Alternative approaches for Public Transport in Stroud Redditch Taxibus Service picking up passengers from the Bus Station The opportunities for Taxi Bus and community transport services to fill the gaps in the local bus network in Stroud Cllr Chas Townley Stroud Town Council Draft Version 3 17 July 2008 Page 1 Draft 3 17 July 2008
Purpose of Paper 1 As a result of the continual decline in subsidised bus services in the Stroud area there is a need to investigate innovative cost effective ways of providing responsive customer focussed transport services. Whilst in the main services are provided by bus companies there are opportunities for others to provide services. For example, the Transport Act 1985 makes provision for the use of taxis in the provision of Local Bus Services. 2 This paper explains what a taxibus service is, provides examples of taxibus services operating in other areas and considers the financial framework within which Taxibus services operate. It goes on to provide an overview of existing public bus services - principally in the Stroud Valleys and using information obtained from the County Council identifies services with low passenger usage and considers that the introduction of taxi bus services could save as much as 60,000 per annum. The report then goes on to provide options and examples of where services in the Stroud area could be enhanced with the use of taxibus services What is a Taxibus? 3 In conducting the research for this paper it has become clear that expression Taxibus is used for a variety of different types of service. In this paper the term taxibus applies only to a licensed taxi (which means that it must have 8 or less seats) operating a local bus service. The Transport Act 1985 1 allows for taxi operators to licence each of their taxis as a public service vehicle (essentially a bus), once registered the taxi can be used to operate local bus services and is treated as a registered bus whilst it is providing the bus service. There are a number of requirements:- 1) The taxi operator has to apply for a special PSV operators licence 2) The taxi operator has to register the local bus routes they intend to operate 3) Once registered the service has to be provided to the timetable 4) Each passenger pays a separate and fixed fare for the journey 2 5) Be providing a local bus service t 3. 6) Whilst operating as a bus service it must display a bus sign 7) The driver must be a licensed taxi driver 4 8) The service whilst operating a local bus services must accept valid concessionary fare passes 5 The Vehicle & Operator Services Agency publishes a guide and can be found on their 1 Section 12 Transport Act 1985 2 3 A 'local bus service' is defined as one which has distance between stopping places of less than 15 miles. A non-stop service between Stroud and Cheltenham (13.8 miles) would be a local bus service but a nonstop service between Nailsworth and Cheltenham (17.9 miles) would not be a local bus service. In both cases if the service stop at various points along the route they would be local bus services 4 Guidance from the Traffic Commissioners recommends they should usually be licensed by the council with whom the taxi is licensed. This is probably OK whilst it is operating a 'bus' service but during any dead mileage (getting to the start of the route or at the end) it is treated as a taxi and has to be driven by a driver licensed by the council who licensed the taxi 5 Stroud District Council and their consultants responsible for the administration of the concessionary fare scheme were uncertain about this issue and this could be an area of future risk. Page 2 Draft 3 17 July 2008
website or http://www.stroud-history.org.uk/chastown/psvoperatorguide(psv437).pdf. Types of Taxibus Services which can be registered as a local bus service There are a number of variations about the types of service which can be registered: Normal Stopping This refers to a service which stops at bus stops and recognised points along the route (e.g. The Ratepayers Arms ) Hail and Ride Along part or all of its route passengers are picked up and set down anywhere on request not using recognised stops along the route. This could be useful through a housing estate or on a rural section of the journey. Flexibly Routed Services There are also provisions allowing the provision of flexible services. This would allow for a service from, for example, between 2 fixed points to stop on prior request at a number of points along the route. Passengers are primarily required to book in advance this is so that the route can be planned in advance (wiggling off the route) but normally the service will take unbooked passengers at the fixed points if there is room. Other variants include starting from one fixed point and going to a variety of destinations (e.g. Starting at a sheltered housing scheme and then going to the supermarket, doctors, hospital and the post office). Further details about these can be found in the operators guide published on the VOSA website or http://www.stroud-history.org.uk/chastown/flexiblyroutedbusguide.pdf Research into Existing Taxibus Services Research has been undertaken to identify all local bus services provided by registered taxibus services within Great Britain. This was done by requesting details of all operators holding a Special PSV operators licence from VOSA and then searching the data base of registered services. VOSA provided details of 61 holders of special PSV operators licences 6 Many of these operators have not registered