ahead blogsite.

And the big transport story today is Iran introducing petrol rationing - a taste of post Peak Oil! More on the Future Economics blogsite.