ITEM CMDT5
CABINET MEMBER FOR TRANSPORT – 8 JANUARY 2009
REVIEW OF FUNDING FOR CHERWELL DIAL-A-RIDE SERVICE FOR DISABLED AND MOBILITY-IMPAIRED PEOPLE
Report by Head of Transport
Introduction
1. This report invites the Cabinet Member for Transport to consider future funding for the dial-a-ride transport service currently funded jointly by Cherwell District Council and the County Council in the Cherwell District Council area. Oxfordshire County Council supports a number of dial-a-ride services which provide pre-booked door-to-door transport using fully accessible vehicles for people with mobility impairments who could not easily use conventional public transport. Current County Council and Cherwell District Council funding arrangements for dial-a-ride services come to an end on 31 March 2009.
2. The Dial-a-Ride services currently under consideration comprise the Banburyshire Community Transport Association (BCTA) services serving the towns and rural hinterland of Banbury, Bicester and Kidlington.
3. For this review a joint consultation has been carried out in conjunction with Cherwell District Council (CDC), encompassing all the Parish Councils in Cherwell District, relevant County Councillors, as well as Transport For All, the Oxfordshire Rural Community Council, Bus Users UK and the local Member of the Youth Parliament. Specific responses are summarised in the report and copies of all consultation responses have been deposited in the Members’ Resource Centre.
Cherwell Dial-a-Ride
4. Banburyshire Community Transport Association operates services throughout Cherwell District, largely with support from Cherwell District Council. Oxfordshire County Council has for a number of years funded a Thursday Dial-a-Ride service in the Banbury ‘urban’ area and a Friday Dial-a-Ride service in the Kidlington ‘urban’ area. When these services were last reviewed in December 2005, it was further agreed to enter into an additional agreement with Cherwell District Council to jointly support the re-instatement of services in the Kidlington ‘rural’ and Bicester ‘rural’ areas that had, at one time, been funded by the Oxfordshire Rural Transport Partnership and which had ceased operating in March 2004.
5. The present situation is that a dial-a-ride is provided in the Banbury ‘urban’ area with two vehicles, Mondays to Fridays. Of these ten bus-days per week, Cherwell District Council pays for nine and the tenth (one vehicle on Thursdays) is funded by Oxfordshire County Council. A dial-a-ride is provided in the Kidlington ‘urban’ area on Thursdays and Fridays using one vehicle. Cherwell District Council pays for this service on Thursdays whilst Oxfordshire County Council pays for it on Fridays. A dial-a-ride service is operated in the Bicester ‘urban’ area on Mondays and Thursdays. This service is paid for entirely by Cherwell District Council.
6. In the ‘rural’ hinterlands surrounding Banbury, Bicester and Kidlington the pattern is also somewhat complex. The Banbury ‘rural’ area is served on Mondays to Thursdays (and is entirely funded by Cherwell District Council), the Bicester ‘rural’ area is served on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays and the Kidlington ‘rural’ area is served on Mondays to Thursdays. These last two services are jointly funded by Cherwell District Council and the County Council.
7. This represents the addition of a Monday and Tuesday service to the Banbury ‘rural’ area since the last review; the addition of a Wednesday to the Bicester ‘rural’ area and a significant boost to the Kidlington ‘rural’ service, which had operated on alternate Wednesdays only.
Service Usage
8. Figures for the Banbury ‘urban’ service provided by BCTA show an overall decline in usage (28,899 passenger journeys in 2006/07; 24,148 in 2007/08; 11,342 for the first six months of 2008/09) matched by a decline in usage of the Thursday service (which is the day part-funded by the County Council), which showed a decline from 6,255 passenger journeys on this day in 2002/03 to 5,346 in 2004/05, 4,476 by 2006/07 and 3,862 passenger journeys on this day in 2007/08. The cost to the County Council of its support for the Banbury dial-a-ride service in 2007/08 was £9,448.17. This therefore represented a cost per passenger journey of £4.89 (taking 50% of the total passenger journeys undertaken on this day). The cost to the County Council currently is £9,779.80 (for financial year 2008/09). The figure for the first six months of 2008/09 has been 1,736 passenger journeys. Assuming that the passenger journeys undertaken for the first six months of the year are representative of the year as a whole, this will represent a cost per passenger journey of £5.63 to the County Council. These figures compare favourably with other similar services funded by the County Council and represent good value for money for a service of this type. However, officers have noted the long-term sustained decline in passenger numbers and the consequent increase in the cost per passenger journey since the BCTA services were last surveyed.
