ITEM EX13E
EXECUTIVE
– 4 SEPTEMBER 2002
BUS
SUBSIDIES
Report
by the Director of Environmental Services
Introduction
- This report
and the associated Annexes deal with the following public transport
items which need decisions by the Executive:
Section
A – Review of Subsidised Bus Services in the Witney, Burford
and Carterton areas;
Section
B – Provision of New Bus Services from Two Park and Ride Sites
to Various Headington (Oxford) Hospitals;
Section C
– Commercial Withdrawal of Bus Services;
Section
D – Changes in arrangements for subsidised services;
- Background
information on all of these items is included in Annex
1.
Annex 2 (dowload as .rtf
file) contains a summary of consultation responses. Confidential
information on prices of existing short-term contracts (section
C) is included in Supplementary Exempt Annex 3, which will be
circulated prior to the meeting.
- Tender prices
obtained for contracts specified in all four sections will be
contained in a Supplementary Exempt Annex 4, to be circulated
later.
Reasons
for Exempt Annexes
- Financial
information associated with this report (in Annexes 3 and 4) is
exempt because its discussion in public might lead to the disclosure
to members of the public present of the amount of expenditure
proposed to be incurred by the County Council under particular
contracts for the supply of services. All prices must be treated
as strictly confidential until such time as the Executive decides
whether or not to provide financial support for each service.
Revealing operators’ prices before then would prejudice the Council’s
position if tenders or propositions have to be sought again for
any of these services.
Financial
Position
- The current
position of the Council’s bus subsidy budget (treating both Rural
Bus Subsidy Grant (RBSG) and Main Budget as one, in accordance
with recent practice) is as follows:
|
|
£000s
|
|
Main
budget 2002/3 (excluding carry-forward)
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2,049
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|
Carry-forward
from 2001/2
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165
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|
Main
budget 2002/3 – TOTAL
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2,214
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Total
RBSG for 2002/3
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1,355
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TOTAL
AVAILABLE 2002/3
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3,569
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- A certain
amount of extra funding is available in connection with this review.
The Council either has already, or will have access to certain
Section 106 developer contribution funding which either is to
be used or may be used for public transport services affecting
new developments. Details are given in the relevant sections of
this report.
- Existing
expenditure commitments are as follows:
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|
|
£000s
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Variance
|
|
(1a)
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Forecast
out-turn 2002/3 if not replaced when contracts end
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2,999
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-16%
|
|
(1b)
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Forecast
out-turn 2002/3 if all contracts replaced at prevailing
rate of price change
|
3,264
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-8.5%
|
|
(2)
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Current
annual rate of expenditure
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3,266
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-8.5%
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- This indicates
that there is scope for an increase in subsidy payments if necessary
to continue these services. Although this is the last major review
which will have any significant impact on this year’s finances,
the figures in (1a) take account of the operation of the former
Chiltern Queens’ contracts only until 9 February, as agreed by
the Executive at its meeting on 23 July. Some slack is desirable
to allow for the future of these services after that date as well
as any further withdrawals of commercial services or contract
surrenders, plus likely subsidy cost increases once the Information
Strategy is in force. The Executive will doubtless wish therefore
to avoid fully committing this budget at this stage in the financial
year.
Subsidy
Prices
- Tender prices
will not be available until shortly before the Executive meets,
and they will therefore be reported to the meeting separately
as Supplementary Exempt Annex 4 together with my recommendations.
Until all tender prices and "de minimis" propositions received
have been analysed, I will not know what the overall impact on
the public transport budget is likely to be. As agreed with the
previous Executive Member for Transport, local members will be
advised in advance of recommendations affecting their Divisions,
and any written comments received from them will be included in
Supplementary Exempt Annex 4, to be reported later.
- If further
support for any contract is not agreed at the meeting on 4 September
2002 (except where they have been replaced by alternative arrangements
or contracts), then the service or journey concerned will cease
after operation on Saturday 26 October 2002. The only exception
to this will be if a settlement will be left with no other form
of public transport. In any such cases, I shall recommend that
contract arrangements be extended until July 2003 to allow time
for alternatives such as car-sharing to be explored.
Section
A – Review of Subsidised Bus Services in the Witney, Carterton
and Burford Areas
- Subsidised
bus services in the Witney, Burford and Carterton areas are due
for their regular four-yearly review. Details of the services
concerned, together with details of the present subsidy cost and
any patronage data for each, and any particular requests received
from local Councils, are set out in
Annex 1.
