LOCAL authorities are being urged to complete a survey about schemes that lends mopeds to rural people who need to access employment, education and training.

'Wheels 2 Work' is a term used to describe schemes which provide affordable transport to individuals to a lack of suitable public or private transport.

A new group of stakeholders aimed improving rural transport is conducting a survey about the relationship between local authorities and Wheels to Work schemes.

The group includes representatives from Defra, the government's departments for transport and health, rural community councils, the Community Transport Association, Wheels to Work Association and ACRE.

Andrew McWhir, team leader for energy and transport at Defra's Rural Communities Policy Unit, said the group intended to make public its main findings.

"In the current economic climate, a number of W2W schemes have seen a drop in funding and have had to close," said Mr McWhir.

"Many of the existing W2W schemes are now looking at more sustainable business models."

The group wanted to learn what support was being provided or what barriers are faced when supporting local W2W schemes, said Mr McWhir.

"We will use the results to better understand the relationship between local authorities and W2W, including any practical barriers that may exist and plan to feed back our main findings."

W2W schemes mostly involve either mopeds or scooters but some schemes can also offer bicycles. Typically, a W2W scheme will charge around £20 per week for a moped.

Schemes can be particularly important for people in isolated rural communities where public transport is inadequate or only available during business hours.

A lack of available transport can have a negative effect on opportunities for training, education and employment, particularly for young people and those living in rural areas.

Individuals who have taken part in W2W have commented on how supportive the scheme has been – and how it has opened doors that would have previously been closed.

It should take about 15 minutes to complete the survey, which can be found here. The closing date for submissions is 25 November.