Archived decisions

QUALITY BUS PARTNERSHIPS

1. The County Council and several bus operators within the County share a common objective to encourage greater use of bus services in Hampshire to address the problem of traffic congestion. The commitment of joint working to deliver high quality bus services can help to address these issues and overall Quality Bus Partnership (QBP) agreements have been signed with bus operators Stagecoach, First Group and Solent Blue Line. As part of these agreements, several route-specific QBPs are being developed by the County Council and its partners.

2. A Quality Bus Partnership is an excellent way of improving bus services and encourages bus operators to introduce modern easy-access buses, increase the reliability and frequency of services and improve branding, marketing and staff training. In turn, the emphasis for the County Council is to carry out a number of improvements including new bus shelters and bus stop poles with information at every stop, raised boarding kerbs, improvements to bus stations and interchanges and bus priority measures to reduce journey times. Additionally, QBPs can assist the County Council in the achievement of its targets for passenger growth within the Local Transport Plan and the Public Service Agreement target for increased patronage on buses from 1999/2000 levels of 10% by 2010, with an interim target of a 2.5% increase by March 2004.

3. A Quality Bus Partnership Study has been carried out by consultants as part of the Passenger Transport Group's Best Value Action Plan to identify bus routes in Hampshire most suited to QBP development. One of the key aims of the Study was to advise on the strengths and weaknesses of QBPs that are operating elsewhere in the country. To provide a comparison between services, each service was measured against specific criteria. Consultation was undertaken with the major bus operators as well as the two Cities and Hampshire's District Councils. Through a process of benchmarking, a hierarchy of routes that were deemed to have the strongest potential was produced and the County Council will be working with bus operators and neighbouring local authorities over the next five years to establish and develop QBPs for these routes.

4. The development of these agreements between the County Council and bus operators will allow for strong partnerships to be built and foster shared investment in Hampshire's public transport network which is very good news for all concerned.

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