- Earlier
this year Stagecoach Oxford announced the commercial withdrawal
of its services 11, 19 and X3. Under my delegated powers I arranged
for short-term replacement contracts to be introduced as from
10 February to run until 26 October. Stagecoach has now announced
that, after that date, it will once again operate service 11 on
a fully commercial basis and also one peak-hour journey in each
direction on service X3.
- One of the
contracts due for review is PT/W 35 (the Ramsden Village diversion).
This is operated as a diversion from Worth’s service 69 (Charlbury-Witney)
which is itself subsidised by Oxfordshire County Council (contract
PT/W 150), but which forms part of the Chipping Norton review.
The Chipping Norton area (including service 69) is next due for
review in 2003, and it would make more sense for both contracts
relating to this service to be reviewed together. The current
operator is prepared to extend the current contract for PT/W 35
on the same terms (currently £1,362 per annum) for one more year,
and I would propose that the Executive agrees to this course of
action.
- Where possible,
outstanding requests for additional journeys or services within
the review area have been incorporated in specifications. These
include both those that were placed on the "waiting list" by the
former Public Transport Sub-Committee and also requests made as
a result of the consultation with Parish, Town and District Councils
during this review. In this tender round, the following outstanding
"waiting list" requests have been included:
- Bus connections
at Hanborough station;
- A direct
service between Abingdon and Witney via Kingston Bagpuize and
Standlake;
- A service
between Woodstock and Kidlington.
- The following
additional requests have been received from those consulted during
the review process (name of requester in brackets), and have also
been included in tender specifications sent out:
- Daily
bus service between South Leigh and Witney (South Leigh Parish
Council);
- An improved
(daily) town service for Carterton, plus improved services to
serve new Health Centre, new housing development and the soon-to-be-opened
leisure centre (Carterton Town Council);
- Regular
services passing the Cotswold Wild Life Park (West Oxfordshire
District Council; Carterton Town Council);
- Restoration
of Saturday afternoon Witney town service (West Oxfordshire
District Council);
- Improved
(hourly) service Clanfield – Bampton – Standlake – Eynsham –
Oxford (Stanton Harcourt Parish Council).
- Officers
from Public Transport and Education Transport have checked thoroughly
for any opportunity to carry schoolchildren on public bus services,
as well as to integrate education and public transport contracts,
as recommended in the Best Value Review. Officers have been unable
to identify any additional opportunity to carry schoolchildren
on public bus services, but have identified three routes where
integration of contracts might be made. Tenders have therefore
been invited both on the basis of retaining the separate contracts
and of integrating them.
- Extensive
consultation has been carried out for this review and my officers
have in addition attended a number of meetings with representatives
of District, Town and Parish Councils. Furthermore West Oxfordshire
District Council has carried out its own extensive consultation
on this subject and shared its responses with the County Council.
As a result, a particularly useful set of response information
to this consultation has been obtained (summarised in Annex 2),
and West Oxfordshire District Council should be thanked for its
co-operation in this exercise. Copies of the full correspondence
have been deposited in the Members’ Resource Centre.
- A number
of responses have highlighted the increasing problem of travel
for young people living in rural communities in West Oxfordshire,
especially when trying to access towns such as Witney and Oxford
for evening entertainment. The requirement for return transport
at much later times of the evening/night has also been highlighted.
In such circumstances I am not convinced that subsidising standard
public transport provides the best answer in the long term, especially
when it is extremely difficult to persuade transport operators
to take on such contracts. My officers are therefore pursuing
with other agencies the possibility of suitable community transport
schemes which might help to alleviate this problem.
- Requests
for a bus service linking Abingdon and Witney have also been made
to the Oxfordshire Rural Community Council. As a result, TTR,
a firm of planning consultants, were commissioned via the Rural
Transport Partnerships Steering Group (of which Oxfordshire County
Council is a member) to carry out a full survey and report on
the practicalities of such a service. The full draft report has
just been received and a copy has been placed in the Members’
Resource Centre.
- Complementary
to the network of bus services in this area is the recent initiative
of the Standlake and Northmoor Community Bus, which operates a
shoppers’ service on Saturday from Standlake, Northmoor, Bablockhythe,
Hardwick and Stanton Harcourt. After an initial trial period,
the organisation decided to operate a regular weekly service and
requested a grant from the County Council. Acting under my delegated
authority, I awarded a grant of £700 towards the cost of operating
this community bus service for 12 months as from 1 September 2001.
The organisation has now requested support on the same basis for
a further 12-month period.
- Details
of this service, which caters also for those with mobility impairments
to enable them to travel to the Witney shops, are included in
Annex 1. My officers have indicated to the organisation that the
future of this service may well be affected by the decision about
the newly proposed Abingdon – Standlake – Witney bus service (see
contract specification no. PT/W 121). Neverthless this is a worthwhile
community self-help project and I would recommend that the Executive
continues funding this on the same basis until such time as the
service may become redundant. I propose funding this until 31
March 2004, to bring it into line with the review dates of other
community transport schemes which this authority supports.
