Transportation policy and rural community change: A Welsh case study

The British government's failure to produce a coordinated national transportation policy has had serious consequences for rural communities. Rural railroad abandonment in the 1960s, followed by a shift towards privatization and deregulation policies in the 1980s, changed the transportation relationships of rural Welsh communities. I examine these relationships by tracing the development of transportation policy, mode, and provision down to the present.;My analysis of changes in the spatial and temporal provision of public transportation between Dolgellau, Bala, and Corwen in mid-Wales shows that the government has failed to integrate any facet of the transportation arena and has consistently ignored the role of public transport in rural Welsh communities. Britain's transportation policies have been fragmented, schizophrenic, and detrimental to the environment. A greater understanding of the synchronicity of universal and local events and structures is required before real progress in public transportation planning and provision can be made.