DEVELOPMENT AND INFRASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE: 2 FEBRUARY 2016 SCHOOL AND PUBLIC BUS SERVICE CONTRACT MONITORING

Transcription

1 ITEM 3 DEVELOPMENT AND INFRASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE: 2 FEBRUARY 2016 SCHOOL AND PUBLIC BUS SERVICE CONTRACT MONITORING REPORT BY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT AND INFRASTRUCTURE 1. PURPOSE OF REPORT 1.1 To advise of the passenger usage levels and performance of all contractors, complaints received and actions taken by the Council in respect of public and school bus services during RECOMMENDATIONS The Committee is invited to note:- 2.1 that the current School and Public Bus Contract for the period 2015 to 2020 commenced on 5 January 2015; 2.2 information on public bus usage for the period January to December 2015, as detailed in section 7 of this report; and 2.3 the complaints received in respect of school transport and the subsidised public bus services, for the period January to December 2015, as detailed in section 8 of this report. 3. POLICY ASPECTS 3.1 The proposal outlined in this report supports Priority 6 in the Council Plan , namely Target 6.1 Integrated transport networks. 4. INTRODUCTION 4.1 At its meeting held on 4 February 2014, the Development and Infrastructure Committee noted: the information on public bus usage for the period January to December 2013, as detailed in Appendix 1 to the report by the Executive Director of Development and Infrastructure; and the complaints received in respect of public bus services and school transport, together with actions taken by the Council, for the period January to December 2013, as detailed in Appendix 2 to the report by the Executive Director of Development and Infrastructure.

2 5. BACKGROUND 5.1 In March 2013, it was agreed that an annual report be presented to the Development and Infrastructure Committee regarding the management and performance of the current subsidised school and public bus services. 5.2 As the School and Public Bus Services were tendered during 2014 and the new Contract awarded on 5 January 2015, there was no performance monitoring report submitted to Committee during At the start of the School and Public Bus Contract, a number of day to day operational issues were experienced; resulting in a considerable amount of officer time spent responding to complaints. 5.4 The Executive Director of Education, Leisure and Housing and the Executive Director of Development and Infrastructure have met with the Managing Director of Stagecoach North Scotland on three occasions since the start of the 2015 contract to discuss the operational issues experienced. It was agreed that quarterly meetings should be arranged to discuss matters concerning school or public bus services which are under contract with the Council. In the meantime, officers liaise with operators on a local basis as and when issues arise. 6. CONTRACT SPECIFICATION 6.1 There is no statutory requirement to provide public bus services in the county however the Council currently supports services which are not commercially viable given the remote geographical location of routes and limited passenger numbers. It is recognised that these services help connect communities and enable people to travel independently for work, further education, social or leisure purposes. 6.2 There are 10 public bus service routes which operate across the mainland of Orkney. The majority of these services operate on a Monday to Saturday with timetables to suit commuters and mid-day timing points for social or leisure purposes. The map shown at Appendix 1 to this report highlights the coverage of public bus services across the mainland of Orkney and linkage to internal and external air and ferry services. 6.3 Public bus services also operate under Contract in Westray, Sanday, Eday and Rousay. During the summer months, bus services in Westray and Sanday connect with the arrival and departure of ferry services. During the winter months, services operate on an on-demand basis and therefore a booking must be made in advance. These services are now well established on the islands. During 2010, a one day per week, on-demand service was introduced in the islands of Rousay and Eday following successful tender submissions. The service in Rousay is now well used by residents however the service in Eday is not well used by the community. 6.4 Under the new Contract specification, the Service 2 bus to Houton Ferry Terminal and Service 6 to Tingwall Ferry Terminal now connects with all ferry arrival and departures and a Sunday summer bus service was trialled during 2015 to improve integrated transport as highlighted in Priority 6 of the Council Plan

