Regres sieci transportu publicznego w powiatach Beskidu Niskiego i Bieszczad a wykluczenie transportowe młodzieży uczącej się
Authors:   Instytut Geografii i Przestrzennego Zagospodarowania Polska Akademia Nauk, Ciechański Ariel 
Published: November 2023

The right to education, the freedom of movement around the country and choosing the place of residence and stay are constitutionally guaranteed prerogatives of Polish citizens. It is a duty of public authorities to provide citizens with universal and equal access to education - unfortunately for non-motorized people, especially those living in less populated areas, this is more of a theory than an inalienable right belonging to every individual. Failure to provide proper transport services leads to the phenomenon of transport based social exclusion in which numerous young people, contrary to what is guaranteed by the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, cannot freely choose their place of study or, in order to pursue their own educational aspirations, are forced to stay away from their family home for long periods of time and in extreme cases even abandon education at too early stage. One of the areas where the decline of collective public transport could be noticed and which may cause processes of transport based social exclusion and restrictions in access to the post-primary education, were the poviats through which the Beskid Niski and Bieszczady Mountains ranges run, where most of the entities originating from the former state-owned Road Transport Companies (called shortly in Polish “PKS”) ended their operations quite abruptly. In the study area, public transport in 2019 was in a deep crisis. This was especially noticeable on days off from work and school, when many villages had no access to scheduled trains and buses. The main cognitive objective of the study was to identify, on the example of the Beskid Niski and Bieszczady poviats indicated above, negative changes in the network of public non-urban collective public transport in the years 1990-2019 in areas spatially distant from the capitals of voivodeships and having a borderline character, and their impact on the course of education and social life of youth generation over 15 years. Moreover, the aim of the study was an attempt to develop a methodology for research on transport exclusion combining quantitative (in a dynamic approach) and qualitative approaches adapted to Polish conditions, using, on the one hand, classic tools for the analysis of transport networks, and on the other hand, a range of tools derived from social sciences, such as to learn as thoroughly as possible the consequences of the identified unfavourable phenomenon for young people. The author also attempted to diagnose the scale of forced motorization among the surveyed groups of youth. The aim of the study was also to develop recommendations to slow down and then limit the processes of transport based social exclusion. The analyses carried out showed that 30 years of Polish economic and political transformation led to significant negative transformations in the system of the non-urban public transport network in the studied area. The role of the passenger railway was greatly marginalized there and its timetable offer was significantly below the criteria that are considered to be minimally reasonable for keeping this type of public transportation. Unfortunately, after 1989, a gradual and uninterrupted decline in non-urban collective public bus transport connections was observed in that region of Poland. Its decline was particularly severe in the Bieszczady Mountains. On the one hand, it was an area already suffering depopulation, and on the other hand, it was affected by significant unemployment resulting from the liquidation of large state-owned industrial and agricultural enterprises typical of the socialist economy called in Polish “PGR”. The border areas of the Beskid Niski Mountains were also in a similar situation, although on a smaller scale. These processes have undoubtedly had a negative impact on the importance of this type of settlement units as commuting destinations, and thus on the deterioration of their transport services. There is also a noticeable break in the old ties between towns and larger villages and their hinterlands in areas that began to be separated by the borders of poviats or voivodeships. The displacement of indigenous people in the 1940’s and 1950’s and its impact on the current demographic situation were also important. The negative effects of the economic and political transformation were once felt by the state-owned Road Transport Companies (“PKS”). Despite various forms of ownership transformations, only one of them from Jasło, survives in the studied area. The remaining ones were gradually liquidated for economic reasons. However, the suburban zones of the Beskid Niski and Bieszczady poviats capitals could be considered as areas that were not affected by the decline of the collective public transport network, and in some cases there was even a noticeable improvement in its offer. It should be remembered that the number of bus trips could be the result of, for example, substitution of connections previously organized by city self-governments or industrial plants. A reorientation of the main transport directions towards the capitals of new poviats and, above all, voivodeships was also observable. The network of collective public transport connections indicated also the superior function of the city of Sanok in relation to the capitals of Lesko and Bieszczady poviats. Typically mountainous areas were definitely not the beneficiary of the processes of 30 years of Polish transformation. Much fewer bus trips reached many villages than in 1990. Many villages were completely cut off from railways or scheduled buses. The citizens of others were unable to leave that places on days off from work or during holidays. The quality of the existing non-urban collective public transport also raised serious doubts, especially low-standard buses and an overly “flexible” approach to the announced timetables. The study concerned the problem of transport based social exclusion of school-age youth and students using the educational offer of public institutions located in the analysed area. Thus, in the opinions of pupils, there was a quite strong influence of the collective public transport offer on their choice of the place for further education in the secondary school. Most of such opinions were noticeable in schools from areas where there was a significant reduction in the number of scheduled rail and bus connections. The situation was similar in the case of the decision on the location of the place of continuing education after secondary school, but there was a stronger impact of the existing options of the collective public transport on the choice of an academic centre. The most disturbing effect of the limited schedule offer, mainly bus operators, was the quite large representation of people declaring they had friends who did not continue their education in secondary schools because of that reason. This was especially noticeable in the eastern part of the study area. The problem of lack of access to the collective public transport, as a reason for abandoning plans to undertake academic studies, also appeared in the responses of students, who, however, had easier access to private cars for their own use. This made it easier for them to study free of charge in the evenings and weekends and combine studies with paid work. Pupils, especially female pupils, assessed the frequency of collective non-urban public transport very poorly. This can