Contact: Andrew Wilson, ext 6389 email: [email protected]

1. Summary

1.1 This report provides details of the latest position on concessionary fares, bus services, Quality Bus Partnerships, Community Transport and rail issues.

2. Concessionary Fares

2.1 Free bus travel will be provided for senior citizens and disabled people from 1 April 2006.

2.2 Over 70% of the bus mileage in Hampshire is operated commercially, with routes, timetables and fares determined by the operator concerned. On subsidised services, fares charged are generally in line with those on commercial services. Most bus operators give free travel to children under five, and charge half fare to children over 5 but under 16. Few discounts are offered commercially to senior citizens or disabled people.

2.3 Currently, legislation requires the district councils in England to offer a half-fare bus pass for travel within their district, at all times on Saturdays and Sundays, and between 09.30-23.00 on Mondays to Fridays, to residents over 60 or who are disabled. Eligibility is determined, and passes are issued, by each district.

2.4 All the Hampshire districts, and Portsmouth City Council, participate in the Hampshire Farepass scheme, administered by consultants MCL, retained by the County Council on behalf of the districts. This offers a more generous concession, with no time restriction and allowing travel as far as the bus goes, provided that the passenger either boards or alights in Hampshire. For example, a Lymington resident with a Farepass issued by New Forest District Council, can travel to Bournemouth, or by bus from Lymington to Southampton, then from Southampton to Portsmouth, then from Portsmouth to Chichester, and return. Half fare applies to ordinary single or return tickets.

2.5 All the Hampshire districts except Havant currently offer an alternative to the half fare bus pass, in the form of tokens, to an annual value per holder ranging from £24 to £70. These are accepted by taxis and private hire cars, buses (for full adult fares, not half fares), most community transport and for railcards (Senior Citizens' or Disabled). Some districts offer a railcard themselves, as an alternative. In all districts, over 50% of people eligible for a half fare bus pass waive this right and take tokens instead.

2.6 From 1 April 2006 legislation requires that half-fare travel for pass holders is replaced by free travel, within the same limits of time and geography (ie within district) as detailed above. The Government is providing additional funding for districts, on a formula basis. However, the formula does not reflect the varied provision of bus services within districts.

2.7 In an urban district, with a dense network of frequent bus services, far more additional journeys will be made when travel becomes free than in a thinly-populated rural district with infrequent bus services and longer distances to travel to shops etc. In Hampshire, MCL has estimated that the additional funding will be insufficient to meet the additional costs of unlimited free travel for Fareham Borough Council (by over £400,000 per year) and Winchester City Council (by over £100,000 per year).

2.8 Fareham Borough Council has therefore decided to opt out of the countywide Farepass scheme, in order to reduce its deficit on the new scheme. Pass holders will receive free travel within the district and pay half fare for journeys outside the district (subject to negotiation).

2.9 All the other districts, and Portsmouth, will remain in the Farepass scheme, but Winchester residents' passes will not allow free travel on Mondays to Fridays between midnight and 09.00; Havant passes will not be valid between 04.00 and 09.00 on Mondays to Fridays. A summary of the new schemes is attached, including the varying provision of tokens; several districts are restricting or withdrawing tokens from 1 April.

2.10 Negotiations are now taking place with the bus operators on the level of reimbursement for free travel. Legislation requires that the operators should be no better and no worse off as a result of participating in a concessionary travel scheme.

2.11 Thus there is no automatic recompense for carrying more passengers, unless additional capacity is required. Operators are understandably concerned that pass holders may fill a bus and deny seats to fare-payers at subsequent stops. Whilst additional costs incurred in providing additional capacity may be claimed from the scheme, it will be difficult to forecast where and when more capacity will be needed. For example, a journey which is only quarter-full on a wet day in winter may be oversubscribed on a fine day in June.

2.12 A summary of Concessionary Fares Schemes in Hampshire from 1 April 2006 is shown below:

* Countywide includes any journeys which either start or finish in Hampshire

3. Bus Services Update

3.1 No services in Basingstoke and Deane Borough were affected by the service changes made in October 2005.

3.2 Evening and Sunday journeys on Line 5 between Kempshott Park (Beggarwood) were withdrawn in September due to the expiry of the developer contributions for the Kempshott Park development. Monday to Saturday daytime journeys would also have been affected but, as they are considered commercially viable, they have been maintained by Stagecoach without financial support.

3.3 The amount of funding required to reinstate the evening and Sunday journeys is such that neither Hampshire nor Basingstoke and Deane can provide the necessary financial support at this time. It is probable however that the evening and Sunday journeys that were withdrawn carried more passengers than the equivalent journeys of some of the (Basingstoke town) services that remain.

