Archived decisions

Hampshire County Council

Executive Member - Environment

22 August 2007

Bus Subsidy Budget - Savings Plan
Amendments

Report of the Director of Environment

Item 1

Contact: Andy Berncastle, ext 6389 email: [email protected]

1. Summary

1.1 This report sets out further analysis on the potential impacts of withdrawing subsidy for several services following the decision meeting on 24 July and recommends appropriate action. It also presents an update on funding, including contributions from district councils, and other developments in the light of consultation.

1.2 The aim of the changes to bus services is to achieve savings of £495,000 per annum by 2008/09, required in the County Council's budget strategy, whilst maintaining the greatest accessibility within budget.

2. Recommendation

2.1 That the following list of changes to funding for bus services, as detailed in the report, be approved, which alter the 24 July 2007 decision on bus subsidies. The full set of changes and revisions are set out in the appendix.

Operator and Service No.	Route	Days/times	Alteration
Stagecoach 69	Winchester-Bishops Waltham-Fareham	Sunday	Reduced Timetable
First 88A	Gosport-Rowner-Fareham	Sunday Evenings	No change (ie withdraw)
First 34	Fareham-Lee-Gosport	Weekday Evenings	Maintain early evening service
Stagecoach 31	Havant-Hayling Island	Weekday Evenings	Maintain service
First 80B	Fareham-Titchfield-Southampton	Weekday Evenings	Maintain early evening service
Stagecoach 5	Winchester-Badger Farm	Weekday Evenings	Maintain 2005 hours journey

3. Introduction

3.1 On 24 July 2007 the Executive Member for Environment approved the withdrawal of funding from a range of supported bus services to achieve the savings target. Four services were identified for further work with the prospect that the decision may need to be amended at a further meeting to be arranged. This report makes recommendations on their future and presents an update on other services and outcomes from 24 July and subsequent developments.

3.2 The appendix contains the full list of services considered on 24 July, some of which will not now be affected.

4. Services Affected

4.1 The four services identified for further work are detailed below.

Stagecoach Service 69, Winchester-Bishops Waltham-Fareham, on Sundays

4.2 This service provides the only public transport on Sundays for Twyford, Colden Common, Upham, Bishops Waltham, Swanmore, Waltham Chase, Shedfield and Wickham. It also serves Marwell Zoo and provides an inter-urban link between its termini. Usage is reasonable on most journeys, operating generally every two hours. Rather than withdraw the service, it is now proposed that a reduced service, roughly every three hours and with an earlier finish, be provided. This would reduce the saving from £18,841 to £7,841 per year.

First Service 88A, Gosport-Rowner-Fareham, on Sunday evenings

4.3 High levels of deprivation in Rowner make the community more reliant than most on public transport. However, First's commercial Services 85 and 86 will continue to operate on Sunday evenings along Rowner Road. Although this is some 1.2 miles from the furthest part of the estate, most houses are within one mile of this alternative. It is therefore recommended that subsidy be withdrawn; it is understood that the operator will withdraw the service. That outcome would be consistent with pockets of high deprivation in rural areas, which are already much less well served by public transport, and more isolated, than Rowner. This realises a saving of £2,000 per year as previously envisaged.

First Service 34, Fareham - Lee-on-the-Solent - Gosport, on weekday evenings

4.4 This service carries reasonable numbers of passengers in the early evening but fewer after around 2100 hours. Its loss would leave Lee and Stubbington without evening services to and from Fareham and with a minimal service to and from Gosport. It is therefore recommended that the subsidy for the following journeys be maintained, on Mondays to Saturdays:

1838 and 1938 Fareham-Lee-Gosport

1855 and 1955 Gosport-Lee-Fareham.

This would reduce savings from £17,000 to £9,000 per year.

Stagecoach Services 30/31, Havant-Hayling Island, on weekday evenings

4.5 These buses provide the only public transport for the isolated community of Hayling Island in the evenings. They carry a mixed clientele, including some workers; there is insufficient employment on Hayling Island for its population. Walking is not a reasonable alternative, given that most passengers are travelling four to five miles. Reasonable numbers of passengers travel, such that a shared taxi service would be no cheaper to support. It is recommended that funding be maintained but that usage be closely monitored. This would relinquish a saving of £20,250.