be considered as a kind of test of transport based social exclusion and the impact of the condition of non-urban collective public transport on their social life, as well as the need to adjust their plans especially to the unfavourable bus timetables. In some cases, it also forced them to spend evenings and nights in collective accommodation places during the week, because even towns relatively close to schools did not have transport services ensuring effective rest and learning opportunities for young people at home. They only went to their family homes on weekends. Generally speaking, the lack of service and its low frequency, as well as the timetable not adapted to school activities were the main factors that made using buses a sad necessity for young people and they only dreamed of getting rid of it as soon as possible, especially since the quality of the used buses only deepened the feeling of discomfort. People staying away from home assessed the frequency of services provided by transport companies much worse. In areas where many bus carriers operated, the processes of partial transport based social exclusion were deepened by the economic factor – the lack of tariff and ticket integration and the need to pay additional fees by pupils using a more convenient trip served by a company other than the company which purchased their season ticket. For people with a driving license, it was an undoubted incentive to exchange buses or trains for a car, and for those who did not have this document, it was an additional incentive to obtain it as quickly as possible. In case of after school activities (mainly on days off from work) the transport situation of young people deteriorated. Due to a significant reduction in the number of bus trips (compared to working days) and many towns being deprived of access to collective public transport services at that time, the number of people dependent on being transported by others to shopping, social, cultural and entertainment activities increased rapidly. What was terrifying, however, was the significant number of people declaring that they did not move for the purposes mentioned above because they had no way to reach them. On days off, there was also a much greater demand for walking or cycling, although this could have been purely recreational. These problems were particularly visible among students from less connected towns in the Jasło, Sanok, Lesko and Bieszczady poviats. Only among secondary school students from Dukla there was an increase in the use of suburban buses. It is worth recalling that the opinions of people who do not use collective public transport were not taken into account here, and they would probably be even less positive. Students also assessed rather negatively the frequency of non-urban collective public transport trips, but there were no major differences between trips to the university or for other purposes. The lack of available transport options was particularly visible in the Bieszczady Mountains, where quite a large group of pupils living there declared that they had no way to get to after school activities. Perhaps some pupils even decided to stay in dormitories to have access to non-school activities offered by the institutions they attended. Especially since there was a visible trend among students that, thanks to having access to a car, coming from similar areas as dormitory residents, etc., they could afford to travel to academic classes every day. The problem of transport based social exclusion mainly concerned girls who had very difficult access to obtaining a driving license and even more difficult access to a car for their own use. They, regardless of the stage of education, were much more critical of what collective public transport offered. The lack of proper transport services for commuting even from close geographical distance meant that people without a driving license were forced to live outside their family home, and to use the courtesy of family or older colleagues or friends with a car to commute to other basic activities. For some of them, turning 18 and obtaining a driving license meant regaining at least some of their freedom. Studying in schools located in very small towns practically cuts off young people from obtaining such a document. The stratification was especially visible in comparison to the situation observed among students of universities from Krosno and Sanok. While the catchment area of the first one consisted of towns with good transport connections, the base of the second university consisted of towns with considerable transport disadvantages. Of course, we must bear in mind differences in the size and representativeness of the studied samples. Nevertheless, even taking this into account, students of the university in Sanok showed a much greater use of cars and, at the same time, a lack of accommodation outside their permanent place of residence. If they were not use cars, most of them would probably not be able to obtain higher education. Interestingly, there were no disproportions in car use between commuting to academic classes and traveling to other activities. Students from Sanok in trips unrelated to education, used rail and bus transport services the least of all the surveyed groups. Having a driving license or a car, of course, did not solve all problems - but to ensure greater freedom of movement on days off from school activities, it became a necessity. Unlike schoolchildren, the main factor that made them not use buses or trains was the independence that a car gave them. The unfavourable feedback between disturbing demographic trends in the countryside and the decline of non-urban collective public transport could be illustrated, for example, by the vicious circle of rural transport. If you look at the situation in the Beskid Niski and Bieszczady poviats during 30 years of economic and political transformation, this model fits perfectly. In the majority of the studied areas, depopulation processes were observed, including also cities. The network of bus connections, which constitutes the backbone of the transport system, has shrunk, both spatially and in terms of the number of trips. Rail transport has completely lost its importance. The only exception here could be a series of national roads connecting the capitals of all analysed counties and their connections with some health resorts and towns located north of the Beskid Niski Mountains. The decline in population, especially at the secondary school age, led to a further limitation of the transport offer, especially to villages located in mountain valleys. The lack of public intervention will lead to the deepening of this phenomenon, reinforced by new processes noticeable in recent years, taking into account, on the one hand, the developing of information society in Poland, and on the other hand, the upcoming element of the fuel crisis. The enormous impact of the first of these factors is indicated by observations from the crisis related to combating the COVID-19 pandemic. Then, social mobility, primarily related to everyday work or schooling, was transferred to a large extent to the virtual space, adversely affecting the demand for collective public transport services, especially during off-peak hours, but also during work commuting peaks. Another element that could have a strong impact on collective public transport was the unstable political situation and the related to it fuel crises, which could have an impact on it - either positive by returning some commuters to it, or negative by shifting the professional activity of some of its commuters partially or fully to the virtual space.