Contact: Keith Willcox, ext 6997 email: [email protected]

1. Summary

1.1 This report outlines the services provided by the Passenger Transport Group and details the work undertaken in the Rushmoor area.

2. Background

2.1 The Passenger Transport Group (PTG) has seventy staff and 700 school escorts in the Design and Implementation Branch reporting to the Assistant Director (Design and Implementation). The Group, comprising five teams, is highly diverse with a wide customer base. The Group deals with the following:

(i) passenger transport strategy;

(ii) passenger transport infrastructure;

(iii) information provision;

(iv) community transport;

(v) subsidised bus services;

(vi) finance and contracts;

(vii) social services transport;

(viii) mainstream home to school transport provision; and

(ix) special educational needs transport.

2.2 The £20 million home to school transport (HTST) provision is undertaken by PTG on behalf of the Education Department.

2.3 The Group's aim is to produce a top class passenger transport network, and service provision for the residents and scholars of Hampshire and visitors to the county, allowing a greater modal shift towards passenger transport in a safe, efficient, reliable and affordable manner.

2.4 The over arching objectives are as follows:

(i) make public transport as widely available as possible;

(ii) maximise the use of passenger transport;

(iii) seek innovative approaches to transport provision;

(iv) ensure social inclusion with regard to public transport;

(v) ensure continuing improvements in quality of service;

(vi) maintain successful partnerships and build others;

(vii) ensure effective consultation; and

(viii) provide an efficient and innovative HTST service, on behalf of the Education Department.

2.5 The Group is facing an exciting and challenging time. It needs to further address some concerns, eg the improvement of Best Value Performance Indicator (BVPI) 103 Public Transport Information and BVPI 104 Local Bus Service, whilst in parallel playing a major role in the implementation of the Community Strategy, Corporate Objectives and in the development of Local Public Service Agreement 2, as transport is a cross-cutting issue. During 2005/06 there is a need to implement the Passenger Transport Strategy which will feature prominently within the Local Transport Plan (LTP) 2. There is also a need to maintain the high standard of school transport provision for the County Council.

3. Strategy

3.1 A project appraisal to improve facilities for passengers on Route 6 (Farnborough to Prospect Estate) was approved in June 2004. Stagecoach intends to increase the frequency of the route to every ten minutes and introduce low-floor accessible buses.

3.2 County Council funded works will include real-time information, raised boarding kerbs, new bus shelters, bus stop poles and information at the busiest bus stops. Work is expected to be completed in the 2004/05 financial year.

3.3 The improvements are being implemented as part of the area-wide Blackwater Valley Quality Bus Partnership, where Hampshire County Council is working with Surrey County Council, Wokingham District Council, Bracknell Forest Borough Council and bus operators Stagecoach, First and Arriva to improve the quality of public transport in the area.

4. Community Transport

4.1 Community Transport schemes play an important role in meeting locally transport needs of organisations and individuals, which cannot be easily met through the existing conventional bus network.

4.2 A report is being considered by the Executive Member for Environment in October which recommends funding to replace one of the existing minibuses operated by Rushmoor Voluntary Services. The vehicle is being funded through the Local Transport Plan Capital Programme and forms part of the County Council's overall approach.

4.3 Minibuses like the ones operated by Rushmoor Voluntary Services offer older people, disabled people and younger people the opportunity to access a range of services and facilities within their local community.

4.4 Officers from the County Council's Passenger Transport Group are currently working with Rushmoor Voluntary Services to explore the feasibility of developing a minibus brokerage scheme in Rushmoor. Voluntary organisations and schools operating minibuses in the district will be approached and given the opportunity to be involved in this initiative.

5. Operations

5.1 The County Council's subsidised local bus service contracts are normally retendered every four years. Subsidised bus services in Rushmoor form part of the Blackwater Valley tendering area. This area consists of services centred on Farnborough and Aldershot in Rushmoor, and Fleet and Yateley in Hart. The current contracts were awarded in April 2003 and will expire in April 2007. Proposals for services are discussed with the Borough Council as part of the tendering process.

5.2 The total annual cost of these contacts is £724,165, of which £531,299 is funded from the County Council's local bus subsidy budget; £50,885 from the Rural Bus Subsidy Grant and £141,981 from developers' contributions. The County Council's total budget is £5.2 million for local bus subsidy, plus £1 million of Rural Bus Subsidy Grant from the Government.

5.3 The key bus service development in Rushmoor in recent months has been the Quality Bus Partnership (QBP) for Route 1 (Aldershot-Farnborough-Camberley) to which the County and Borough Councils are signatories, along with Stagecoach the service operator. As a result of the success of the partnership, Stagecoach is increasing the daytime frequency of Route 1 to every 10 minutes from 27 September. Stagecoach is also investing approximately £1.2 million in a fleet of new vehicles for the route, which will enter service on the date of the frequency increase. The company will also be employing additional drivers to staff the service improvement.

5.4 The acquisition of the new vehicles will have "knock on" benefits for other bus users in the area, since the existing low floor vehicles are likely to be transferred to other local routes.

5.5 Although the scheme has only recently been implemented and the section of route between Farnborough and Aldershot is yet to be upgraded, early indications show that passenger numbers have increased by 2.5%. In addition, bus priority measures have improved reliability to the extent that Stagecoach has been able to reduce journey times for passengers by 8%. Taxis, coaches and minibuses serving local business parks are also benefiting from the priority measures.

5.6 A more recent development has been the signing of a Blackwater Valley-wide QBP. This is possibly the first QBP in the country to include all three of the major bus operating groups - Stagecoach, First and Arriva.

5.7 The Passenger Transport Group reviews its mainstream home to school transport arrangements for each new academic year, in response to changing numbers and locations of pupils entitled to free transport. The volume of transport provided to a school is determined by the number of entitled pupils on the roll. The most significant school transport movement in Rushmoor is the three buses required from Fleet and Farnborough to All Hallows RC Secondary School. Contracts for September 2004 have now been finalised and parents informed of their children's transport details for the new term. In addition to local schools, many bus journeys are generated by students attending the local colleges, particularly those in Farnborough. The great majority of this transport is provided by the commercial sector.

6. Special Needs Transport

6.1 Since 2000 the Passenger Transport Group has been managing a special project known as `Spend to Save'. This project looks at innovative transport solutions for school transport with a view to improving quality whilst reducing costs. There are two key areas within this project, firstly the `school transport minibus scheme' and secondly `complete transport reorganisations by school'. Total savings county-wide to date are £1.4 million.

6.2 Schools in the Rushmoor and Hart area that have been involved in these projects over the period are:

(i) in 2002 Henry Tyndale School was involved in a reorganisation and savings of £25,000 were realised;

(ii) in 2001 Samuel Cody School took delivery of a minibus, realising savings of £6,990;

(iii) in 2002 Henry Tyndale School took delivery of its first minibus achieving savings of £11,604 and this year, a second was delivered and the savings achieved were £10,288; and

(iv) for the start of the new academic year, Linden Education Centre has a new bus, which has realised savings of £21,130.

Total savings for the Rushmoor and Hart area are £75,012. Each of these scheme continues to be very popular and successful.

Recommendation

That this report be noted.

8938/KW