Travel Watch South West 5 th March 2016 Cllr. Horace Prickett, Portfolio Holder for Passenger Transport Wiltshire Council

How did we get here?

South West Wales

How did we get here?

12% 1.5% 8%

Background to Wiltshire Current policy priority: –maintaining hourly or two hourly weekday daytime service on ‘strategic network’” –maintaining an hourly service on routes serving the larger housing areas within the main towns –maintain at least a daily service on weekday daytimes to rural settlements. –Medium priority is given to providing higher levels of service where these are justified by the number of passengers travelling relative to the cost to the Council of providing the service. –Lower priority is given to funding evening and Sunday services, and to supporting more than an hourly frequency on daytime services. Bus market: –7 suppliers offering commercial services –15 offering subsidised services –No dominant supplier, geography makes commerciality less attractive

6 th.

Services heavily subsidised in Wiltshire

Service reduction & consultation process Passenger Transport wide review “everything in scope” Already made around £4.5m savings from other reviews / efficiencies £2.5 million savings target(!! MTFP) Savings from non statutory services, which means public transport Timescales: –March to May 2015 – Scope of exercise –June to August 2015 – Pre consultation & stakeholder workshops –September – December 2015 – Options appraisal –January to April – Public consultation –July – Report to Cabinet

Pre Consultation results

Bus services are currently grouped into a number of categories. Given the financial situation and the need to make substantial cost savings which of the following categories do you feel it is most important for the council to support.

The following question asks you to agree or disagree to a number of statements about potential changes to bus services based on the financial savings that could be made and the present usage levels.

Community Transport engagement AgreeDisagreeDon't know Given the right level of support, community transport could meet many of the needs currently met by bus services 23.4% 57.8% 18.8% Given the right level of support, community transport could meet some of the needs currently met by bus services 47.2% 40.3%12.5% Given the right level of support, community transport could meet only a few of the needs currently met by bus services 54.5% 31.0%14.5% There is a natural limit to the amount of community transport that any community can organise and we are at or close to that limit in Wiltshire 50.3% 18.4%31.3% The group I represent would be willing to be actively involved in expanding the provision of community based transport (if you agree please make sure you give your contact details later in the survey at q18) 13.4%35.8% 50.8%

Public Consultation Options What options are the public being asked to consider in the current consultation document.

1. Evening Services 11 routes are supported 350,000 passenger journeys subsidised each year Withdrawal could save £639,000 a year

2. Sundays/Public Holiday Services 8 routes are supported 150,000 passenger journeys subsidised each year Withdrawal could save £165,000 a year

3. Strategic Services 13 routes are supported 420,000 passenger journeys subsidised each year Reductions could save £430,000 a year

4. Rural Services 58 routes are supported Over 1 million passenger journeys subsidised each year Reductions could save £1.19m a year

5. Town Services 16 routes are supported 550,000 passenger journeys subsidised each year Reductions could save £460,000 a year

6. All subsidy 2.5 million passenger journeys subsidised each year Withdrawal could save £5.1m a year

What will we learn from the consultation? The impact that service reductions will have on people A rank of public transport priorities Every comment is being read and categorised (probably 7000 by the end!!!) Inform the decision making process……..

HOW WE COMPARE WITH OTHER LA BUS CUTS South West Bournemouth Borough Council0.00%Bournemouth Borough Council0.00% Bristol City Council25.66%North Somerset Council0.42% Devon County Council6.98%Dorset County Council0.69% Dorset County Council0.69%Plymouth City Council0.90% Gloucestershire County Council17.36%Swindon Borough Council1.57% North Somerset Council0.42%Devon County Council6.98% Plymouth City Council0.90%Somerset County Council14.96% Somerset County Council14.96%Wiltshire Council16.22% South Gloucestershire Council31.65%Gloucestershire County Council17.36% Swindon Borough Council1.57%Bristol City Council25.66% Torbay Borough Council83.59%South Gloucestershire Council31.65% Wiltshire Council16.22%Torbay Borough Council83.59%

Where are we now?