- Finally,
when making decisions on the future of bus services in the Witney/Carterton/Burford
area, the Executive will need to bear in mind the major growth
in housing in both Witney and Carterton. The County Council has
secured Section 106 developer funding for transport measures in
connection with these new developments, although the majority
of the funding is earmarked for infrastructure measures. Nevertheless
a certain basic level of developer funding should be utilised
to enhance the County Council’s own subsidy towards public transport.
This should begin to meet the need to provide an adequate level
of service to encourage use of public transport in these areas.
Officers will advise further at the Executive meeting on the likely
level of funding available.
Section
B – Provision of New Bus Services from Two Park & Ride Sites
to Various Headington Hospitals
- The Oxfordshire
Local Transport Plan states (p. 135) that consolidation of hospital
activity and development activity associated with Oxford Brookes
University will place increased transport pressure on the Headington
and Marston area and, in turn, will demand improvements to public
transport in particular. The draft Headington and Marston Area
Transport Strategy (HAMATS) presented to the County Council’s
Executive on 5 March 2002 therefore highlights the need to improve
public transport to and from this area. It specifically notes
the need to provide a bus service to Headington from the new Water
Eaton Park and Ride car park.
- Extensive
consultation regarding bus services has been carried out with
key stakeholders in the area, including the Hospital Trusts and
Oxford Brookes University. These stakeholders see enhanced bus
services as being key to developing their Green Transport Plans,
complementing appropriate parking restrictions. Indeed these organisations
are, and may continue to be, sources of funding for the bus service
enhancements. Bus service improvements for Headington and Marston
have also been considered and endorsed in principle by the HAMATS
Steering Group at their meeting on 20 June 2002, and discussed
with the bus companies.
- It is recognised
that some bus service improvements can be obtained on a commercial
basis, such as the potential extension of the existing 35 service
to the John Radcliffe Hospital. However, others, including contracts
PT/0 20, PT/0 21 and PT/0 22 will require financial support. Section
106 monies for transport improvements, including bus measures,
have been paid over to the City Council from developments in the
area. While exact divisions of funding and payment schedules for
these monies still need to be agreed, it is understood that a
major contribution to these services will be made available. However,
there may also be a need for some support for them from the County
Council in the short to medium term. The extent to which this
is likely is not known at this time. Officers will advise further
on this issue at the Executive meeting.
- It is intended
that any new bus services operating to the new Water Eaton Park
and Ride are introduced at the same time as this site is opened
in November 2002. Any new service operating to the Thornhill Park
and Ride should be introduced at the same time as the expansion
in the number of parking spaces at this site in November 2002.
Section C - Commercial
Withdrawal of Bus Services
PT/O 4 Oxford –
Kidlington (The Moors)
- Following
the commercial withdrawal of Oxford Bus Company service 2D which
operated via The Moors, Kidlington, a short-term contract was
introduced from 2 April 2002 to provide a limited replacement
service. Since then surveys have been undertaken which show only
a low level of use for this replacement facility. Nevertheless
I have invited tenders in order to maintain this limited facility
to The Moors and have offered three options.
- Two of these
options also incorporate a service into Oxford’s Cutteslowe Estate
(Wren Road), which currently forms part of contract PT/O 2 (Thames
Travel service 103). When this latter contract was awarded to
take effect from 7 July, officers were asked to explore possible
alternative means to serve Cutteslowe in the light of concerns
expressed by the operator about future time-keeping on this section
of the route. If suitable propositions are received, this would
then resolve both issues.
PT/W
130 Diversion of Commercial Services via Wootton and Glympton
- Stagecoach
Oxford currently provides a regular commercial service (Mon-Sat)
between Oxford and Chipping Norton via Woodstock. This includes
certain journeys which divert off the main road to serve the villages
of Wootton and Glympton, mainly during the peak periods. The County
Council has funded the diversion on one off-peak journey (at approximately
midday) for some years under contract PT/W 36.
- The number
of buses serving the villages each day has varied considerably
over the past few years, reaching a maximum of four in each direction
during 1999. However, following a change to the Stagecoach commercial
operations in February 2002, the number of buses routed though
the villages reduced to two in each direction (one of which was
the supported journey mentioned above). This generated considerable
local concern, and the County Council received a dozen letters
on the subject from members of the public.
