RURAL transport in Britain needs a kick start, according to a report this week.

Rural Transport Futures, published jointly by Transport 2000, the Countryside Agency and Citizens' Advice, has concluded that too often the system is not working and is letting people down.

The report finds that public transport and opportunities for walking and cycling are largely poor and disjointed, with no- one in overall control of bringing different threads together in an area.

One case study involves a citizens' advice bureau in North Yorkshire which reported that a client who lived in an isolated village had to travel seven miles to work.

His neighbour used to give him a lift, but when the neighbour moved jobs the client could no longer get to work and was forced to give up his job. The Benefits Agency then penalised him for "voluntarily" giving up work.

Elsewhere in North Yorkshire, a job-seeking client went to his CAB when his job centre closed, because he had to make an expensive 30-mile round trip to attend a job club.

Rural Transport Futures has looked at best practice elsewhere in Europe where, it says, public funding is higher and there are ideas which could be adopted in this country.

The report calls for better integration of bus and rail services through regional joint passenger transport authorities, area-wide tickets valid on all buses and trains, increased funding to secure more bus services and bring down fares, a review of taxi licensing to enable buses and shared taxi services to be integrated and more exploration of quality contracts to improve bus services.

Richard Owens, passenger transport manager at North Yorkshire County Council, said yesterday that providing any kind of public transport in a rural area was difficult, but pointed out that the authority was spending £4m a year on it.

The county already had a huge network of bus services, but the council was working hard to raise the profile of buses and see them being used more.

The authority, which introduced easy access buses to Wensleydale last year, already had a form of quality contract for vehicles and drivers and was trying to complement this with an upgraded infrastructure.

Mr Owens said dedicated railway station bus links included that at Thirsk and a service operated between Garsdale station and Hawes.