Agenda item

Forward Plan Ref: 2009/226

Contact: John Wood, Assistant Public Transport Officer(ITU) (01865 815802)

11:50am

Report by Head of Transport (TDC10E)

RESOLVED: that the public be excluded for the duration of item 10E since it is likely that if they were present during that item there would be disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended) and specified below in relation to that item and since it is considered that, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information on the grounds set out in that item.

Councillor Fooks welcomed the proposed support for Service 218 and Service 17 but asked whether further consideration could be given to adopting PT/02B Option 1 to provide a service in the return direction. She expressed regret at the loss of Service 206.

Councillor Sanders thanked officers for their work on Service 16 and welcomed proposed support for continuation of the Service.

Councillor Turner asked for clarification regarding the effects of inflation on the County Council’s bus subsidy budget and referred to the following specific services:

Service 4 and 4B  reiterating comments from Councillor Janet Godden.

Service 49  improve services to Kings Copse

Service 12 routeing

Service 9 reiterating support from Councillor Roz Smith for services to Risinghurst.

Service X41 he understood that there had been no consultation with either of the Parish Council public transport representatives and Benson, Ewelme and RAF Benson had not been aware of the change until the timetable had been produced.

Officers confirmed that proposals for Service 49A would mean adjustments to the days when the service ran but would not result in any loss of service for Kings Copse.

Service 206 (Waterways) usage of that service was nil and the only real option would have been to procure a bespoke service which would not have been affordable.

Service 17 – the current level of service would be maintained but Option 1 was not sustainable in terms of price.  Officers could investigate provision again but they recommended that the Cabinet Member proceed as recommended for the time being.

Service X41 – the withdrawal of the evening X41 had been a commercial decision by Thames Travel and therefore they were under no obligation to consult.

With regard to inflation officers advised that bus companies were paid an inflationary figure on the anniversary of the contract award and the County’s Financial Officer included an estimated inflationary figure. They were confident that there would be enough to meet the County’s commitments despite figures for bus inflation in previous years running at a higher rate.

The Cabinet Member thanked officers for their work in this review of subsidised bus services.

(a)                     approve subsidy for the services described in the report CMDT10E on the basis of the tender prices (and the periods of time) as set out in Supplementary Exempt Annex 2;

(b)                     record that in the Cabinet Member for Transport’s opinion the decisions made in (a) above were urgent in that any delay likely to be caused by the call-in process would result in service discontinuity and in accordance with the requirements of Scrutiny Procedure Rule 17(b) those decisions should not be subject to the call in process;

(c)                     thank operators for the commercial declarations made during the course of the review in respect of various contracts.