Supported Bus Services - Re-Tenders 2014

Proposed changes to supported bus services

South Gloucestershire Council currently supports a wide range of bus services. This includes services which are entirely funded by the Council and others which are commercial services that receive top up funding for part of the service, for instance early mornings or bank holidays.

Each year the Council reviews its supported bus services which are coming up for retender as part of its efficiency programme. To ensure the provision of a high quality and comprehensive transport system, changes are necessary to optimise the efficiency of council services. We would like to know the impact the proposed changes outlined below would have on you.

In 2014 the council is proposing to make changes to the following supported bus services:

222 – Longwell Green – Chipping Sodbury

The trial of this service has been unsuccessful. Low usage of this service means that a subsidy of an average of £8.50 per passenger and journey would be required to keep the service running. Its operation will therefore cease, creating savings of £150,000. As this was an experimental service running for a limited period only, no equality impact assessment will be issued for this service.

622 – Cribbs Causeway – Chipping Sodbury

The cost of this service is £150,000 per year. The majority of passengers use this service between Thornbury and Cribbs Causeway and between Yate and Chipping Sodbury. The main use of this service is for shopping and leisure between 9 am and 3 pm. The suggestion for this service is to remove journeys before 9am with a view to thereby reducing the subsidy the council pays for this service. An initial equality impact assessment for this service can be found in the documents section.

689 – Yate - Bristol

This service will change its name to X49 and will be replaced by a commercial service run by First. The new service will run earlier in the morning and later in the evening than the current service. It will also be extended to run on Sundays. This change equates to savings of £40,000. The X49 will be providing an improved level of service, therefore no equality impact assessment will be issued for this service.

Proposed changes to supported school and college bus services

Changes are also being proposed for the supported school services listed below. The affected schools are currently receiving preferential treatment as not all schools in South Gloucestershire are provided with this support by the council. The services are not readily available for the public and there are no entitled passengers using these routes. The council is proposing to cease operating these services and to instead support schools and parent groups in setting up their own transport service if required. The proposed changes would result in annual savings of £110,000. An initial equality impact assessment covering all of the below services can be found in the documents section.

680 – Frampton Cotterell – UWE – SGS Filton College

On average 16 passengers use this service each day with a subsidy of £3.95 per person. There is an alternative service available.

948 – Pucklechurch – Kings Oak Academy - Grange School - Sir Bernard Lovell School

This route is used by an average of 9 passengers. The low usage means a subsidy of £6.85 per passenger. There currently is no alternative service available.

963 – Patchway – Winterbourne Academy

This route is used by an average of 34 passengers with a subsidy of £1.83. There are alternative routes available.

967 – South Yate – Chipping Sodbury Secondary School – Brimsham Green School

This route is used by an average of 35 passengers with a subsidy of £1.98. There currently is no alternative route available.

Responses to this consultation will form part of the decision making process for the re-tender of the listed services.

The closing date for the receipt of completed surveys and any written responses is 31 March 2014.

The final decision on the future of the above supported bus services will be made by the Planning, Transportation and Strategic Environment (PTSE) Committee on the 11th June 2014.  In advance of this the PTSE Member working group will consider the proposals and the consultation feedback and make the final recommendation to the PTSE Committee in June.

This consultation has now closed and our summary report is now available.