3 Whilst the bus service is timetabled to connect with the ferry, the service allows for a 15 minute ferry delay after which the bus service must depart to undertake the remainder of the service, in accordance with the maximum waiting time rules outlined by the Traffic Commissioner. 6.5 The Service 7 to Birsay via Dounby was improved in 2015 so as to provide a commuter service and mid-day link onwards to Kirkwall. The service operates as far as Birsay Palace and also covers the Quoyloo area. This service operates on a Monday to Saturday via Old Finstown Road. The service starts in Stromness to provide a link to/from Stromness to the West Mainland and also links with the X1 service from Kirkwall to Stromness. This service was enhanced following the cessation of the flexible West Mainland service which operated on a trial basis during The Service 8s to Quoyloo, Skara Brae and onward to Stromness operates a return service on a Monday to Thursday and two rotations on a Saturday to provide a connection to Stromness and Kirkwall. This service did not operate at the start of the 2015 Contract due to historical low passenger figures on this route however a number of complaints were received following its cessation and therefore a Council decision was made to re-instate the three day per week service. 6.7 The Service 9 Kirkwall Town Service operates largely on an hourly basis on a Monday to Saturday, with a reduced service in operation during Sunday. The service was extended in 2015 to serve as far as Scapa on a Monday to Saturday to connect with new housing in the area and also to provide an opportunity for tourists to visit Scapa Beach. The 2015 Contract stipulated that the town service must be operated using a low floored accessible bus at all times. 6.8 There were no timetable changes made to the Service 3 to Deerness via Tankerness which largely operates as a commuter route with a mid-day service which is suitable for social and leisure purposes. The Service 4 to Kirkwall Airport also remains unchanged and continues to operate on a largely half hourly basis. The X10 evening ferry link bus timetable continues to meet the arrival of the ferry to Hatston from Lerwick/Aberdeen. 6.9 The X1 service between Stromness, Kirkwall and St Margaret s Hope is commercially operated and is not under Contract with the Council. This service operates on a largely hourly basis between Stromness and Kirkwall and Kirkwall to St Margaret s Hope. The operator trialled a Sunday summer bus service on a commercial basis to St Margaret s Hope during 2015 to connect with the ferry following demand from the public. A breakdown of the Sunday summer service passenger figures are outlined in Appendix 2 of this report. The operator has not yet confirmed if a similar service will be operated during Where feasible, secondary school routes which have capacity have been registered with the traffic commissioner so that they can also carry fare paying passengers. Whilst these services only operate term time and at school times, they provide residents living in rural locations the opportunity to access services in Kirkwall or Stromness. 3

4 7. BUS USAGE FIGURES 7.1 Bus passenger figures of subsidised public services are monitored on a monthly basis. These figures help identify any trends in the use of services during the period of the contract and will be used to inform future service levels and contractual arrangements. 7.2 In accordance with the contracts for the provision of local bus services, the contractors are obliged to provide the Council with the number of passengers carried on each local bus service, a breakdown of the number of tickets sold in terms of adults, children and concessionaries, and the total fare income. 7.3 During , passenger figures on subsidised services increased year on year from 77,888 trips during 2010 to 115,114 trips in Passenger figures on the commercial X1 service from Stromness Kirkwall St Margaret s Hope reached 159,820 during An increase in frequency of services, promotion/awareness raising and significant increase in fuel prices and the economic downturn were factors for significant passenger growth during the previous contract period. 7.4 During the first year of the current contract, bus passenger trips fell from the previous year to 106,827. On the X1 service, passenger figures increased slightly, from 159,820 in 2014 to 159,972. This is consistent with national figures and may be attributed to lower fuel prices, contrary to the previous rise in figures. 7.5 A summary of the bus passenger figures on subsidised services is outlined below: Passenger Figures Subsidised Services % Increase/ decrease on preceding year ,888 89,043 96, , , ,827 14% 9% 14% 4% -8% 7.6 A breakdown of the 2015 passenger figures on subsidised public bus services by route and by month is outlined in Appendix 2 of this report. 8. COMPLAINTS MONITORING 8.1 All of the complaints received by the Council are recorded and passed to the contractor for action where appropriate. An update is then given to the Council so an appropriate response can be passed to the complainant. 8.2 During 2015 there were a total of 35 complaints received by the Transportation Service in respect of public transport services, of which 21 were concerning services which are under Contract with the Council. Although the X1 service is not supported by the Council, any complaints received were recorded and passed to the operator for appropriate action. 4

