In February 2020 the Department for Transport announced funding of £220 million to improve bus services through it’s Better Deal for Bus Users. In North Yorkshire we asked for proposals from bus operators, Parishes, County Councillors, members of the public and other stakeholders on how we might spend the funding. A total of 77 responses were received with requests or suggestions, some included multiple requests and a total of 115 suggestions were put forward. Whilst many requests did not include costs it is estimated that the total value of requests submitted is around £7million.
Supported bus services fund
In North Yorkshire we were asked to submit proposals to allocate £757k for this funding, These submissions to the authority were prioritised. This process included assessments such as comparison against current levels of service availability and if the journey could already be made by connecting journeys, reasons for travel (for example employment, healthcare etc.), cost benefit, and officer assessment on whether the journey has potential for longer term sustainability.
The DfT has now subsequently advised that given the current Covid-19 pandemic the Supported bus services fund may also be used on maintaining the supported and commercial bus service network at pre-pandemic levels over an 18-month period.
Given the rurality of North Yorkshire the authority is concerned that operators will not be able to continue with or reinstate both contracted and commercial services at pre-pandemic levels as passenger numbers are likely to be affected for some considerable time. As a result, the authority is expecting to spend the full amount of £757,185 on maintaining the supported and commercial bus network at pre-pandemic levels.
Should all of part of the allocation of Supported Bus Service Fund not be required for this purpose the intention is then to revert to the suggestions received as part of the consultation exercise and improve access for local communities across seven districts of North Yorkshire in a priority order until funds are exhausted.
Rural Mobility Fund
In North Yorkshire we have now submitted two expression of interest to the Department for Transport for the Rural Mobility Fund.
The first bid is around resolving some of the health transport issues in the Richmondshire and Hambleton areas. A number of consultation responses referred to problems accessing hospital services in these areas. The proposal is for a pilot Demand Responsive Transport project through a single booking portal to book transport services to the hospital, both in advance and on-demand.
The second bid is based around working directly with communities to establish their needs and provide them with the resources to resolve the transport issues they identify. The concept is to establish several Community Hub led demand responsive transport schemes bringing transport to the heart of the rural areas, and provide a menu of support options to each Community Hub. The resources on offer will be a vehicle, Uber style booking app, transport management function and paid driver support.
We are disappointed that we have not been successful in securing funding from Department for Transport as part of the Rural Mobility Fund. We submitted two applications for funding with both bids focused on providing flexible transport services, where transport is shared and vehicles vary their routes based on demand rather than using a fixed route or timetable, therefore providing transport that would react to local needs.
One was designed to support community hubs in putting transport at the heart of rural areas, providing support with back office, planning, scheduling and transport management functions to enable services to be tailored to local requirements. The other would have seen the creation of a flexible transport to provide improved access to healthcare. We are sure both projects would have been welcomed by residents.
