BraunstoneBus: a link with the future

Abstract

This chapter presents the third United Kingdom (UK) case study, which looks at how officers from the Braunstone Community Association (BCA) and Leicester City Council secured two new local bus routes in order to enable the people living in Braunstone access to key services in the wider area. The scheme was born out of a series of government-funded case studies, which identified the commercially run and tendered bus services that were severely inadequate in addressing the transport needs of the resident community. Local people were actively involved in identifying the types of services they would like to see for their area. In particular, this chapter shows how dreams must often be tempered in order to match legislation, funding and institutional realities. It offers some powerful lessons for any organization that is aspiring to secure and manage their own transport service.