Agenda item

The Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Highways and Transport stated that an ambitious Passenger Transport Policy had been adopted by the Council in 2019. This had been put on hold but was now being put into effect. It was felt that buses were an effective alternative to cars and were a green form of travel.

A bus service improvement plan was a huge challenge but would attract further Government funding. The Council had already applied for a scheme for Zero emissions buses and had passed the first hurdle. The Passenger Transport Strategy was already in place and foresaw all the major elements in the National Bus Strategy. The Improvement Plan would mean a major transformation of bus services throughout the County with improved timetables and real time information readily available and an improved infrastructure of bus stops and shelters; however congestion would need to be addressed to allow for punctual services.

The Service Improvement Plan would be delivered through the enhanced partnership. Multi operator or multi modal tickets would be an exciting development and would create a fully integrated service and cross county boundary services would be considered. The Council worked closely with Community transport operators and the Vale Passenger Transport Group was thanked for the work they do around Evesham.

The Cabinet member for Corporate Services gave details of the Bromsgrove on demand bus service pilot scheme and explained that feedback was showing it was proving very popular. Overall, he felt that the bus service improvement plan would be of benefit to all residents.

Cabinet Members were excited about the improvement plan and the pilot scheme in Bromsgrove and mentioned how improved bus services helped reduce social isolation. The Cabinet Member and Council staff were thanked for their work in this area, although it was noted that clarity was needed about who would be providing the infrastructure such as bus shelters in rural areas and also that there was a significant challenge in integrating cross border bus routes as improvements in that area had been sought for years and proved very difficult to achieve. It was explained that that although responsibility for bus shelters had previously been with varying bodies a policy was now in place to allow the County Council to take responsibility for them.

Comments and queries from Members outside the Cabinet included:

·   The Vale of Evesham transport group had concerns about the hopper service. The Cabinet Member said he was aware of the concerns and would discuss it outside the meeting,

·   Mention of the statutory enhanced partnership was welcomed but it was hoped that the improvement plan would actually make a tangible improvement to people’s journeys,

·   The fragile state of a lot of the bus companies was seen as a concern and it was hoped that the Council had a positive working relationship with them. The Cabinet Member assured the meeting that there was a positive working relationship between the County Council and bus operators,

·   There was a concern about whether there would be enough money from the Government to implement the necessary improvements and that the Council would have to find further funding,

·   It was agreed that bus improvement was needed as the quality of the current service was poor,

·   It was queried what had gone wrong with home to school transport? The Cabinet Member agreed to provide a written answer as that was not the subject of the report.

·   It was hoped that bus users would be involved in the improvement process. The Cabinet Member reminded the meeting that an extensive consultation had been undertaken two years previously for the Passenger transport policy and any necessary additional consultation would be undertaken.

RESOLVED that Cabinet:

(a)  committed to development of a Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP), setting out a vision and priorities for the future of bus services in Worcestershire and will be a high-level bidding document used to secure capital and revenue grant funding from the Department for Transport (DfT);

(b)  authorised the CMR to approve the Bus Service Improvement Plan and operational policies with appropriate development and consultation schedules before adoption having regard to the National Bus Strategy and Worcestershire Passenger Transport Strategy;

(c)  Authorised the CMR to approve the Statutory Enhanced Partnership, following the creation of the Bus Service Improvement Plan;

(d)  acknowledged the potential impact on other DfT funding opportunities (not public transport related), should it be decided not to develop an Enhanced Partnership; and

(e)  acknowledged that Worcestershire County Council’s Bus Services Improvement plan will be based on the previously agreed Worcestershire Passenger Strategy.