In almost every corner of Scotland, from Orkney’s smallest islands to Glasgow’s East End, communities have stepped up to run their own transport projects and services.

Every single year, nearly one million journeys rely on 216 Community Transport operators to get Scots where they need to be – college or school, the workplace or the high street, the GP surgery or the hospital.

From Strathaven’s express bus and Lothian’s accessible dial-a-ride, to Lochwinnoch’s car club and Inverness’ walking and wheeling festival, local charities and community groups tackle transport poverty, reduce carbon emissions and keep our country moving.

But Scotland’s Community Transport movement faces a growing crisis, which threatens the future of our sector, and the very survival of many of its best-loved services.

Scotland’s Community Transport fleet has nearly 1,000 vehicles. Two-thirds of these vehicles are minibuses with between 9 and 16 passenger seats, making the minibus an essential enabler of thousands of essential journeys. That makes having enough qualified minibus drivers critical.

However, at the Community Transport Association (CTA) our members tell us that they face severe and growing shortages, which are preventing them from serving the older and disabled passengers who need them most.

More than half report minibus driver shortages today – forcing them to cut services, cancel growth plans and turn down requests for support.

And they expect things to get worse – more than four out of in five do not believe they will have enough minibus drivers three years from now.

The primary cause of these shortages is the current licensing regime, which is a reserved matter for the UK Government. It is a major barrier to bringing younger minibus drivers into Community Transport jobs and volunteering roles across the UK.

People who passed their standard car test before 1997 were given an automatic entitlement (widely referred to as ‘grandfather rights’ but officially known as the D1 (101) licence) to drive minibuses for non-profit organisations as unpaid volunteers or paid employees. 99% of D1 or D1 (101) licences in Great Britain are held by this cohort, the ‘grandfather rights generation’.

For everyone else who has learned to drive since 1997, you must pass the full D1 licence test at a cost of upwards of £2,000, which is unsustainable for most individuals and operators.

Once you also factor in a lack of trainers and assessors, it is undeniable that the status quo is simply not working.

Every year, we are losing ever more people from the pool of potential minibus drivers, as the ‘grandfather rights generation’ turns 70 years old – the point at which renewal and medical checks kick-in.

More than 3 million full D1 or D1 (101) licences will be lost by 2031, meaning the pool of potential Community Transport minibus drivers will shrink by 22% in just five years.

Community Transport is fast approaching a dangerous cliff edge.

We urgently need to change the system and give our communities the tools to secure the next generation of minibus drivers.

In our new White Paper, Securing Community Transport’s Future, we present a way forward.

We believe that B licence holders who complete accredited training and meet four additional stipulations (such as being over 25 years old and having at least five years of experience on a B licence) should be able to upgrade to a D1 (101) licence, authorising them to become minibus drivers for Community Transport.

Our proposal is based on strong evidence and a strong mandate. Community Transport operators overwhelmingly believe it would significantly increase the supply of qualified minibus drivers, giving them a much-needed lifeline.

 Our proposal is practical and actionable. It does not require primary legislation and could be implemented directly by Ministers through a statutory instrument.

Our proposal is responsible and safe. It would strengthen passenger safety and driver competency by introducing a mandatory training requirement for all minibus drivers for the very first time, backed up by four additional safeguards.

We’ve identified the challenge. We’ve developed a solution. And now it’s time for decisive action from the UK Government.

Communities all over Scotland are counting on us to get this right or we will fail to save these services for future generations of Community Transport passengers.

 

You can find out more about CTA’s proposals at www.ctauk.org/d1-campaign. If you’d like to join their campaign, you can email policy@ctauk.org.