any services or have stopped providing services and follow up survey work with these operators may be useful in further research to support market development of operators. There are currently about 35 services registered within England and Wales 7 which indicates that this approach, to date, has had limited impact in providing local public transport services. In many cases these operators also operate 16 seater mini-buses (usually for private hire work) on a restricted PSV licence and in one case a service registered to be provided by a taxibus was being provided by The beacon areas in England appear to be Tyne and Wear, Wiltshire with good examples in Worcestershire, Buckinghamshire, and Oxfordshire 6 Details of information provided by VOSA can be found at http://www.stroudhistory.org.uk/chastown/specialrestrictedlicencevosalist.pdf 7 Details of these services can be found at http://www.stroud-history.org.uk/chastown/listoftaxibusservices.pdf Page 3 Draft 3 17 July 2008
Examples of Services Provided Early Morning Commuter Services Union Cars are registered to provide 3 Taxibus services operating in the early morning ( 6am to 8am) from the outskirts of Bicester to Bicester North Railway Station. Later in the day the service is provided by traditional bus services. Services operate from local residential areas (eg service 2 has a 2 ½ mile route) and are timed to arrive a few minutes before the London commuter trains. 8 It receives no council subsidy but is part of the offer as part of Chiltern Railway's train service franchise Tourist Facilities The National Trust property Shaws Corner (the home of George Bernard Shaw) in Hertfordshire is served by a taxibus (bookable up to 20 minutes before the journey ) goes from Wheathampstead High Street (about 2 ½ miles away) 9 where it links with buses to St Albans Operates only on a Sunday. Receives subsidy from Hertfordshire County Council 10 Due to the bookable nature may not be technically a local bus service Rural Services / Tourist Business Blueworks Private Hire operated by Phillip Halliwell based in Ulverston, Lake District provides a private hire/taxi business. Some of the business is focussed on offering private hire type services to tourists in the lake district. The business operates 3 small scale bus services using 12 seater (requiring a full PSV licence )and 8 seater buses. One of these the X30 operates on a seasonal basis in partnership with the Forestry Commission. In the Cannock Chase AONB a Sundays and Bank Holiday service is operated using 8 seater Taxibus 3 This is operated by Codsall Cars Rural Service Lux Cars run a Friday only shopping service from Thorney Whittlesey in the Fens. South Staffs Ruralink provided by Codsall Cars4 which operates 2 services (one Tuesday and Thurs and the other every day of the week) on a hail and ride basis on its whole route. It is advertised as being able to link to connecting services. Wiltshire Wiltshire Connect 2 provides a range of taxi based public transport solutions within in Wiltshire, of which only some are taxibus services. Others are flexible services and some are pre booked shared taxis/private hire vehicles. Further details of the services provided can be found on the Wiltshire County Council website Wiltshire Connect2 Where services are provided by taxibuses providing local bus services concessionary fare passes are accepted. Tyne and Wear Over the last 2 or 3 years it appears that the Passenger Transport Executive for Tyne and Wear (branded as Nexus) has funded a number of Taxi bus Services. Some originally started as pre-bookable services but all now appear to operate on a fixed route to a fixed timetable, meaning that concessionary fares can be accepted. 8 Suggested contacts for further info are lucy stiles 01296 332195 (Chiltern Rail). bruce brenan/ adrian saunders 815080 (Oxfordshire County Council 9 Route map http://www.travelinesoutheast.org.uk/se/rop/20080424-133824/set/02002cy08overview.pdf 10 Further info suggested contacts Intalink Traveline 0871 200 22 33 Harpenden Taxis 01582 822822 Page 4 Draft 3 17 July 2008
There is no consistent numbering with 2 numbered as 501 and 502 and another series TB10-20. Redditch, Worcestershire Worcestershire County Council and Redditch Borough Council fund what are described as 4 Taxibus services within Redditch. These services originate from an Urban Bus Challenge with the services starting in 2005. Cross bus ticketing has been addressed although not ideally but passengers with valid passes of other operators pay half fare. Holders of concessionary passes are entitled to travel free. The commercial operator (First Bus and Diamond Buses operate two circular bus routes both of which serve the Alex hospital. In both cases the commercial services stop at about 8pm. The introduction of taxibus services has meant that bus services have been able to be maintained until 11pm. In the case of the 57/58 service day time services are provided by two competing operators (one providing a 15 minute frequency in both directions and the other providing a 10 minute frequency service). Apparently neither has any interest in running the evening service on either a commercial or subsidised basis. A leading taxi firm Touch of Class now provides a half hour frequency service. It would appear that this has now moved up a stage as when I visited this service is now being provided by 13 seater high quality mini buses (and is therefore not being provided by a registered taxi. Quality Bus Service provided by a Taxi Operator. The true Taxibus service provides a figure of eight circular service (in both directions) in the evenings. The journey time is 40 minutes mean that either a 55A or a 56A leaves the bus station and the Alex Hospital every 20 minutes. Again this replaces a commercial day time service when the operator stops at about 8pm enabling services to be maintained until 8pm. Further information about these services can be found on Worcestershire County Council's website Taxibus page. Free Travel - National Travel Concession All local bus services are required to carry holders of concessionary fares. Section 145 of the Transport Act 2000 makes it a criminal offence not to do so. As a consequence The national travel concession is provided for all services between 9.30am and 11pm Monday Page 5 Draft 3 17 July 2008