3.4 One option being considered therefore, on value for money grounds, is to reinstate the Line 5 journeys at the expense of less well used services.

New Approach to Service Provision

3.5 Following pilot work in Basingstoke and Alton, comprehensive district based reviews have commenced of public and community transport expenditure. The first of these cover New Forest and Hart. A full review of Basingstoke and Deane will follow in due course.

4. Basingstoke Quality Bus Partnership - Route 3, Popley to South Ham

4.1 Bus stop infrastructure and information improvements will be introduced on route 3 in 2006 at a cost of £200,000. Improvements will include raised boarding kerbs, bus stop clearways, new high quality bus stop poles with integrated information displays and, where required, new bus shelters.

4.2 Real-time Passenger Information displays will be provided at the busiest stops. Low-floor accessible buses have recently been introduced to the route. Strong patronage growth is anticipated. The project was approved by the Executive Member for Environment: North Hampshire and Spatial Strategy in July 2005. It is anticipated that works will commence in spring 2006.

5. Community Transport

5.1 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.

5.2 Funding has been provided to replace one of the existing minibuses operated by Basingstoke Community Transport Scheme. The vehicle is being funded through the Local Transport Plan Capital programme and form part of the County Council's overall approach for supporting and developing community transport schemes in Hampshire.

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

6. Rail Update

Greater Western Franchise

6.1 FirstGroup plc has recently been appointed franchise holder for the Greater Western Franchise for 10 years from 1st April 2006. Hampshire's interest is in the Portsmouth/Brighton to Cardiff, Basingstoke to Reading, and the Reading to Gatwick services. The franchise is subject to review after the seventh year.

6.2 A draft timetable, to come into effect in December 2006, has been published as a consultation document by First Great Western. So far as the Basingstoke-Reading service is concerned, little change is proposed. The hourly fast service will continue to be provided by Virgin CrossCountry and First's half-hourly frequency of stopping services throughout the day will remain, at xx.07 and xx.37 mins past each hour from Basingstoke, and xx.06 and xx.36 from the Reading end, both very similar to the current timetable.

6.3 The proposals are for an earlier finish to the day, with last trains from Basingstoke at 23.30 (instead of 00.07 currently) and from Reading at 23.23 (instead of 23.38 currently). The first train, at 05.38 from Reading to Basingstoke, does not appear in the proposed timetable, but there is an additional service from Reading to Basingstoke in late evening, compared with the present timetable, achieved by compressing the intervals between trains.

Basingstoke-Reading

Currently: half-hourly to 20.37, then 21.07, 21.37, 22.07, 23.07, 00.07

Proposed: half-hourly to 20.37, then 21.10, 21.45, 22.20, 22.55, 23.30

Reading-Basingstoke

Currently: half-hourly to 21.08, then 21.38, 22.38, 23.38

Proposed: half-hourly to 21.06, then 21.38, 22.13, 22.48, 23.23

6.4 In its response to the consultation, the County Council will press for restitution of the previous last departures.

6.5 The South Western Franchise is the key franchise for Hampshire's rail services. A new ten year franchise starts in February 2007, subject to review after the seventh year. The new franchise combines two existing franchises - South West Trains and Island Line.

6.6 Stakeholder consultation has been completed. A copy of the County Council's full response is available from the Passenger Transport Group on 01962 845492.

6.7 An Invitation to Tender will be issued in March 2006 to the five short-listed companies who have pre-qualified. Bidders have 90 days in which to submit their bids. The bidders are:

· Arriva Trains South West Limited (Arriva plc);

· First South Western Limited (FirstGroup plc);

· Great South Western Railway Company Limited (a joint venture between GNER holdings and MTR Corporation Limited of Hong Kong);

· Trafalgar Trains Limited (National Express Group plc); and

· Stagecoach South Western Trains Limited (Stagecoach Group plc - the incumbent).

6.8 The decision on the successful franchisee by Department for Transport is expected in autumn 2006.

6.9 The ITT provides for the current SWT train service, with a few exceptions, to remain in force until the December 2007 timetable change, following which the successful franchisee will have flexibility to vary the timetable within certain parameters laid down by the DfT.

6.10 In parallel with the franchise process, Network Rail has been given the task of preparing capacity assessments of the rail network on a route by route basis, to determine the optimum utilisation level for the existing infrastructure and to consider where investment to improve capacity could most advantageously be applied. These assessments are known as Route Utilisation Strategies (RUS). Consultation has recently been undertaken on the RUS for the South Western Main Line. Once input from consultees has been evaluated, a definitive version will be published by the Office for Rail Regulation (ORR). A copy of the County Council's response is available from the Passenger Transport Group on 01962 845492.

