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 Hart area.

2. Background

2.1 The Passenger Transport Group has 70 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 provision is undertaken by the Passenger Transport Group 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 overarching 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 home-to-school 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 2. There is also a need to maintain the high standard of school transport provision for the County Council.

3. Strategy

3.1 Nothing to report.

4. Community Transport

4.1 Community transport schemes play an important role in meeting local transport needs of organisations and individuals, which cannot be easily met through the existing conventional bus network. The County Council has been working with Hart Voluntary Action and Hart District Council during the last year to develop a community transport scheme in Hart. Where these schemes operate elsewhere in the county they offer older, disabled and younger people the opportunity to access a range of services and facilities within their local community.

4.2 The Hart `Call and Go' services (formally called Cango) are one of the new initiatives being operated by the community transport scheme. The two vehicle operation is currently funded through a partnership which involves the Countryside Agency, Hampshire County Council, Hart District Council and a consortium of parish councils in Hart. The services have just completed their first year of operation and are currently being reviewed to identify how they may be improved further during the coming year. They provide a valuable service for those people who are either poorly served by the existing public transport network or who are unable to get onto existing conventional buses because of a disability.

4.3 Officers from the County Council's Passenger Transport Group are currently working with Hart Voluntary Action to develop a mini-bus brokerage scheme in Hart. Voluntary organisations and schools operating mini-buses in the district will be approached and given the opportunity to be involved in this initiative.

4.4 In August the County Council introduced its latest Cango services. The three vehicle operation, which is now the largest in Hampshire, operates on six days a week and covers the parishes of South Warnborough, Long Sutton and Greywell. People are able to use the Cango service to travel to Basingstoke and Odiham. Once in Basingstoke people can travel to one of three potential drop-off points: the town centre, hospital or leisure centre. The services are being funded through a successful Rural Bus Challenge bid and are being operated by Stagecoach under contract to Hampshire County Council.

5. Operations

5.1 The County Council's subsidised local bus service contracts are normally tendered every four years. Subsidised bus services in Hart form part of the County Council's Blackwater Valley tendering area. This area also includes services in Rushmoor and the Bordon/Whitehill area of East Hampshire. The current contracts were awarded in April 2003 and will expire in April 2007. Proposals for services are discussed with Hart District Council as part of the tendering process.

5.2 The approximate total annual cost of these contracts is £724,000, of which £531,000 is funded from the County Council's local bus subsidy budget, £51,000 from Rural Bus Subsidy Grant and £142,000 from developers' contributions. Some funding in respect of services which cross the Hampshire/Surrey border is recouped from Surrey County Council. Hampshire County Council's total budgets are £5.2 million for local bus subsidy and £1 million for the Rural Bus Subsidy Grant.

5.3 No doubt due to the very high car ownership figure in the district, bus service patronage in Hart is very poor. Consequently, subsidised bus services are constantly under great pressure, which gives cause for concern when it is realised that there are very few commercially operated services remaining. This in turn means that there are no candidates for Quality Bus Partnerships in Hart.

5.4 Certain lightly used bus services in the district have recently been converted to `demand responsive' services under the Cango brand name. One such scheme `Call and Go' is operated on a voluntary basis by the Hart Council of Community Service.

5.5 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. In the case of Robert May's School at Odiham, the County Council funds 14 vehicles carrying a total of over 800 pupils (470 of these from Hook) each school day. 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 in Basingstoke and 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 mini-bus scheme' and secondly `complete transport reorganisations by school'. Total savings county-wide to date are £1.4 million. The schemes continue to be very popular and successful.

Recommendation

That this report be noted.

9009/KW