to Friday and at weekends. Stroud District Council under a separate discretionary scheme have decided to offer a travel concession outside of these hours. Where a Travel Concession must be accepted A taxibus providing a local bus service (with a distance between stops of less than 15 miles) along a fixed route (stopping at bus stops and can on the whole or part of route operate on a hail and ride basis).additionally where a taxibus is registered to provide a local bus service on a flexible route the operator would also need to. Where a National Travel Concession cannot be used Section 11 of the Transport Act 1985 provides circumstances where a taxi or private hire care can provide a pre-booked shared service with individual fares for each passenger without it becoming a public service vehicle. As these are not local bus services concessionary passes are not covered by the national scheme. Issues for Taxibus Operators in relation to Concessionary Fare Income Concessionary fare income is accounted for on an quarterly basis with operators receiving 95% of the estimated income on a monthly basis during each quarter and then receiving a balancing payment once final data on passengers has been reconciled usually about 3 months after the end of the quarter. If usage had dropped it is always possible that an overpayment could be recovered. There is a complex formula which takes account of generated travel - essentially to place the operator in no worse or no better position. There are difficulties in applying this to new services which did not exist prior to the establishment of the free bus passes. Information on journeys is required to be provided on a quarterly basis to the scheme administrators. In the case of new operators no payment will be made until the first quarter's information has been provided, thereafter an operator would receive a 95% of the first 3 months and then go on to monthly payments. Particularly where services are heavily used by concessionary fare users this initial delay could cause cash flow problems if not properly anticipated in the business plan. The scheme does, however, make provision for Participating Operators incurring a very low level of Revenue Foregone over a Financial Year may opt to be paid on the basis of a fixed level of assumed Revenue Foregone which may be agreed between the Participating Operator and the Coordinating Authority and kept under review. This could provide the basis for the District Council and a Taxibus operators risks in new services being minimised. As a taxibus operator is unlikely to have the IT back office systems of a bus ticketing system to provide the data required for the system consideration will also need to be given to agreed methods to validate revenue and passenger usage. Bus Service Operators Grant Since the 1960's the Government has operated a Fuel Duty Rebate scheme for the bus industry. Recently this has been restructured as the Bus Service Operators Grant, which contributes more than 400 million to bus operators. This is a greater subsidy to bus services that estimated 330 milllion spent by Councils purchasing subsidised services. In March 2008 the subsidy was worth 41.21 pence per litre of diesel. This subsidy is available to anyone operating a bus service. For a small operator it is quite possible that the Page 6 Draft 3 17 July 2008
administrative costs of claiming the subsidy might outweigh the benefits. Other Operator Issues text to be added following detailed discussions with members fo the taxi trade. Assumed Costs of Taxibus Operation Without detailed discussions with Taxi operators it is unclear what the operating costs of a taxi as a taxibus would be, what fares would need to be charged to make services viable or what the required public subsidy to operate services would be. As about 20% of taxis running in the Stroud District are larger seated vehicles/small vans with up to 8 seats it has been assumed that operators are able to run these vehicles on the taxi tariff(this may no longer be the case due to recent diesel price rises). As a consequence the Stroud District taxi tariff has been taken as a proxy for the operators costs for a service, using this information a spreadsheet has been developed to estimate how much the service would cost to run for a single journey and based on assumed passenger numbers and fare income how much subsidy would be required. This estimating tool can be found at:- ` http://www.stroud-history.org.uk/chastown/taxibussubsidyestimator.xls It is considered that the these are high range estimates because the benefits of guaranteed regular work (with limited dead mileage) should result in a lower contract prices. Another issue is that the taxi fares have recently