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 East Hampshire 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;

(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 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.

4.2 A report is being considered by the Executive Member for Environment in October which recommends funding an additional vehicle for Community Transport East Hampshire in order that the scheme may extend its operation into the southern part of the district. The vehicle is being funded through the LTP capital programme and forms part of the County Council's overall approach to supporting and developing community transport schemes in Hampshire. This is in addition to funding for two replacement vehicles, which was agreed by the Executive Member for Environment early this year.

4.3 Minibuses like the ones operated by Community Transport East Hampshire offer older, disabled and younger people the opportunity to access a range of services and facilities within their local community.

4.4 One of the vehicles previously used to operate the Leigh Park Cango service has been reassigned since June to supplement the existing one vehicle dial-a-ride operation in Havant. The redesigned two vehicle service is now being operated under the `Call and Go' branding which forms part of the Cango family of branding. Similar services operate elsewhere in the county under this branding.

4.5 The revised service continues to operate in Havant Borough and in the East Hampshire District Council parishes of Clanfield and Horndean. People can use this service if they:

(i) have a disability which means that they are unable to use existing public transport services in the area (this is the normal criteria for dial-a-ride); or

(ii) need to travel to hospital/health centres and could not make this journey by existing public transport, even if they do not have a disability (this continues to provide one of the key opportunities previously offered by the Leigh Link service).

4.6 The service is being operated by the Portsmouth Council of Community Service under a service agreement with the funders. The operation of one vehicle continues to be funded by Hampshire County Council, Havant Borough Council and East Hampshire District Council. The introduction of the second vehicle is being funded, for the remainder of this year, using an underspend in the Leigh Links Urban Bus Challenge Fund.

5. Operations

5.1 The County Council's subsidised local bus service contracts are normally retendered every four years. Subsidised bus services in East Hampshire form part of the Alton and Havant tendering areas. The Alton area consists of services radiating from the town, while the Havant area includes services in Petersfield, as well as the southern part of the district. The current contracts were awarded in April 2002 and are of four years' duration. Proposals for services are discussed with East Hampshire District Council as part of the tendering process.

5.2 The approximate annual cost of these contacts is £944,000, of which £745,000 is funded from the County Council's local bus subsidy budget, £32,000 from Rural Bus Subsidy Grant and £167,000 from developers' contributions, eg Tesco for bus services to the recently built store at Bordon. It is difficult to be more precise with the total, as a number of the services in East Hampshire continue into neighbouring districts. The County Council's total budgets are £5.2 million for local bus subsidy and £1 million for the Rural Bus Subsidy Grant. There are also some contracted local bus services funded by West Sussex County Council which terminate in Petersfield.

5.3 A major development in the delivery of bus services in recent months has been the signing of Quality Partnerships (QPs) with the principal bus operators. One of the most significant QPs signed to date has been that which seeks to upgrade public transport in the A3 corridor. This scheme is being developed from the south, but will eventually reach as far as Horndean.

5.4 The performance of rural services continues to decline. This trend has led to the development of innovative schemes to meet transport needs. In Alton a number of conventional bus services have been converted into the latest Cango network in the county. The key feature of these services is that they are "demand responsive" and can deviate from the normal line of the route for passengers who have difficulty getting to bus stops. Three Cango vehicles have been deployed on the Alton area network since August 23. The tender to operate the Cango services was won by Stagecoach and the employment of the same drivers who operated the conventional services has helped develop a rapport with the regular customers.

5.5 In Lovedean, a scheme known as the Lovedean Car Share operates to meet needs which can be served more s/imply and more cost-effectively by taxi than by conventional buses.

5.6 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. 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 South Downs and Fareham Colleges, and the further education establishments in Portsmouth. The 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. The schemes continue to be very popular and successful.

Recommendation

That this report be noted.

9007/KW