5. Funding by Other Authorities

5.1 All 11 district councils have been asked whether they wish to make funding available to maintain any of the services for which support would cease, on the basis of the previous report. Eight have either confirmed that they will not do so or have not responded. The remaining three are as follows:

(i) Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council has agreed to provide funding of some £130,000, to maintain all the services concerned in its area for one year from 1 October 2007, on condition that a comprehensive review is carried out of all spending on public transport in its area by both authorities.

(ii) Eastleigh Borough Council has agreed to provide funding of some £33,000 per year from 1 October 2007 to maintain almost all of the services concerned in its area.

(iii) Rushmoor Borough Council has agreed to provide funding of £3,450 to maintain Services 1, 2 and 3 on Sunday evenings in the Blackwater Valley until 31 March 2008 while the Borough Council considers alternatives.

6. Other Issues and Financial Summary

6.1 Discussions with First on Service 34, and local representations, highlighted a possible inconsistency, in that Service 80B, Fareham-Titchfield-Southampton on weekday evenings, also carries reasonable numbers of passengers in the early part of the evening. Hence it is recommended that support for the 1930 bus from Fareham and the 2030 from Southampton continue, on Mondays to Saturdays. This would reduce the saving from £16,720 to £10,640 per year. First will provide, commercially, a new journey on Service 96 at 2030 from Fareham to Highlands, in partial replacement for the present supported 2030 Service 80B from Fareham to Southampton.

6.2 In Winchester, representations have highlighted the good use made of the Stagecoach Service 5 bus to Badger Farm and back on Mondays to Fridays at 2005. Retention of support for this is therefore recommended, as the operator, Stagecoach, will not maintain it without subsidy. This would reduce the saving from £2,390 to £1,040 per year.

6.3 Continuing discussions with operators and close review of all supported services in the light of Area Reviews may yield some further savings. Since July 2007 some £31,000 per year of savings have been achieved in this way. The following summary shows that the savings listed in the attached appendix now fall short of the target of £495,000. However, the £31,000 of windfall savings mean that the £495,000 target will be achieved. At the present time there are no other known cost pressures on the bus subsidy budget for 2007/08.

7. Summary of Savings Detailed in Appendix

Sunday services 96,108

Weekday evening services 244,952

Weekday daytime services 123,363

Total 464,423

8. Impact Assessments

8.1 It is considered that the actions outlined above should not have any detrimental impact on equalities or race discrimination.

8.2 The area reviews showed that, for a given level of funding, travel needs for different groups at different times of day could be best met by concentrating expenditure on the main day-time services, when most users, of all ages, with or without disabilities, travel for the majority of journey purposes.

8.3 The County Council is specifically required to have regard to the needs of elderly and disabled passengers. Such people tend to travel less in the evenings. It is considered that the mix of services proposed for withdrawal safeguards their interests as far as practicable within the available budget.

9. Conclusion

9.1 By implementing the measures outlined above the 2007/08 and 2008/09 local bus support budgets will be balanced.

This proposal does not link to the Corporate Strategy but, nevertheless, requires a decision in order to meet the authority's commitment to social care for elderly people.


Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background papers

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

NB the list excludes:

1.	Published works.

2.	Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.

TITLE

LOCATION

Correspondence with bus operators, other local authorities and members of the public, and notes of telephone conversations, etc.

Environment Department

Passenger Transport Group

1449Rpt/AB

APPENDIX

Services Approved or Proposed for Withdrawal of Subsidy

Sunday Services

Operator and Service No.	Service	Original Annual Saving	Average Passengers per Bus Journey Affected	*Update and Commencing Date*	*Revised Annual Saving*
First Service 29/30	Gosport-Haslar (will continue commercially)	£250	0	None (30.09.07)	£250
First Service 45B	Portsmouth-Cosham-Hambledon	£8,000	6.8	None (02.09.07)	£8,000
Wilts and Dorset Service 56	Southampton-Lyndhurst-Lymington	£15,200	9.5	May be retained using alternative funding (30.09.07)	£15,200
Stagecoach Service 69	Winchester- Bishops Waltham-Fareham	£18,841	16.8	Reduced timetable, approx every three hours (28.10.07)	£7,841
Solent Blue Line Bluestar 2	Southampton-Eastleigh-Fair Oak (reduce to hourly)	£21,000	21.0	EBC will fund hourly evening service; to be reviewed in March 2008. Operator will maintain half-hourly day-time service commercially (02.09.07)	£21,000
Stagecoach Service 39 (Early morning and evening)	Havant- Wecock Farm	£5,222	14.0	None (28.10.07)	£5,222
First Service 96	Fareham-Highlands-Thorni Avenue	£2,000	5.8	None (30.09.07)	£2,000


