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 Basingstoke 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 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 home-to-school transport 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 Services, 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 Included within Operations (see paragraph 5.1).

4. Community Transport

4.1 Community transport schemes play an important role in meeting locally the 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 five of the accessible minibuses operated by Basingstoke Community Transport. The vehicles are being funded through the Local Transport Plan Capital Programme and forms part of the County Council's overall approach for supporting and developing community transport schemes in Hampshire. This is in addition to funding for one replacement vehicle which was agreed by the Executive Member early this year.

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

5. Operations

5.1 The County Council's subsidised local bus service contracts are normally tendered every four years. Subsidised bus services in Basingstoke and Deane form part of the County Council's Basingstoke tendering area. The current contracts were awarded in July 2001 and will expire in July 2005. Services are discussed with the Borough Council as part of the tendering process.

5.2 The approximate total annual cost of these contacts is £715,000, of which £424,000 is funded from the County Council's Local Bus Subsidy budget, and £186,000 from developer's contributions. The remaining £105,000 is contributed by the Borough Council. The County Council's total budgets are £5.2 million for local bus subsidy and £1.0 million for the Rural Bus Subsidy Grant.

5.3 In recent months, the key bus service development in Basingstoke and Deane has been the Quality Bus Partnership (QBP) for Lines 1 (Hatch Warren-Brighton Hill-Town Centre-Tadley-Baughurst ) and 6 (Town Centre-Winklebury). The County and Borough Councils are signatories to the QBP along with the bus operator Stagecoach. The QBP has delivered higher frequency services and branded, easy-access buses, and work is ongoing to provide new bus shelters, raised boarding kerbs and high-quality customer information at all bus stops. New electronic information screens displaying bus information are due to be installed at the railway station and the hospital during the current financial year. Investigations have begun into the feasibility of providing improved weather protection at Basingstoke bus station.

5.4 A future phase of the QBP will introduce Real Time Passenger Information (RTPI) to the Basingstoke town network. This system uses automatic vehicle location technology fitted to the buses to identify where the bus is on the road network. This is then relayed to individual bus stops on the line of route, where a message is displayed for the benefit of waiting passengers, indicating the amount of time that will elapse before the bus arrives at that stop.

5.5 The Passenger Transport Group reviews its mainstream home-to-school transport arrangements every new academic year, in response to changes in the 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 roll. The most significant school transport movement in Basingstoke, is the two buses required from Oakley to Cranbourne Business and Enterprise College, catering for over 150 pupils. 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/pupils attending Basingstoke College of Technology, Queen Mary's College and Bishop Challoner R.C. Secondary School. 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 mini-bus scheme'; and secondly, complete transport reorganisations by school'. Total savings county-wide to date are £1.4 million. Schools in the Basingstoke area that have been involved in these projects over the period are:

(i) Hawthorns School was included in the area reorganisations in 2000, and savings of £57300 were achieved;

(ii) in 2001, Dove House and Maple Ridge were reorganised achieving savings of £66200;

(iii) in 2003, Limington House School was reorganised achieving savings of £94000. The school also took delivery of a wheelchair accessible mini-bus in 2000, which realised savings of £10,200, although it has since decided not to continue in the scheme and has relinquished the bus;

(iv) in 2002, the following schools took delivery of a mini-bus, achieving savings as follows: Testbourne Community School (savings of £9,300), South View Junior School (savings of £22,500), and Dove House School (savings of £6,800);

(v) in 2004, Saxon Wood School was reorganised which achieved savings of £26,000; and

(vi) in 2004, the new Basingstoke School Plus took delivery of two minibuses which achieved savings on contracts of £22,600.

6.2 Total savings for the Basingstoke area for the period of the project are £314,900. Each of these schemes continues to be very popular and successful.

Recommendation

That this report be noted.

9042/KW