PRESSURE to improve community transport will be put on Devon County Council at a forum in Tavistock on February 5.
More flexible bus services and more car-sharing are among the options which will be discussed at the rural transport forum arranged by the county council.
'Bus services at present are not available at the times they are needed and are not flexible to people's needs,' complained Oz Osborne, director of West DEN, the West Devon Environmental Network. It is one of the groups which will be pushing for change at the meeting.
Mr Osborne said young people in West Devon were deprived of access to transport, which was contributing to them leaving the area.
'They find it hard to get to work, school or leisure activities,' he said.
West DEN has applied to the National Lottery for a grant to set up a cycle pool scheme to help isolated young people.
Mr Osborne said there was a lot of unofficial car-sharing going on now, but it needed more support and organisation.
Don Allen, Plymouth and district co-ordinator for the campaigning group Transport 2000, agreed with Mr Osborne that more effort should be put into improving bus services.
'Some villages only have one bus a week, it's just not good enough,' he said. 'There should be more public money put into bus services, this would help them to recruit more drivers.'
He said he also wanted the county council to explain what had happened to the money which the government had promised for boosting rural transport last year.
The Tavistock forum is one of six which the county council is organising around the county this month and next.
As well as inviting people's suggestions, officials will discuss the implications of the government's rural white paper published in November and the setting up of local transport focus groups to encourage more local participation in transport issues.
The meeting at West Devon Borough Council offices, Tavistock, starts at 7.30pm.