Its ‘Future of Transport – rural strategy’ calls for evidence as to how stakeholders feel that mobility innovations could help to shape the lives of people living and working in remote locations. It points out that if action is not taken, people in rural areas may not be able to benefit from advances in new transport technology.

The rural strategy follows a focus on the future of mobility in urban areas published last year.

One aim of the new strategy is to reduce the reliance on private motor vehicles in remote locations. According to the National Travel Survey, around three quarters of trips made by people living in the most rural areas are by car, whereas in urban areas just over half of trips made by residents are by car. Not only that but people travelling in towns and cities cover 40% more miles on foot or by bicycle than those in rural villages and hamlets.

Transport Minister Rachel Maclean told the FT Future of Mobility webinar yesterday that Government is “very keen to move on at pace with innovations” such as use of delivery drones to serve rural communities, which were recently trialled on the Isle of Wight.

Earlier at the event, management consultant McKinsey & Company’s partner Emma Loxton gave her thoughts about the future of travel beyond the pandemic – given the new trend of people working from home.

“It is unlikely that we are all going to be sat in our homes forever,” she pointed out, but added there is an “underlying desire” to spend more time at home. She also said that when people start to feel a bit safer and are prepared to travel more, “we will see a return to something that looks like the better normal we are all looking forward to, but tempered by the experiences that we have all had of operating in a very different way”.

On the subject of remote working, Emma commented that while technology could be viewed as a substitute for in-person contact, it should instead be viewed as a complement to face to face meetings. “People use in-person contact to build trust and build relationships so they can sustain this type of (online) interaction”.

When people do return to cities, safety is likely to remain their number one concern, she added, but the need for convenience will come a close second. The desire to use time effectively on the way to work will remain, she predicted, “and that bodes reasonably well for public transit, as long as we can get over the safety concerns that people quite rightly had and the guidance from governments about people not using public transport”.

(Photograph: Mopic - Shutterstock)