9. In recent years there has been a substantial increase in the proportion of local bus journeys provided by low-floor accessible buses and driven by drivers who have passed through a County Council-accredited course in Disability Awareness Training. It is possible that such factors may have had some bearing on the reduced demand for BCTA services.
10. Overall, for the Banbury service, shopping accounts for 59% of all journeys, day centres 12%, social and lunch clubs 17%, surgeries and hospital visits 5% and other destinations in the area 7%. The number of members registered for the Banbury service as at 31 October 2008 is stated as 1,151.
11. Figures for the Friday Kidlington ‘town’ service provided by BCTA show a long-term reduction in usage, with a decline from 2,010 passenger journeys in 2002/03 to 1,529 passenger journeys in 2004/05, 1,570 journeys in 2006/07 and 1,281 journeys in 2007/08. The cost to the County Council of its support for the Kidlington dial-a-ride service in 2007/08 was £6,771.24. This therefore represented a cost per passenger journey of £5.29 and represents a deterioration from the cpj of £4.17 in 2004/05. However, this still represents good value for money for this type of service.
12. The figure for the first six months of 2008/09 has been 580 passenger journeys. Assuming that the passenger journeys undertaken for the first six months of the year are representative of the year as a whole, this will represent a cost per passenger journey of £6.04 to the County Council.
13. The Bicester ‘rural’ and Kidlington ‘rural’ services generated 1,575 passenger journeys in 2007/08 ascribed to County Council funding. At a cost to the County Council of £6,520.15 in that year, this represented a cost per passenger journey of £4.14.
14. The figure for the first six months of 2008/09 has been 757 passenger journeys. Assuming that the passenger journeys undertaken for the first six months of the year are representative of the year as a whole, this will represent a cost per passenger journey of £4.46 to the County Council.
15. Officers suggest that the time has come for work to be undertaken with BCTA and Cherwell District Council to identify ways of improving patronage on BCTA dial-a-ride services, or of re-casting the pattern of services provided to more closely align with identified client transport needs.
16. BCTA assert that their services are valued by their passengers, the majority of whom would not be able to travel into the main shopping areas as frequently as they do without BCTA’s services. BCTA drivers are trained to look after the elderly and infirm and eight of the fleet of nine mini-buses are equipped for wheelchair use. The service is used consistently and extensively by the mobility-impaired populations of the areas served. The centres of Banbury, Bicester and Kidlington benefit from the drawing-in of people to use the shops, banks and other services available to them within the towns, but this is at least equalled by the social benefit to the elderly and mobility-impaired of using the day centres and lunch clubs of the towns on a regular basis.
Consultation
17. Replies to the consultation have been received from 13 Parish and Town Councils and Parish Transport Representatives, as well as from Transport For All (the county-wide consultative body representing disabled and mobility-impaired people in relation to transport matters). All responses bar one have been generally positive about the BCTA dial-a-rides and wish to see them continue and develop. The exception was that from Wroxton & Balscote Parish Council, which felt that only one person in their parish used the BCTA service and that other parish residents made use of the regular bus service between Stratford and Banbury.
18. A number of respondents suggested that better publicity of the BCTA dial-a-ride service would bring benefits and some parishes offered to assist in this process. A poster suitable for parish notice-boards was produced and made available via a Parish Transport Representatives’ meeting. Officers also produced a template for a parish magazine article that could be tailored to specific parishes. This was taken up by Stoke Lyne, Mixbury and Bodicote Parish Councils.
