Decision Maker: Cabinet
Decision status: Recommendations Approved
Is Key decision?: No
Is subject to call in?: Yes
RESOLVED:
Reasons for Decisions:
The public consultation has helped shape the bus service changes proposed in Annex B. These changes are necessary to ensure the network is financially sustainable and has responded to changed travel patterns, particularly in areas where passenger numbers are unlikely to ever recover to pre-pandemic levels. The financial review of bus services also meets the Department for Transport’s (DfT) requirement for accessing the extension of Covid bus recovery funding. The Council is committed to supporting local bus services and has increased revenue support for service delivery and capital investment to improve their operational effectiveness and efficiency.
The public consultation has also helped shape our proposed investment in bus infrastructure. It demonstrated that resident support for investment in buses is high, showing that people value bus services and that targeting investment will aid patronage growth.
The Council’s previous BSIP, published in 2021, set out a desire to expand our DDRT offer, learning from the successful Mole Valley Connect scheme funded from the DfT’s Rural Mobility Fund. This report sets out proposals for new DDRT schemes shaped by consultation feedback, including the need to promote new schemes and the flexibility they offer residents.
All LTAs are required to review their BSIPs annually. The DfT agreed that the Council’s BSIP refresh could be undertaken once the public consultation was complete, enabling the views and suggestions of residents and stakeholders to be included in the BSIP review. This report sets out the BSIP refresh process, with a submission to date at the end of May 2023.
Following the Future Bus Network Review and the consideration of consultation responses, coupled with ongoing dialogue with bus operators, the Council needs to tender the services proposed for change, along with retender of a number of contracts that were extended during the pandemic. New contracts will be awarded following a procurement process in line with the requirements of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and the Council’s Procurement and Contracts Standing Orders.
(The decisions on this item can be called- in by the Communities, Highways and Environment Select Committee)
Publication date: 29/03/2023
Date of decision: 28/03/2023
Decided at meeting: 28/03/2023 - Cabinet
Effective from: 06/04/2023
Accompanying Documents: