As part of a long-running conversation about ways the council helps people travel around Fife, staff will be out and about during the last week of November to help residents understand the issues and share their ideas for the future. This is a new type of engagement exercise for the council and we need as many people as possible to get involved.
Fife Council invests some £22 million each year in subsidised passenger transport such as public bus services, rail concessions, school transport and demand responsive transport.At this stage, we’re asking what you’d like to see in an ideal world - irrespective of budgets or the way things are now. This is about gathering completely new ideas, thinking about unmet needs or alternative solutions that might change people’s need for these transport services.
Find out more about the passenger transport services we provide now, join the online debate and submit feedback by registering with the citizen participation platform, ‘Let’s Talk about our Fife’. Even if you don’t have a suggestion, this site lets you rate and comment on other people’s ideas, which could give us valuable insight into what might be a well-supported or unpopular change.
We're speaking to a range of community groups, community councils and parent councils to offer face to face conversations about the future of passenger transport services. Encourage people to get involved. If they can’t get online, look out for opportunities to speak to officers at school events or in community facilities. Freepost suggestion cards will also be available through local offices, libraries and community centres.
Anyone can drop by for a conversation about how resources might be used differently for better results at the following times and locations:
- Monday 25 November Dunfermline Bus Station 2pm - 4pm
- Monday 25 November Halbeath Park & Ride 4.30pm - 6.30pm
- Tuesday 26 November Glenrothes Bus Station 9.30am - 11.30am
- Tuesday 26 November Kirkcaldy Bus Station 2pm – 4pm
- Wednesday 27 November Leven Bus Station 9.30am - 11.30am
- Thursday 28 November Ferrytoll Park & Ride 4.30pm - 6.30pm
- Friday 29 November St Andrews Bus Station 10am - 12noon
Cllr Altany Craik, Convener of the Economy, Tourism, Strategic Planning & Transportation Committee said: “People travel for lots of different reasons depending on their age and life circumstances. Whether it’s to get to school, work or leisure activities, to reach facilities from rural locations or to be able to live independently and avoid social isolation. At some point we’ll all be affected by these issues and the services that are available in Fife, so please get involved and get your family or friends involved.
“We’re not just looking to hear what works well now or how existing services could be improved – though that will be useful - we want you to think big. Is there a completely different way of meeting people’s needs? Should we do less of one thing but a lot more of another? At this stage of the process any idea is welcome even if it seems like a pipedream! In the new year we’ll explore how people’s ideal-world solutions sit alongside current policy, legislation, contracts and other practicalities, so that we can refine ideas ahead of a public vote on service options."
Background information is online at http://our.fife.scot/transportingpeople See why we provide different transport services, how people use them and how much they cost.
"Let's Talk about our Fife" is a new platform for citizen participation. It will increasingly allow the Council to open up debates and gather feedback, as well as letting Fife’s residents share ideas and submit proposals, comment on other people’s input and participate in votes and polls. Through the various sections of the system, citizen-generated ideas can lead to concrete actions by Fife Council and partners.
This online platform is being developed by COSLA for Scottish councils to use, so it’s separate from the council’s website. Anyone can read the conversations but to join in you have to register in Let's Talk about our Fife and verify your account.