6.11 The key points which the County Council made in its responses to these two consultations were:

(i) opposition to a proposal to truncate the Romsey-Totton via Chandler's Ford service at Eastleigh;

(ii) desire to retain a Basingstoke to Brighton through service;

(iii) support for increasing clearances on the routes between Southampton Docks and the Midlands to enable taller containers to be carried on standard height wagons;

(iv) support for the examination of radical solutions such as double-deck trains in order to address growth predictions;

(v) need for a half-hourly frequency of stopping services between Portsmouth and Southampton off-peak; and

(vi) support for timetable accelerations, especially on the Alton line Station improvements. It is envisaged the annual match-funded rolling programme agreed between the County Council and train operators will continue whichever company secures the South Western franchise, which encompasses the vast majority of stations in the county.

6.12 New vandal-proof waiting shelters will be provided in 2006/07 at Portchester, Bedhampton and Warblington. The programme of cycle storage provision (hoops and lockers) at stations will be continued where unsatisfied demand is identified.

6.13 `Welcome Boards' branded with the county logo and listing the facilities available at each station, together with local maps and Helpline numbers, are being installed at all stations. The programme for SWT stations is now complete. Stations on the future GW franchise and on Southern Railway will be so equipped by the end of 2006. These comprise Dean, Dunbridge, Romsey, Bramley, Farnborough North, Blackwater, Warblington and Emsworth. The design is such as to facilitate possible change of franchisee.

Station Car Parks

6.14 In its response to the South West franchise consultation the County Council expressed the view that the issue of increasing car park capacity on a selective basis must be seriously addressed if there is to be any capacity provided to cater for off-peak travel and expressed its willingness to work with Network Rail and franchisees to this end. At the same time it considered that franchisees could be required to implement such measures as car-sharing incentives.

Bus/Rail Integration

6.15 In its response to the franchise consultation, the County Council stressed the importance of developing further bus/rail links and suggested that a requirement be placed on bidders to come up with proposals for dedicated bus/rail links at particular stations which should be funded within the franchise. A bus link between Farnborough Main station and Yateley was specifically mentioned in this context.

Carriage of Cycles

6.16 SWT introduced its new Cycle Policy in October 2004. aimed at creating a better balance between the needs of peak hour passengers and cycle users. On the whole, less cycle-related problems have been referred to the Rail Officer than in previous months, as the policy has been implemented and understood by cyclists. The use of a different colour in the timetable to denote trains with cycle restrictions has been helpful. In some cases the attitude of SWT staff on the trains has helped, when they have ignored the marked two-cycle capacity of Class 450 units, for example between Southampton and Portsmouth.

Eurostar Beyond 2007

6.17 When Stage Two of the new Channel Tunnel Rail Link, from the Medway area to London St Pancras, is complete in 2007 Eurostar will concentrate all their services on St Pancras and withdraw completely from Waterloo International. There are operational advantages to the company in doing so, as without the need to serve Waterloo, the third rail electric equipment on the Eurostar trains can be removed.

6.18 This means that passengers from Hampshire and the rest of Waterloo's catchment area will be considerably inconvenienced by having to cross London on already congested Underground services to join Eurostar trains at St Pancras, or else travel from Waterloo East to Ashford International to connect there - a double change is required, compared with walking from one side of Waterloo station to the other.

6.19 The County Council had previously voiced its concern to the SRA about the threat to Waterloo services posed by the move to St Pancras and asked that a residual service to Waterloo be maintained after 2007. However, Eurostar is not franchised in the same way as other train operators and the SRA was unable to influence the decision in favour of the County Council.

6.20 A recent study commissioned by the DfT has recommended that the Eurostar platforms be retained for alternative rail use rather than sold off as a commercial development. Further studies will determine the most beneficial solution, which could involve transferring Windsor line services to the former international platforms, thereby freeing up other parts of the station, or using them for main line services (which could directly benefit Hampshire) or by treating them as an overspill to the South Eastern lines towards Kent. There are also thoughts of remodelling Waterloo itself to create additional track capacity, possibly involving longer platforms able to deal with longer trains.

New Stations

6.21 The County Council is progressing the proposal for a new station at Chineham on the Basingstoke-Reading line, which has already passed the initial operational feasibility hurdle. Laing Rail Projects have recently been commissioned to establish a business case and preliminary design specification for the Chineham station project, and this work will be undertaken in the first half of 2006. Long lead times are inevitable with projects of this nature, that frequently involve changes to infrastructure and signalling which are the responsibility of Network Rail.

6.22 Further south, work is being undertaken on examining the feasibility of making a case to re-open Marchwood station on the Waterside line.

7. Impact Assessments

7.1 This report provides a position statement only, therefore an impact assessment in terms of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act has not been undertaken.

Recommendation

That this report be noted.

856/AW