been Information on existing contracted bus services has been obtained from Gloucestershire County Council and using examples it is likely that some low usage bus services could be cost effectively provided Service 25 Stroud Summer Street Bisley Oakridge Cotswold Green are contracted to provide 7 single journeys per day (4 in 1 way and 3 in the other) and have an average of 4 passengers per journey. The average ticket income is 1.21 and the cost of the GCC subisdy is 23,976. The estimated journey length is 6.5 miles. The equivalent cost of a a taxibus is estimated at 16,611. Indicating a potential saving of 7,184. Service 242 Arlingham Stonehouse Stroud Cotswold Green are contracted to provide 1 return journey on a Friday and have an average of 7 passengers per journey. The average ticket income is 1.13 and the costs of the County Council subsidy is 4,647 per annum. The estimated journey length is 20 miles. The equivalent subsidy for a taxibus would be 2793 resulting in a saving of 1853. Service 230 Stroud Randwick Ruscombe Stroud Cotswold Green are contracted to provide 4 single journeys per day and have an average of 4 passengers per journey. The average ticket income is 0.89 and the costs of the County Council subsidy is 20,551 per annum. The estimated journey length is 11 miles. The equivalent subsidy for a taxibus would be 20,385, which provides marginal savings Page 7 Draft 3 17 July 2008
Service 35 Stroud Selsley - Nympsfield Costwold Green are contracted to provide a return journey each day and the service has an average of 0.43 passengers per journey. The average ticket income is 1.55 and the costs of the County Council subsidy is 6850 per annum. The estimated journey length is 6.4 miles. The equivalent subsidy for a taxibus would be 5988, resulting in a saving of 900. In redesigning the service for a taxibus it might be possible for the service to visit Woodchester, potentially increasing usage. Service 36 Stroud Kingscourt Cotswold Green are contracted to provide a 3 return journeys Monday to Friday and 3 single journeys (2 in 1 way 1 in the other) on a Saturday. The average ticket income is 0.78 and the cot of the County Council subsidy is 2160 the estimated distance is 1.8 miles. The equivalent subsidy by taxibus is 1324, resulting in a potential saving 835. The overall potential saving from these 5 services is more than 10,000. What this assessment does not take account of is the impact this would then have on the remaining bus service and whether the loss of the subsidy would make the whole service unviable. All that these examples demonstrate is the potential for taxibus services to replace low usage bus services. With better knowledge of the likely costs of running a taxibus more definite estimates of what lower usage services could be cost effectively maintained. Current Position of Gloucestershire County Council Gloucestershire County Council in commenting on the draft report highlighted the failure of the development of a taxibus service in the Painswick area as a consequence of the failure of this service are not planning to support other taxibus services at this stage. They are of the view that there is no interest in taxi operators in operating services. Current Bus Services in Stroud District Gloucestershire County Council lists 57 services operating in Stroud District on its website. 5 of these are the experimental nightbus services which are due to end shortly and there are also 4 listed which operate in the Tetbury area (although the 620 to Bath could be argued to be part of the Stroud bus network). A further 7 services are variants of other services (eg 14A, 14B, 8A and 91A). Of the remaining 41 services 23 operate exclusively within the Stroud District. The remaining 23 provide services into other Districts Gloucester, Cheltenham, Cirencester and South Gloucestershire/Bristol. Operate Where Less than 5 Mon to Friday Saturday Sunday All Services Weekdays Cross Border Services 4 14 12 3 18 Stroud District Services 7 15 13 0 23 Days of operation and number of services Much is made of the commercial basis of the operation of the bus service in the area. In reality the fully commercial network consists of 5 services. Only the 37 Cashes Green- Cainscross -Stroud operates on a completely commercial basis. The 20 (Dursley- Page 8 Draft 3 17 July 2008
Stonehouse - Stroud) and the 93 (Nailsworth Stroud - Gloucester) have one or two journeys subsidised or in some cases parts of journeys subsidised. The 46 even before the recent cuts only had 3 journeys in each direction subsidised. The only other service which could be considered as being run on a commercial basis is the No.8 Stroud circular where 5 out of 20 weekday journeys are subsidised. Operate Where No Subsidy One or Two journeys Subsidised Some Journeys Subsidised Most Journeys Subsidised All Journeys Subsidised NK Cross Border Services 0 1 1 3 7 6 Stroud District Services 1 1 1 2 10 6 Total 1 2 2 5 17 12 Number of commercial and subsidised services operating in Stroud District Whilst details of 12 services require clarification it is believed that all of these services in the Wotton-under-Edge and Dursley/Cam areas are operated on a subsidised basis. A table showing the days of operation and the level of subsidy (and the value where known) can be found at http://www.stroud-history.org.uk/chastown/sdbusservicetable.pdf Service Gap Analysis Without even considering the frequency of existing day time services there are considerable gaps in service provision at the beginning and