The Passenger Transport Group within the Economy, Skills and Environment Department of Suffolk County Council has a number of objectives, including:
- encouraging people to play their part in line with the TravelWise initiative by considering alternative means of transport to the car. If only a small percentage of journeys were transferred to public transport the effect on the environment would be noticeable;
- providing comprehensive and impartial journey planning timetable information in various forms ranging from printed Area leaflets to the telephone TraveLine and the internet;
- sponsoring a number of bus services that would not be viable commercially and could help reduce social exclusion. These concentrate on Sundays, evenings and travelling to work from the more remote rural locations;
- maintaining roadside timetable displays in around 1200 locations throughout the county;
- providing financial contributions and operational support for a number of accessible transport schemes. This also covers creating opportunities and awareness of the needs of the disabled when it comes to access and use of public transport;
- development of "Quality Partnerships" with operators that have led to such schemes as "Superoutes" for buses, bikes on trains and railway real time passenger information; and
- the innovation that produced the Park and Ride schemes in Ipswich with their multiple award- winning facilities.