BUS STRATEGY

1. Section 110 of the Transport Act 2000 requires the production of a Bus Strategy. In this regard, a Bus Strategy has been prepared and a decision was taken on 23 July 2003 to approve the document for consultation with stakeholders.

2. The Strategy sets out the County Council's approach to the improvement of bus services and how this work relates to the Council's wider transport priorities as demonstrated in the Local Transport Plan (LTP). Work has been undertaken to bring together all the County Council's work in respect of the bus network and to relate these to various policy issues and performance standards, at both corporate and departmental level. In drafting the Strategy, regard was given to the results of the Best Value Review of this service area completed in 2001, as well as the County Council's commitments in respect of the LTP and the Public Service Agreement (PSA) on buses.

3. The draft Strategy is based on a vision of how the bus network is likely to develop in the period to 2010 and suggests that there will be three distinct sectors: primary, secondary and tertiary.

· Primary sector comprises highly commercial services carrying the majority of bus passengers, suitable for Quality Partnership development and/or key in strategic transport terms. Key targets are the PSA commitment to achieve a 4% growth in bus usage against 1999/00 levels by March 2005 and the LTP target to achieve a 10% growth in use by 2010.


· Secondary sector comprises other regular bus services, often local in nature and either marginally commercial or supported by the County Council, with a target to ensure social inclusion in a cost-effective way.


· Tertiary sector comprises other, often infrequent services which link into the primary and secondary sectors and will often serve rural areas, but also some more isolated residential areas than in a more urban setting. There will be an emphasis on innovation and the provision of demand-responsive solutions which aim to meet similar targets as for the secondary sector.

4. The Environment Policy Review Committee has had the opportunity to comment on the draft Strategy, which was despatched to consultees at the end of August. The consultation period closes on 31 October 2003, the outcome of which will be reported to the Environment Policy Review Committee at its meeting on 3 December 2003 prior to decision on the final draft being taken on 13 January 2004.

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