Proposal One: To reduce the number of unused seats by utilising bus pass usage data

What is the current situation?

School Transport routes that require larger vehicles or carry a high number of passengers require students to present a County Council-issued bus pass when boarding.

The main goals of this process are to ensure eligible students travel on their assigned vehicles, to prevent overloading, and to make sure no student misses school because they cannot access their assigned bus.

Traditionally, County Council-issued bus passes have been paper-based, held by students throughout the academic year, and checked by bus drivers when boarding. There is currently no system for tracking usage.

However, we are in the process of phasing in a digital bus pass solution for larger vehicles which will deliver operational and user benefits such as simpler and faster allocation of bus passes for larger vehicles.

Digital bus passes will allow us to monitor bus seat usage over an academic term on a daily, weekly or monthly basis, enabling us to track use of individual routes, and usage by individual students.

What is being proposed?

We are proposing to use bus pass usage data to reduce the number of regularly unused seats.

Reason for this proposal

Until a sustainable long-term national funding solution can be found to address the intense financial pressures facing not only Hampshire County Council, but also wider local government, the County Council has no choice but to consider changing or reducing services in some areas and propose options for savings.

It is anticipated that this change, combined with Proposal Two (standing capacity), would eventually contribute around £770,000 per year towards addressing the County Council’s overall anticipated remaining £97.6 million budget deficit from April 2025.

Hampshire County Council also has a duty to promote the use of sustainable travel. For bus journeys, this could include using seats more efficiently leading to fewer journeys, or smaller vehicles, being needed.

The School Transport service recently conducted an audit of bus seat usage at the ten schools with the highest number of students using County Council-provided transport (3,976 students across 63 routes that use larger buses). The audit revealed that, on average, 22% of students did not travel on the day their route was audited.

The use of data from digital bus passes would enable the County Council to commission routes and vehicles based on the actual number of students who travel on them. In addition:

• adjustments could be made during the year if it is found that individual routes were significantly underused because of students not using their bus passes/allocated transport
• when retendering routes, transport commissioners could procure vehicles based on accurate usage figures
• individual usage data could also enable the County Council to identify where and investigate why passes are not used by individual students. Bus passes that are no longer required could then be deactivated.

How would the proposal be implemented?

The first phase of digital bus passes is scheduled to be rolled out in Spring/Summer 2025. Once in place on a route, vehicle use would be monitored carefully to identify opportunities to either reduce the size of the vehicle, to accommodate any additional students added to the route in-year, or to inform the route planning process from Summer 2025 onwards.

If this proposal is agreed, where a student has not used their pass for a set period of time (as determined by the School Transport service), the School Transport service would work with schools (and parents where necessary) to establish whether this was for a genuine reason (e.g. extended hospital stay or illness).

If not, it would be assumed that the seat is no longer required, and parents of students who have not used their bus passes during this period would be informed that their child’s bus pass has been deactivated.

Where a student still needs their pass, they would be able to reapply for the bus pass to be activated.

Potential impacts

This proposal would apply to both School Transport and Post-16 Transport users.

Students with particular conditions – including some students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) – may be more likely to be absent from school on multiple occasions, and therefore the data for that student’s journeys may suggest non-usage of a bus pass over a particular period of time.

A bus pass would not be withdrawn or deactivated without consulting with the school, and the process would only commence when a significant pattern of non-usage is established.

Exceptional cases and the right to appeal

There is an existing mechanism in place for the School Transport service to consider whether in exceptional cases transport can be granted as an exception to the policy.

There is also a statutory right to appeal for any family who wishes to challenge a transport entitlement decision. This right of appeal covers decisions on whether a child is entitled to transport, and on the form of assistance offered.