Social Benefits of Rural Transport 5:1:a Rural Transport Knowledge Base Rural Travel and Transport Program 20011 SOCIAL BENEFITS OF RURAL TRANSPORT

It is clear that rural transport plays an important part in rural development; it provides the means by which local communities can access the opportunities and necessities which can enhance their livelihoods. Thus transport connects the rural community with markets and farm input suppliers, education and employment opportunities, health and welfare facilities. Transport also supports family and community development by providing the necessary access to gatherings (social or political) outside of the locality. Through these mechanisms, improved transport can contribute not only to an improved rural economy, but also to a higher degree of social well-being within both individual families and the community. No hard-and-fast distinctions can always be drawn between the social benefits and the economic benefits of rural transport. Often these go hand-in-hand; an improved economy is, after all, likely to be of great social benefit to any community, because it will bring in its wake improvements in, for example, education and health care facilities. Conversely, social benefits such as improved water supply, or improve