HOW do you go about tempting people out of their cars and on to public transport?

By providing a better experience, better value for money and regular services, according to those behind two eco-friendly transport schemes in the New Forest.

As we report today on page 15, the Beach Bus and New Forest Tour have never been more popular, saving hundreds of thousands of car miles in the process.

It would be over the top to claim the initiatives have solved traffic congestion in the Forest, as anyone who has driven through it this summer will know.

However it is a small step in the right direction and congratulations are due. It is a pity that the schemes are only seasonal.

It rather begs the question why this success cannot apparently be replicated elsewhere across Hampshire.

Cuts to local authority funding have resulted in so many routes being axed over the past few years when logic demands that more services are needed to help us all get around more easily.

The number of rail passengers is growing while buses seem to be the poor relation of the public transport world.

Some creative thinking is needed – or is it just a case of providing a better experience, better value for money and regular services?