Agenda item

That the comments made by the Committee on the draft proposals be considered as part of the consultation.

The Transportation Manager introduced a report to outline draft proposals of the County’s subsidised bus and related services and introduced Ceri Lloyd who had been appointed as the new Rural Transport Project Officer on a 12 month fixed-term basis.

A full list of bus services in Flintshire was attached to the report indicating Red, Amber and Green status to show levels of cost, demand and sustainability.  In correcting an error in the report, it was noted that the review had highlighted 8 Red services, 10 Amber services and 13 Green services.  Changes to the management of bus services following the reduction in funding across Wales were reported, along with details on the full consultation process.

The Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Environment stressed that this would involve a meaningful consultation process providing the opportunity for relevant stakeholders such as Overview & Scrutiny, Town and Community Councils and all Council Members to feedback their views prior to reaching a decision at Cabinet in December 2013.  In echoing these comments, the Director of Environment reminded Members that a further report would be brought back to the Committee on 13 November 2013.

Councillor A.I. Dunbar expressed concern about notice given to withdraw commercial bus services 9 and X9 whose route included a steep hill and which many elderly people were reliant upon to access essential services.  The Director said it was important to distinguish between the services provided and to bear in mind that the Council had no influence over those run commercially by bus operators and also could not run subsidised services in competition with them.  In addition, operators were within their rights to give 56 days’ notice to the Traffic Commissioner to withdraw services.  The Transportation Manager explained a tendering process was due to commence for replacement bus services to start on 8 September 2013 although these may not be at the same level.  Information would be shared with Members.  Councillor D. Evans had previously raised concerns about the same issue and welcomed the response.

Councillor W.P. Shotton highlighted the importance of detailed consultation with Town and Community Councils, in view of the cuts to bus grant funding across Wales and the Regional Transport Consortia, and suggested that the newly appointed Rural Transport Project Officer could undertake visits to discuss fully.  He also commented on the importance of concessionary bus passes to those in rural and deprived areas of the county.

In response to queries raised by Councillor C.A. Thomas, the Transportation Manager confirmed that Iwan Prys-Jones could present the TAITH Regional Bus Network Strategy to Overview & Scrutiny and that TAITH had taken over the management of the budget for community transport from 1 April 2013 and community transport operators appeared to be satisfied with the funding received.  Following Councillor Thomas’ comments on the D42 ‘on demand’ service to rural communities which helped to transport evening workers, it was explained that this currently operated as part of the Deeside Shuttle and was to be re-tendered.  The Transportation Manager said that detail such as this was required as part of the consultation process and that improvements would be made where feasible.  She noted the suggestion that consultation with Town and Community Councils include information on specific routes which affected them.

The Chair agreed with the suggestion for the Rural Transport Project Officer to visit Town and Community Councils and provide explanation on the proposals, particularly in regard to ‘red’ services.  The Transportation Manager commented that these visits may be needed in September as the new appointment did not start until mid August.  Councillor Thomas urged awareness of timeliness of Town and Community Council meetings within the consultation period as some would not be due to meet until the end of September.  The Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Environment suggested that Town and Community Councils may wish to convene special meetings during August to look at this topic but gave assurance that their involvement was paramount in the consultation process.

Councillor C.J. Dolphin requested that the 22 and 22A services be extended to enable residents in Carmel and Gorsedd to access Holywell town centre shops and leisure facilities.

Councillor P.J. Curtis hoped that the consultation process would involve visits along routes to expand knowledge about areas, rather than a desk exercise, and that the Council could work with commercial operators on usage to avoid wastage from empty buses, particularly during peak periods.  He commented on there being no buses from his area to Mold on Sundays and the inconsistent timing of buses travelling from Chester to Holywell and Rhyl.  In response to a further comment, the Director acknowledged that some commercial bus operators were competing by running services behind each other.  Whilst the Council had been unable to do anything about this in the past, the Regional Bus Network Strategy would provide a quality framework where the Council was better placed to raise this problem.

In response to comments made by Councillor N.M. Matthews, the Transportation Manager explained that priorities were outlined in the policy and that home to school transport for eligible school children was statutory.  Contributions were received from Education for some journeys, based on the number of pupils travelling on those routes, and some public service buses on school routes also accommodated fare-paying passengers.  She went on to explain that funding for the Clwydian Ranger, which was a seasonal service, had ceased.

Councillor D. Butler felt that a good service was being provided by the Council in view of mileage covered and that transport by local bus companies should be encouraged.  He said it was essential that the Deeside Shuttle continued as it was the only one to serve the Deeside Industrial Park and spoke of the potential for the 7 and 28 services to be extended to this area.

Councillor D.I. Mackie spoke in support of the bus users’ surgeries events held on 23 May 2013 at Connah’s Quay and Flint, which had been most informative and brought together Council officer expertise with representatives from bus companies and national organisations.  He asked for the ‘unknown’ figures in Appendix 3 to be addressed, where possible, to provide clarity and had been made aware of some routes where roads were not easily accessible for buses, for example York Road in Connah’s Quay.  On subsidised bus services for students, he referred to the potential for a significant increase in demand for bus services arising from the sixth form hub.

The Transportation Manager said it was intended to arrange a further consultation event in October/November 2013 and asked Members to contact her with suggestions on possible venues.  She explained that the role of the Bus Compliance Officer, who had been present at the last event, worked on behalf of the Welsh Government/Bus Users’ UK to monitor bus routes across North Wales for their punctuality and reliability and report back to the Transport Commissioner.  Unknown figures for routes which were part of the Deeside Shuttle were complex to calculate but would be resolved when the relevant officer had returned from absence.  Other unknown figures were for commercial services where operators had opted not to provide this commercially sensitive information.  Officers were aware of concerns relating to York Road and concerns had been raised with Arriva regarding this No. 10 service during the daytime when the service was operated commercially (during the evenings, when the service was subsidised, the bus did not operate via York Road), however the Council had no control over commercial journeys.  Councillor Shotton said that this issue had been addressed last year where an amicable arrangement had been reached between Arriva and local residents.

Following a question from the Chairman on the size and width of some buses used for rural routes, the Transportation Manager explained that often they needed to accommodate the number of pupils travelling to and from schools in the morning and afternoon; consequently the same buses were also used throughout the day as it was not financially viable to have vehicles sitting idle.  She added that viable alternative solutions would be considered as part of the consultation process.

Councillor C. Hinds spoke of the need for residents in Penyffordd to access services to Deeside Industrial Park and for a service to transport pupils from Dobshill to schools in Hawarden (due to capacity issues at Castell Alun) to avoid the need for taxis.  The Transportation Manager advised that the latter point had recently been raised with commercial operators, however school selection was down to parental choice and problems with capacity at local schools should be raised with Education.

In response to a query raised by Councillor Curtis on evidence to show that subsidised services were running to the required frequency, the Transportation Manager explained that back-office ticket machine data was available.  She also gave an example where an operator had produced GPS data to respond to a challenge on the punctuality of a particular service.

In summing up, the Chairman welcomed the report in view of the cuts made to bus grant funding across Wales and said that innovative thinking would be needed on re-tendering services with meaningful proposals brought back for consideration on 13 November 2013.  On the intention to provide a further bus users’ event, he suggested that an early evening slot be arranged to accommodate individuals at work or school during the day.  The Transportation Manager agreed that this could be considered.

RESOLVED:

That the comments made by the Committee on the draft proposals be considered as part of the consultation.