The attention of policy makers has begun to focus on the relationship between transport and social exclusion.

For many communities the quality of public transport has declined over the last two decades. Research into the relationship between transport and social exclusion has conventionally been undertaken for policy authorities by persons who neither belong to the areas researched nor have adequate resources to investigate fully the dynamics associated with transport and social exclusion.

In reponse to this, since April 2001, a number of communities in the North East of England in conjunction with transport professionals, councillors, concerned non-govcernmental organisations, transport operators and regulating authorities have been exploring the constraints experienced by those depending upon the public transport system. Communities have identified the withdrawal of routes and services within their area and a whole range of social groups have identified the various forms of failure attending operating services.

Young mothers identify bus designs and unreliabilities which trap them in their homes and endanger their access and that of their children to the health service.

Disabled people identify the unreliabilities associated even with 'customised ' services such as care buses.

Children identify anomalies in the fare structures which can render a return journey more expensive than its outward counterpart.

Retired persons who have concessionary fares identify the early daily termination of services as cutting them off from social activities.

Those wishing to visit family members in hospital can not access these care facilities during visiting hours by public transport in many areas.

In the low income areas of the North East of England low car ownership is often partnered by low levels of public transport provision. Communities are clear that they are experiencing public service failure but petitions, consultations, letters of complaint, requests for more socially balanced services or bus designs which can accommodate young mothers with pushchairs, older persons with restricted mobility or disabled persons are not resulting in public transport improvement. The policy focus has become concentrated on getting motorists out of their cars rather than upon ensuring that either an adequate range of social and leisure services is available locally or that an adequate level of mobility is ensured for all in the accessing of services now located at considerable distances from low income residences.

Monitoring the public transport system has not been an activity which was regarded historically as a community competence. It was a job for professionals and professionals have rarely given the feedback to communities on the overall level of complaints or attempted to organise fora in which communities can hold operators and other associated bodies accountable. Complaints frequently disappeared into the dustbins of history with communities holding their own files on their own complaints without much remedial action and with little awareness of the actions or experiences of other communities.

The advent of the World Wide Web and the availability of new Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) can enable communities to monitor public transport and other public service provision and performance and make transparent that performance beyond their local arena.

In Lemington, in the West End of Newcastle, on the 25th and 26th September, a real time community monitoring of the performance of the Stagecoach routes and services was undertaken. Stagecoach joined in with this community monitoring as did members of the Newcastle Disability Forum. It is we believe the first exercise of its kind in the United Kingdom.