19. Banbury Town Council made a very full and detailed response to the consultation, suggesting that the economy of Banbury benefited from the number of people who were brought into the town on the Dial-a-Ride service, and praised the way that the dial-a-ride contributed to the town’s accessibility to disabled and elderly people. Banbury Town Council reported that Cherwell District Council had undertaken a survey of 500 concessionary bus pass-holders and 500 concessionary fares token-users. Whilst the survey had not been directly about Dial-a-Ride services, the opportunity had been taken to canvass opinion on whether or not the council should continue to support it. The results showed that 98% of bus-pass users surveyed and 93% of token users surveyed felt that the council should continue to support the dial-a-ride service. Feedback in the comments box on the survey showed that the dial-a-ride was regarded as a very valuable service for those that needed it.
20. Transport For All responded to the consultation by stating that they consider that “BCTA runs a very well-organised scheme”, which is “flexible and accommodating towards all users of the service”. TFA felt strongly that the service should continue but had no suggestions on how the service might be improved.
21. Full details of all responses are available in the Members’ Resource Centre.
Financial and Staff Implications
22. Banburyshire Community Transport Association is seeking the continuation of the existing Oxfordshire County Council support for the one bus-day per week in Banbury ‘town’ and Kidlington ‘town’. The amount sought from the County Council for the continuation of these two bus-days would be £16,000.00 (£7,000 for Banbury and £9,000 for Kidlington) (for financial year 2009/10) + annual increments for inflation. This represents a reduction in the current level of grant paid for these two services.
23. Cherwell District Council has asked for the County Council to continue the joint-funding approach to maintain the ‘lost’ capacity formerly funded by the Oxfordshire Rural Transport Partnership (ORTP) – in other words to keep the extra day in the Kidlington ‘rural’ and Bicester ‘rural’ areas. The total subsidy required to maintain this element of service has been costed by BCTA at £18,000 per annum. It is proposed that this sum be split 50:50 between Cherwell District Council and Oxfordshire County Council. The cost to Oxfordshire County Council of these two additional ‘rural’ days is currently £6,749.01 per annum, with annual increases for inflation. The increase in the funding requirement for this service is because Cherwell District Council has in effect been paying more than a 50% share of the cost since April 2006, since it was putting in an extra £4,500 per annum representing their former contribution towards the service when it was mainly funded by the ORTP. Cherwell District Council is no longer able to commit to paying this extra contribution to these two services.
24. The total cost of current Oxfordshire County Council support to BCTA currently amounts to £23,537.72. The total cost of the recommendations below amounts to £25,000.00.
25. Funding is available within the Public Transport Policy budget which could be used to cover the required sum.
26. No staff implications have been identified.
RECOMMENDATION
27. The Cabinet Member for Transport is RECOMMENDED to:
(a) pay Banburyshire Community Transport Association Ltd. £7,000.00 (with annual adjustments for inflation) to secure the continuation of the Thursday Dial-a-Ride service in the Banbury ‘urban’ area and £9,000 (with annual adjustments for inflation) to secure the continuation of the Friday Dial-a-Ride service in the Kidlington ‘urban’ area for a period of three years commencing 1 April 2009;
(b) pay Banburyshire Community Transport Association Ltd. £9,000.00 (with annual adjustments for inflation) to secure the continuation of a weekly Dial-a-Ride service in the Kidlington ‘rural’ and Bicester ‘rural’ areas for a period of three years commencing 1 April 2009, subject to Cherwell District Council agreeing to match this level of funding for these two services; and
(c) ask officers to work with BCTA and with Cherwell District Council to identify ways of improving patronage on BCTA dial-a-ride services, or of re-casting the pattern of services provided to more closely align with identified client transport needs.
STEVE HOWELL Head of Transport
Background papers: Correspondence with service providers and stakeholders (refer to contact officer)
Contact Officer: Neil Timberlake. Tel: Oxford 815585
November 2008
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