Agenda item

Considered -

A report by Emma Pemberton and Andrew Clarke of Business and Environmental Services, North Yorkshire County Council. 

Andrew Clarke presented the report and some of the key points are as summarised below.  Emma Pemberton attended remotely using MS Teams.

·         YorBus is a flexible, on-demand bus service connecting Ripon, Masham, Bedale and surrounding villages

·         The service started in July 2021, initially as a 12 month pilot project, and has recently been extended for a further year up to 30 June 2023

·         The service is run with two 14 seater, wheelchair accessible buses using NYCC “in house” fleet vehicles and staff resource; operating from 06:55 to 18:00 Monday to Friday, and 09:00 to 18:00 on Saturdays

·         Customers book journeys on the bus via the dedicated YorBus app or through the NYCC Customer Service Centre

·         Fares were increased from the start of August with a single journey costing £2:00 for adults, £1:00 for a child, with under-fives travelling for free

·         Customers with a concessionary bus pass may use their bus pass to travel for free within concessionary bus pass hours

·         From 1 July 2021 to 31 July 2022, YorBus has seen more than 850 active riders complete over 13,000 passenger journeys

·         The net cost of running the service for 2022/23 is budgeted as £229,000

·         The average cost per passenger is currently twice that of other subsidised bus services but the fares have recently been increased and the number of passengers is steadily increasing, which then means that the cost per head is coming down

·         It is to be expected that there would be increased costs associated with such a flexible bus service

·         Further funding to support the extended pilot was applied for through the Bus Service Improvement Plan but the bid was unsuccessful

·         A pre-booking element has been introduced that enables people to plan more complex journeys, such as timing a YorBus journey to enable them to catch a specific train

·         The service has generated new bus users and so does not appear to be in competition with existing bus services.  The objective is to be complementary and not in competition.

There followed a discussion, the key points of which are as summarised below:

·         The service appears to be expensive, accepting that it is still in a pilot phase.  The increased costs associated with providing such a flexible service need to be balanced against the access that this gives people to transport in a rural area with relatively few bus services

·         The report indicates that each journey costs around £16 to £17 per person.  There are questions to as to whether this is sustainable and whether it provides value for money.  The funding could be used on other travel schemes to greater effect

·         There is clearly a need to drive down costs, as the average costs per person for a subsidised bus services is around £5, with more rural, fixed timetable services running at around £8 to £12 per person

·         Not everyone who lives in a rural area has access to a car and so it is important that this pilot and others are pursued and properly evaluated to see what options there are for sustainable rural bus services

·         The funding for the pilot could be used to support existing timetabled services in rural areas

·         The pilot is innovative but concerns expressed that it was not practicable

·         Could more effort be put into promoting car sharing the supporting villages in setting up care share schemes

·         Concerns that the service may be undermining some of the existing bus services.

The Chair summed up and thanked Andrew and Emma for attending and answering questions.  He noted that the pilot was innovative and it was the right thing to do to continue with it and fully test the operating model.  He hoped, however, that the costs could be driven down further over time.

Resolved –

a)    A further update to be provided in 12 months’ time.