end of the day. Whilst there are remarkable exceptions services to most villages and towns have ended by 7pm (some as early as 6 pm). As far as early morning journeys are concerned the position is less bleak, however, there are notable exceptions like Kingscourt (36), Stroud Town(8/8A) and Wotton Under Edge(40). This is not to say that there are not extensions of service which should be made to provide even earlier bus services. There is clearly considerable work required to identify gaps in provision with customers and potential customers, however, the early morning gaps within Stroud Town could be successfully filled by exploring the potential of developing early morning commuter services from outlying areas to catch the London and Gloucester trains as well as the Gloucester and Cheltenham bus services It is therefore suggested that the a survey is undertaken of existing train commuters to identify. Page 9 Draft 3 17 July 2008
First Departure Last Return Arrival Time No Service Time 8.11 17.37 36 Kingscourt Stroud 6.49 17.59 46 Painswick Stroud 7.18 18.07 29 Minchinhampton Stroud 9.00 18.11 40 Wotton Under Edge Nailsworth Stroud 6.15 18.27 210 Dursley Cam Cam & Dursley Station 7.09 18.35 207 Gloucester Berkeley 6.15 18.38 46 Nailsworth to Gloucester 7.45 18.40 8A Stroud Merrywalks 6.35 18.56 20 Dursley to Stroud 6.47 18.58 93 Nailsworth to Gloucester 6.30 18.59 91 Dursley/Cam to Gloucester 6.35 19.31 20 Stroud to Stonehouse(15 minute journey) 6.30 19.03 26 Bussage Stroud 6.35 19.15 46 Stroud to Cheltenham 7.07 20.11 93 Stroud-Gloucester (35 min journey) 6.44 22.15 14 Stonehouse to Stroud(30 minute journey) 6.59 22.25 37 Cashes Green to Stroud 5.56 Midnight 14 Stroud to Gloucester (1hr journey) 7.25 22.30 Stroud to Gloucester (rail 17 min journey) 6.35 21.30 Cam & Dursley Gloucester (rail) Other Opportunities to plug the gaps in local bus services This paper has focussed on the potential to develop replacement bus services using taxis, because I believe it is currently the only way of developing registered bus services using the current public transport legislation. However the Local Transport Bill (currently in its final stages in Parliament) offers two new options, when it becomes law. These cover extending the Taxibus provisions to both taxis and private hire vehicles and changes to the legislation applying to community transport providers. At present community transport providers in our case Stroud Dial a Ride can register bus services but can only normally use volunteer drivers. If the Local Transport Bill becomes law they will be able to use employed drivers to operate local bus services under the community bus service arrangements. Volunteer and Community Action (Stroud District) [VCA] who operate the dial a rides use them extensively during the day but these new provisions could provide opportunities for the VCA to employ staff to operate local bus services at evenings and weekends. Next Steps Stroud Town Council has agreed to set up a working party to consider the issue further and to report back to the Town Council. The issues that this will consider will include: 1) What survey work should be undertaken to establish the unmet need and latent demand for public transport services which could be met by Taxibus and community bus services. Page 10 Draft 3 17 July 2008
2) That the potential to operate community bus services be explored with Volunteer and Community Action (Stroud District) 3) The extent of work required to develop awareness within the Taxi and Private Hire trade of the procedures for taxi and private hire operators to provide local bus services 4) What support nextworks could be established to support taxi and private hire operators to support service development. Eg Business Link, Gloucestershire First 5) That where Gloucestershire County Council are considering ending a subsidised bus service what steps could be taken to consider seeking the interest of potential Taxibus operators in providing the service under contract. Conclusions and recommendations This report has highlighted the opportunities to plug the gaps in local transport provision and the good practice that has developed in other areas. As with any new development there will be a need to test the acceptability of the services with the public and also with potential providers and also with service commissioners. It is doubtful if any fully commercial taxibus services could be developed. 6) That survey work is undertaken to establish the unmet need and latent demand for public transport services which could be met by Taxibus and community bus services. 7) That the potential to operate community bus services be explored with Volunteer and Community Action (Stroud District) 8) That work be undertaken to develop awareness within the Taxi and Private Hire trade of the procedures for taxi and private hire operators to provide local bus services 9) That consideration be given to the availability of specialist advice and guidance for taxi and private hire operators to support service development. Eg Business Link, Gloucestershire First 10)That where Gloucestershire County Council are considering ending a subsidised bus service they should be encouraged to consider seeking the interest of potential Taxibus operators in providing the service under contract. 11)That a working group reflecting relevant stakeholders interests (including passengers) be established to monitor the delivery of this work. Page 11 Draft 3 17 July 2008
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