Sunday Evenings Only
Operator and Service No.	Service	Original Annual Saving	Average Passengers per Bus Journey Affected	*Update and Commencing Date*	*Revised Annual Saving*
Stagecoach Service 1 Withdraw after 1915 hrs Stagecoach Service 2 Withdraw after 1915 hrs Stagecoach Service 3 Withdraw after 1915 hrs Stagecoach Service 5 Withdraw after 1915 hrs Stagecoach Service 6 Withdraw after 1915 hrs Stagecoach Service 7 Withdraw after 1915 hrs Stagecoach Service 8 Withdraw after 1915 hrs	Hatch Warren-Basingstoke-Chineham Brighton Hill-Basingstoke-Baughurst East Popley-Basingstoke- South Ham Basingstoke-North Hampshire Hospital Basingstoke-Winklebury Basingstoke-Black Dam East Oakley-Basingstoke-Old Basing	£11,200	6.0	BDBC will fund for 12 months from 1 Oct 2007	£11,200
Stagecoach Service 1/2/3 Withdraw after 1915 hrs	Aldershot-Farnborough-Camberley-Yateley	£6,900	9.0	RBC will fund for six months from 1 Oct 2007, pending its review of alternatives	£6,900
First Service 34 Withdraw after 1900 hrs	Fareham-Lee-Gosport	£2,200	3.9	None (30.09.07)	£2,200


Operator and Service No.	Service	Original Annual Saving	Average Passengers per Bus Journey Affected	*Update and Commencing Date*	*Revised Annual Saving*
First Service 72 Withdraw after 1948 hrs	Southampton- Locks Heath-Gosport	£850	10.0	None (30.09.07)	£850
First Service 88A Withdraw after 1900 hrs	Gosport-Rowner-Fareham	£2,000	4.7	None (30.09.07)	£2,000
Stagecoach Service 30/31 Withdraw after 1850 hrs	Havant- Hayling Island	£2,000	6.0	None (28.10.07)	£2,000
First Service 79 Withdraw after 1755 hrs	Southampton- Locks Heath	£630	3.9	None (30.09.07)	£630
Stagecoach Service 1 Withdraw after 1815 hrs Stagecoach Service 5 Withdraw after 1815 hrs Stagecoach Service 6 Withdraw after 1815 hrs	Stanmore-Winchester-Harestock Badger Farm-Winchester-Winnall Winchester- Springvale	£9,315	2.0	None (28.10.07)	£9,315
First Service 16/17A Withdraw after 1930 hrs	Southampton- Hamble	£500	8.6	EBC will fund (but not the 23.06 17A) from 2 Sept 2007	£500
Operator and Service No.	Service	Original Annual Saving	Average Passengers per Bus Journey Affected	*Update and Commencing Date*	*Revised Annual Saving*
Wilts & Dorset Service 121 (summer) Withdraw after 1900 hrs	Lymington-New Milton-Bournemouth	£1,000	6.5	Renegotiated but service unaffected	£1,000
		Sundays TOTAL £107,108		*Sundays TOTAL* *£96,108*

