That's bad news for these regions, as the feeling of isolation is often one of the factors that pushes young people to move away.

“Buses are very sporadic and often don't connect well. Just a minute of delay on one bus would leave me waiting for an hour for a connecting bus to my village,” Natálie, a student from the rural South Moravian region in Czechia, told me. “On the weekends, the last connection was at six in the evening. That makes living there without a driving licence and a car almost impossible.”

This was especially difficult for her as she had to travel long distances to school and attend free-time activities from a young age.

People around her rely heavily on private cars to get around. That is expensive and polluting. Road transport accounts for about a quarter of the EU’s total greenhouse gas emissions. Policies, such as ETS 2, are intended to push people to switch to cleaner alternatives, but without accessible and reliable public transport, this remains unrealistic for many.

But winds of change are starting to blow. On-demand public transport is moving beyond the pilot-project stage and into wider use across Europe, effectively connecting more remote communities.

Switzerland is among the forerunners. Services like Invia PickMeUp operate during evening and night hours in the mountain region of Davos Klosters for the price of a regular public transport ticket. PubliCar service is available in several Swiss regions for a standard ticket price plus five Swiss francs (€5.40).

Other countries are catching up too. In Czechia, for instance, the on-demand public transport project PiD Haló has already eased commuting for 13,000 users in Prague's suburban areas.

It works like this: if there are no regular connections to your village – for instance in the evening or at weekends – you can order a minibus ride through an app. The minibuses can pick you up at physical and virtual stops, which are not marked by a physical sign but are indicated in the app.

A chatbot then handles all the necessary details with you: how many people are travelling, whether anyone has special needs, and where they need to go. And the best part: you don't pay anything extra outside of your regular public transport fare.

Routes are adjusted based on demand so that minibuses can pick up and drop off the maximum number of passengers as efficiently as possible – this optimisation is ongoing to make the service financially sustainable.

“Currently, the pilot program is funded directly from the region’s budget and from fare revenue,” Filip Drápal, spokesperson for Prague Integrated Transport, told TEC. The service primarily helps people get to and from the nearest train station, connecting them to Prague. By operating small minibuses rather than large buses, the provider saves money, which in turn allows it to hire bus drivers more easily.

“We use low-capacity vehicles with a seating capacity of 8+1. This configuration allows us to employ drivers with a basic driver’s licence, which reduces the demand for regular bus drivers during the evening hours,” Drápal said.