Archived decisions

APPENDIX 2

Cross-Cutting Best Value Review of Passenger Transport

Activities and Progress Report

September 2002

1. Car Clubs as a potential contributor to reducing demands for County Council transport services, have been reviewed. There are potential applications for this type of approach in Hampshire although these are mainly for neighbourhoods in built-up areas with severe parking constraints. Opportunities in rural areas are being reconsidered as part of a Countryside Agency initiative to be completed by December 2002. However, they are not expected to make a major contribution to solving the transport issues related to this service area.

2. The 'clean sheet' exercise in Test Valley was undertaken in 2001 and identified a potential new transport network which would make more efficient use of vehicles and offer more public transport travel opportunities. This would be achieved through better integration of services, including some modest changes to school hours to facilitate efficiencies in transport arrangements. The first phase of implementation was the `Cango' service in north-west Hampshire. Future phases will be introduced in November and next summer, the latter being dependent on the ability to introduce the school-time related changes.

3. The `Cango' service, and its associated Call Demand Centre, was implemented on 1 July 2002. This introduced fully-accessible demand-responsive mini-buses on a series of seven routes to the north and east of Andover. Five of these are replacements for conventional bus routes which had a poor level of service. The other two are new links to Andover and Whitchurch rail stations, aimed at commuters. Public response has been very positive and the service is carrying over 400 passengers per week, of which over 20% are generated new journeys. The vehicles also operate both mainstream and Special Educational Needs (SEN) transport in an integrated way.

4. Social Services transport provision arranged through the Environment Grouping is proceeding through the development of a pilot project for transport in the Eastleigh and Romsey area. Management information on past journey needs has now been assembled, with a view to making best use of the new Demand Centre which came on stream in July 2002. The pilot project should commence in late autumn 2002.

5. Pilots for devolution of school transport budgets are now progressing following the identification of the need to clarify the new education funding regime being introduced from April 2003. This will remove delegation targets and separate schools funding from that for a number of Local Education Authority (LEA) functions, including Home to School Transport. With the pressure to hit ever increasing delegation targets receding, the focus is now on defining devolution models. Proposals will be finalised early next term for discussion with schools.

6. Assessments for safer walking routes to schools are now being covered by arrangements to ensure that all routes regarded by the Members' Panel as unsafe are considered by the Safer Routes to School team in the Environment Grouping. This will include an assessment of possible improvements to walking routes linked with the development of a School Travel Plan (STP). Mill Chase School, Headley is now preparing an STP with assistance from the Sustainable Travel Officer at East Hampshire District Council. For the other two outstanding issues, Marchwood Junior and Infant Schools have been approached to prepare STPs, while at Odiham an STP has been prepared by Robert May's School recommending a package of cross-cutting measures.

7. Proposals to experiment with a fleet of County Council-owned buses for home to school transport were examined through an analysis of the business case. A report was considered by the Executive Member for Education. This concluded that the financial/operational risks of running a fleet for home to school transport in isolation were too high and that further work should be done to assess how a bus fleet could be used across all service areas, including mainstream passenger transport. This is currently under way and due to be completed in autumn 2002.