Weekday Evenings


Operator and Service No.	Service	Annual Saving	Average Passengers per Bus Journey Affected	*Update and Commencing Date*	*Revised Annual Saving*
Stagecoach Service 5 Withdraw after 1915 hrs Stagecoach Service 7 Withdraw after 1915 hrs	Basingstoke- North Hampshire Hospital Basingstoke- Black Dam	£21,490	5.0 3.0	BDBC will fund for 12 months from 1 Oct 2007	£21,490
Stagecoach Service 8 Withdraw after 1915 hrs	East Oakley-Basingstoke- Old Basing	£27,500	8.0	BDBC will fund for 12 months from 1 Oct 2007	£27,500
Stagecoach Service 18 Withdraw after 1915 hrs	Aldershot-Haslemere	£36,731	20.0	None (03.09.07)	£36,731
First Service 45 Withdraw Fri/Sat journeys after 1930 hrs	Portsmouth-Cosham-Hambledon	£17,000	5.7	None (03.09.07)	£17,000
Solent Blue Line Service C Withdraw after 1915 hrs	Eastleigh-Hiltingbury	£14,900	3.6	EBC will fund from 2 Sept 2007	£14,900
First Service 34	Fareham-Lee-Gosport	£17,000	9.8	1838 and 1938 from Fareham and 1855 and 1955 from Gosport will continue (01.10.07)	£9,000
First Service 80B	Fareham-Titchfield-Southampton	£16,720	8.2	1930 from Fareham and 2030 from Southampton will continue and see next entry (01.10.07)	£10,640
First Service 93/95	Fareham Highlands Circular	£4,000	2.2	1815 will continue commercially. New commercial journey at 2030 to Highlands (01.10.07)	£4,000
Stagecoach Service 76	Andover-Whitchurch-Basingstoke	£23,130	11.6	BDBC will fund for 12 months from 1 Oct 2007	£23,130
Wilts and Dorset Service X3 Renegotiated but unaffected	Salisbury-Fordingbridge-Ringwood-Bournemouth	£15,106	0	None (01.10.07)	£15,106
Stagecoach Service 69 Withdraw after 1940 hrs	Winchester- Bishops Waltham-Fareham	£13,670	3.7	None (29.10.07)	£13,670
First Service 16/17A	Southampton-Hamble	£12,800	8.1	EBC will fund from 2 Sept 2007	£12,800
Wilts and Dorset Service 121	Lymington-New Milton-Bournemouth	£1,710	7.2	Renegotiated but unaffected	£1,710
Stagecoach Service 30/31	Havant- Hayling Island	£20,250	8.4	Service to continue	Nil
Stagecoach Service 39	Havant- Wecock Farm	£21,675	10.9	None (29.10.07)	£21,675
Stagecoach Service 1 Reduce to hourly	Stanmore-Winchester-Harestock	£14,560	4.2	None (29.10.07)	£14,560
Stagecoach Service 5 Withdraw 2005 and 2105 journeys	Badger Farm-Winchester	£2,390	11.0 (but hourly frequency remains)	2005 journey to continue on Mondays to Fridays (29.10.07)	£1,040
		TOTAL £280,632	*TOTAL £244,952*

Weekday Day-times


Operator and Service No.	Service	Original Annual Saving		Average Passengers per Bus Journey Affected	Alternative Services	*Update and Commencing Date*	*Revised Annual Saving*
Stagecoach Service 13 Reduce in School Holidays Stagecoach Service 72 Reduce in School Holidays	Alton-Liphook Alton-Petersfield	£8,600		4.0	Reduced frequency would mean that off-peak passengers would have a lesser choice of return times	None (20.12.07)	£8,600
Stagecoach Service 44 Withdraw some off-peak journeys	Basingstoke- Bramley-Tadley	£9,400		3.0	Passengers on the sections of route served only by this service would have a lesser choice of return times	BDBC will fund for 12 months from 1 Oct 2007	£9,400
Stagecoach Service 9 Withdraw early morning journeys	Basingstoke-Lychpit	£4,630		13.0	Passengers travelling between Lychpit and Winklebury could travel via Basingstoke town centre and change buses	BDBC will fund for 12 months from 1 Oct 2007	£4,630
Stagecoach Service 9 Withdraw one am peak journey	Basingstoke-Lychpit	£16,330		31.0	Passengers travelling between Lychpit and Winklebury could travel via Basingstoke town centre and change buses	BDBC will fund for 12 months from 1 Oct 2007	£16,330
Stagecoach Service 12	Old Basing-Chineham	£15,996		11.0	Passengers from Old Basing would have to use Basingstoke town centre shops instead of Chineham centre	BDBC will fund for 12 months from 1 Oct 2007	£15,996
Stagecoach Service 6A	Winchester- Abbotts Barton	£10,747		6.5	Passengers could walk up to half a mile to access Service 6 ('The Spring') and a limited alternative may be offered on the current route	None (29.10.07)	£10,747
Stagecoach Service 46 Withdraw four off-peak journeys	Winchester-Valley Park-Southampton		£28,670	10.1	Passengers could travel one hour earlier or later	Saturday savings defined (29.10.07)	£30,470
Stagecoach Service 67 Withdraw four off-peak journeys	Winchester- Cheriton- Petersfield		£4,090	14.0	Passengers could travel up to one hour earlier or later	None (29.10.07)	£4,090
Wilts and Dorset Service 56 Withdraw experimental journey	Lyndhurst-Lymington		£12,800	1.2	No alternative - only one or two passengers use this journey	None. (29.10.07)	£12,800
Wilts and Dorset Service 121 Withdraw one morning off-peak journey	New Milton-Lymington		£10,300	6.5	Passengers on one journey would have to travel one hour later	None. (01.10.07)	£10,300
			TOTAL £121,56333		*TOTAL £123,363*

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