To seek the committee’s views on the options under consideration as part of the passenger transport review and seek comments on the outputs of the bus service consultation.

The Committee’s views were sought on the options under consideration as part of the passenger transport review and comments sought on the outputs of the bus service consultation.

The head of transport and access services presented the report.

In discussion the following principal points were made:

·        It was difficult to make bus routes viable.  Many were sustainable only if there was one contractor.

·        The impact of the Health service strategic transformation plan needed to be considered.  Many bus journeys were for health appointments.

·        Many bus journeys were by older people and if bus services were cut and there was no community transport as an alternative they faced difficulties.

·        Consideration needed to be given to the bigger picture, growing the service to reduce car traffic, using new technology and offering incentives to travel by bus.

·        The local transport plan was focused on bus routes to and from Hereford.  More consideration needed to be given to routes from the market towns to neighbouring counties.

·        Significant reductions in bus services had already been made.  It was questioned whether the further savings being proposed were deliverable.  These implied a reduction in service to a core network with no rural provision.

·        Consideration should be given to the needs of residents and how these might best be met.  One option might be to look at community transport areas and the social, economic and environmental advantages of continuing to provide a bus service. Because services ran across parish council areas it was not an issue that could easily be addressed in discussion with them.

·        Regard needed to be had to the wider consequences of reducing bus services which could include increased costs to the council to address other issues the service reduction inadvertently created.  There were indications, for example, that a removal of evening services in one area had led to an increase in the crime rate in the evenings, as a consequence of reduced social opportunities for young people.

·        The use of the word “subsidy” had a negative connotation.  Funding of the bus service should rather be regarded as an investment or spend to save initiative.  The proposed savings represented 0.6% of the revenue budget but would have a disproportionate effect on people’s quality of life.

·        Account should be taken of wider research and rural transport initiatives including for example the Local Government Association publication: Missing the Bus, and initiatives developed using the national Total Transport pilot fund.

·        The scope for Parish and Town Councils to use the powers available to them under S137 of the Local Government Act 1972 should be assessed.

RESOLVED:

That      (a)     rather than considering the findings of the passenger transport review in isolation, the executive is recommended to explore the scope for developing proposals to address the needs of local communities as a whole;

              (b)     consideration be given to initiatives developed using the national Total Transport pilot fund and other rural transport initiatives; and

              (c)     the scope for Parish and Town Councils to use the powers available to them under S137 of the Local Government Act 1972 be assessed