5 8.3 The complaints received regarding public transport services are summarised below:- Public Bus Service Complaints Commercial Service X1 All subsidised Services Timetabling 1 8 Reliability breakdowns/delays 9 4 Accessibility 4 1 Condition of buses - 4 Driver not operating the correct route - 4 TOTAL The timetabling complaints outlined in the table above refer to complaints made at the start of the contract in January 2015 and the amendments made to services. All of the complaints regarding timing points were considered and subsequently, a number of timetable changes were implemented. The timetable changes did not incur any additional cost to the Council and these issues were outwith the control of the bus operator involved. 8.5 A number of reliability complaints were received during 2015 which resulted in delays to services. The complaints received were concerning the reliability of the service and delays experienced due to a number of breakdowns. The concerns were followed up with the bus company. 8.6 As noted in section 6 above, the town service route must be operated using a low floored accessible bus for the convenience of elderly and disabled passengers and for those travelling with push chairs. For other services, a mix of low floored buses and coaches are used. In accordance with the Public Service Vehicle Accessibility Regulations 2000, all buses weighing up to 7.5 tonnes were to be fully accessible from 1 January 2015 and coaches by 1 January All bus operators must comply with the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) legislation. Stagecoach endeavour to have a low floored bus in operation on their X1 service however there are times that this service is linked with school services and therefore a coach is operated. 8.7 A number of complaints were received at the start of the contract period in connection with the cleanliness of the buses. The bus wash facility at the operator s depot was out of order and the roads were very dirty due to the salt on the road. This problem was resolved once the bus wash facility was back up and running. The operator also deployed a member of staff to clean the inside of the buses each evening. 5

6 8.8 Complaints were received at the start of the contract period as a number of drivers were not operating the correct route which left a number of passengers some distance away from their drop off point. Following investigation with the operator, it emerged that the incorrect route was shown on the driver duty boards. The duty boards were altered and drivers were informed. 8.9 There were a total of 176 school transport complaints received during 2015 which was higher than previous years. Of the 132 complaints received from January to June, 55 were received in January and 29 during the first week of the new contract A breakdown of the school transport complaints is outlined below: Category of Complaint No of Incidents No of Incidents Jan-June Aug - Dec Breakdown/late 9 17 Late 74 7 Capacity 2 6 Condition of buses 0 1 Damage to verge 2 1 Driver complaint / concerns 4 3 Drop off / pick up 11 5 Failure to operate 21 2 Fire 0 1 Timings 3 1 Route 6 0 TOTAL The contractor awarded the majority of school and public bus services also experienced a change in local manager which coincided with the start of the new contract in January. Changes were made to drivers and rotas and timings of routes were adjusted. It became very evident within the first few days of operation of the new contract that urgent action had to be taken. Senior officers met with senior managers from the company to address these issues. A letter of apology was sent from the Managing Director of the company to all parents/pupils who had been inconvenienced by the errors made In order to put the number of complaints into context, during the summer terms April to June and August to October, 65 routes operate daily increasing to 74 routes during the winter months. This totals 26,464 journeys operated per school year. 6

7 9. FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS 9.1 The annual public bus budget for 2015/16 towards subsidised services is 608,700. Projected out turn for the current financial year is 617,375. Based on current forecasts, an overspend of 8,675 is therefore expected for operating the service over the full year. 9.2 The annual school transport service budget for 2015/16 is 2,172,700. The budget is allocated to cover the cost of all school transport services and includes the provision of additional support needs transport. Projected out turn for the current financial year is 2,216,700. Based on current forecasts, an overspend of approx. 44,000 is therefore expected for operating the service over the full year. 10. LEGAL ASPECTS 10.1 Clause of the Council s contract with local bus service operators states that: The Contractor shall provide the Council with the number of passengers carried on each Local Bus Service, a breakdown of the number of tickets sold in terms of adults, children and concessionaries, and the total fare income This information requires to be submitted monthly, along with the invoice provided by contractors to the Council Clause 3.31 of the contract sets out that the Contractor shall set up a customer complaints procedure. Written records of all complaints received and action taken are to be retained, and a copy of such information is to be provided to the Council on a monthly basis in arrears. 11. CONTACT OFFICERS 11.1 Gavin Barr, Executive Director of Development and Infrastructure, ext 2301, gavin.barr@orkney.gov.uk 11.2 Brian Archibald, Head of Marine Services, Engineering and Transportation, ext 2703, brian.archibald@orkney.gov.uk 11.3 Laura Cromarty, Transport Manager, ext 2535, laura.cromarty@orkney.gov.uk 12. APPENDICES 12.1 Appendix 1 Orkney mainland public bus services 12.2 Appendix 2 Passenger figures by route and month 7