- Officers
held discussions with Stagecoach, as a result of which the company
was able to offer the diversion of two additional journeys via
Wootton and Glympton, subject to the County Council meeting the
cost of the diversion. This would result in a total of three buses
each way per day (Mon-Sat). This has been provided under a temporary
de minimis contract to replace these previously commercially
provided journeys. The Executive is recommended to agree that
this contract operates until October 2003 when it will be included
in the scheduled review of services in the Chipping Norton area.
Section
D – Changes in Arrangements for Subsidised Services
Premature
Surrender/Non-Continuation of Contracts
- The required
three months notice has been given by the current operators of
the following contracts to surrender them prematurely.
PT/C
7 Kineton (Warwicks) – Radway - Epwell - Shutford – Banbury
(Thur/Sat)
PT/V
72 Coleshill – Highworth - Swindon (Fri)
- There was
no time available to consult on these contracts. C 7 has been
offered for tender on the basis of the existing service. V 72
has been offered for tender both on the basis of the existing
service and also with variations. These are outlined in Annex
1. The prices obtained together with my recommendations will be
contained in Supplementary Exempt Annex 4 to be circulated later.
De Minimis
Contractual Arrangements
- A number
of County Council contracts covered by de minimis arrangements
have also been reviewed. Prices for contracts into which I have
already entered using my delegated powers are listed in Supplementary
Exempt Annex 3. The prices obtained for tendered contracts will
be contained in Supplementary Exempt Annex 4. It is recommended
that these operate until February 2003 to give officers time to
undertake a detailed review of the success of these experimental
services.
PT/S
73 West Hagbourne – Didcot, Wednesday only service
- The Executive
on 14 May 2002 noted that Tappin’s Coaches had prematurely surrendered
their contract for the above service with effect from 3 July 2002.
It decided that officers should pursue alternatives for West Hagbourne
and advise local members that this was the intention.
- Following
discussions with the Parish, a new contract has been entered into
under my delegated powers with Abingdon Minicoaches for one journey
in each direction between West Hagbourne and Didcot on Thursdays
(the change to the day of operation having been requested by the
Parish). This commenced on 11 July 2002. This contract is only
on a short-term basis while discussions continue with the Parish
regarding alternative facilities such as a shared taxi scheme
under the auspices of Oxfordshire Rural Community Council. These
discussions have not been very positive and the Executive is asked
to agree a termination date of 24th October in view
of the very high subsidy level for passengers.
De
Minimis Contracts Held by Thames Travel (Wallingford) Ltd
- The above
operator holds three de minimis contracts, which terminate
in October 2002. They cover a small number of additional journeys
on either supported or commercial services, mainly in the evenings.
The contracts concerned are:
PT/S
166 Late evening journeys between Wallingford and Goring Station,
(Circular route via Cholsey and Moulsford to Goring, returning
via South and North Stoke);
PT/S
170 Four individual journeys on service X39 including a.m.
peak bus Henley–Wallingford (Mon-Fri) and one evening journey
Wallingford–Oxford– Wallingford (Mon-Thur only – Friday and Saturday
operation is commercial);
PT/S
80 Two evening journeys in each direction between Henley and
Wallingford (Mon-Sat);
- Prices have
been sought from the operator to continue these journeys and the
outcome of these negotiations will be reported in Supplementary
Exempt Annex 4. It is recommended that these operate until February
2003 to give officers time to undertake a detailed review of the
success of these experimental services.
RECOMMENDATIONS
- The Executive
is RECOMMENDED to:
- note
the comments of Parish, Town and District Councils and
Parish Transport Representatives made in response to the
consultation exercise as part of the Witney Area Review;
- thank
West Oxfordshire District Council for its active assistance
in promoting the Review consultation;
- make
its decisions on subsidy for services described in this
report on the basis of the tender prices contained in
exempt Annex 4 to be reported subsequently;
- extend
current contract PT/W 35 (service 69 Ramsden Village diversion)
until 24 October 2003 and for this contract in future
to form part of the main service 69 review relating to
the Chipping Norton area;
- secure
the continuation of the weekly Standlake and Northmoor
Community Bus Service by a pro-rata payment of up to £700
per annum with an annual adjustment for inflation for
the period 7 September 2002 until 31 March 2004, this
decision to be the subject of further review, should an
Abingdon to Witney bus service be introduced;
- terminate
contract PT/S 73 on 24 October; and
- operate
contract PT/W 130 until 25 October 2003.
DAVID YOUNG
Director of Environmental Services
Background papers: Correspondence with local councils, public transport representatives and transport operators (refer to contact officer)
Contact
Officers: Alan Pope Tel. Oxford 815585, James Gagg Tel. Oxford
815655 (Section B)
August
2002
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