Connecting Communities - Glenfarg Community Transport

Connected Communities – Connecting People, Places and Opportunities

What if the bus you need doesn’t run from where you live – but there is a good bus or coach service just a few miles away?

That is one of the questions behind Connected Communities, a new project being developed by Glenfarg Community Transport Group.

Across Kinross-shire and the surrounding rural area, there are communities where getting around without access to a car can be difficult. Sometimes the destination is relatively close, but there simply isn’t a convenient public transport connection.

Connected Communities is about exploring a different approach.

Rather than simply introducing another fixed bus route, we want to investigate how flexible, pre-booked community transport could fill some of the gaps in the existing network.

Three ways to connect

The concept is based around three different types of journey.

Community → Destination

Could we provide transport from rural communities to places that are currently difficult to reach by public transport?

Our first trial will explore this by providing connections to RSPB Loch Leven at Vane Farm during October.

Community → Community

Transport isn’t only about getting to work or attending appointments. Being able to visit local events, shops, cafés and activities is an important part of living in a connected community.

During the autumn we plan to trial transport to the Kinross Farmers’ Market, followed by the Kinross Festive Market later in the year.

These trials will help us understand whether flexible community transport could make it easier for people in rural areas to participate in local events while also supporting the local economy.

Community → Wider Public Transport

Perhaps the most exciting part of the concept is using community transport to provide the first or last part of a longer journey.

Kinross Park & Ride, for example, has bus and coach services providing connections well beyond Kinross-shire.

Instead of trying to duplicate those services, could Connected Communities bring passengers from surrounding rural communities to Kinross in time to make an onward connection?

We are particularly interested in exploring potential connections with Ember services at Kinross Park & Ride and hope to discuss the possibilities with Ember as the project develops.

Pre-booked and based on demand

Connected Communities will be different from a conventional timetabled bus service.

Passengers will book their journey in advance. This means we know where people actually want to travel from and where they need to go.

It also means we can begin building a much better picture of transport demand across our rural communities.

Rather than asking:

“Where do we think people might want a bus?”

we can start asking:

“Where are people actually trying to get to, and what is stopping them getting there?”

That information will be extremely valuable as we develop the project.

Starting small and learning

We don’t expect to have all the answers immediately.

Our approach is:

TEST → LEARN → DEVELOP → EXPAND

During autumn 2026 we will run a number of small-scale pilot journeys. We will look at passenger numbers, where people travel from, the journeys they want to make, connections with other public transport and, most importantly, what passengers tell us about their experience.

Our initial programme includes four Tuesday trials to RSPB Loch Leven – Vane Farm during October, a Kinross Farmers’ Market trial on Saturday 24 October and a further Festive Market trial on Saturday 28 November.

We are also exploring whether an accessible vehicle can be made available for the pilot programme, including the possibility of borrowing a suitable vehicle from one of our partners.

The bigger picture

Connected Communities forms part of GCTG’s longer-term ambition to investigate Digital Demand Responsive Transport (DDRT).

We want to understand whether technology, community transport and the existing public transport network can work together to provide a better solution for rural communities.

Importantly, this isn’t about competing with existing buses and coaches.

Where a good public transport service already exists, we want to help people reach it.

Where a local destination isn’t currently accessible, we want to explore whether flexible community transport can bridge that gap.

And where people tell us that transport is preventing them from participating in their community, we want to understand whether there is something practical we can do about it.