Planning and Transportation

APPENDIX E (v)

N0 5

(Planning and Transportation)

Service Plan

For The

Concessionary Travel Service

2007/08

INTRODUCTION

The Concessionary Travel service provides concessions to residents of Fareham who are aged 60 or over or who are disabled, with the cost of using public transport. The service supports three types of travel concessions:-

· Fareham Bus Pass: A bus pass that allows free travel within the borough of Fareham (and to specific routes beyond the borough boundary) and half fare travel for journeys that extend beyond the boundary to other parts of Hampshire. Further concessions are available for certain qualifying disability groups.

· National Transport Tokens: Recognising that some people are unable to use buses as a means of transport, the Council offers an alternative, travel token scheme. Tokens are offered to qualifying disabled users, and to people aged 75 or over.

· Dial a Ride: The Council provides the Fareham and Gosport Dial a Ride service with an annual grant towards its running costs. Additionally, the Council provides subsidy to enable users of the Dial a Ride service to benefit from half price fares.

Service Objectives

The objectives of the service are as follows:

(a) To provide an annual travel concession to the people aged 60 or over and to disabled people, in accordance with the Transport Act, 2000.

(b) To provide a travel concession scheme that enables service users to access the bus network within the Borough

Scope of Service

The statutory service is defined in the Transport Act 2000 (as amended), which currently requires that free bus travel is made available to eligible users, during defined off peak periods, within the confines of the borough boundary.
The service actually provided extends beyond the minimum statutory requirements to address the needs of the eligible groups in the Borough. The concessions currently allow for free travel at any time of the day, on routes wholly within the Fareham borough and nominated routes beyond the boundary, as well as discounted half fare travel to other parts of Hampshire, (provided the journey starts or finishes within the Fareham borough). The concession also allows the holder to receive a half fare concession on the purchase of a First Bus day ticket.
The Fareham Bus Pass was introduced on 1st April 2006, as a result of a change to the statutory minimum requirements for the scheme. Until this point, the service was provided jointly with other Local Authorities in Hampshire, allowing pass holders to receive half fare travel within Hampshire. The change

in legislation had significant ramifications for the council’s budget, thus, following a full service review, the decision was taken to offer a concession which provided free travel for the majority of concessionary bus journeys taken by residents of Fareham and which greatly exceeded the statutory minimum requirement, but regrettably did not offer free travel across the County.

Key Drivers

In 2005/06, the service provided concessions to approximately 42% of the eligible population in the borough. Since the introduction of the Fareham Bus Pass, on 1st April 2006, over 53% of the eligible population now receive a travel concession. 89% of service expenditure relates directly to the cost of concessions or grant aid, including the cost of tokens issued or the reimbursement of bus journeys undertaken by Bus Pass users. The primary cost drivers are therefore threefold:

· The number of users benefiting from the service

· The number of bus journeys undertaken by the users

· The type of journeys undertaken by Fareham Bus Pass users

The cost of service is also affected by other, less obvious factors. For example, the rising cost of fuel in recent years has seen the cost of bus journeys increase above inflation, impacting directly on the cost of fares and the subsequent reimbursement incurred by the service. Equally, the existence of a travel concession scheme will positively impact upon the volume of bus journeys undertaken as a whole on the bus network, and this also impacts on the cost incurred by the service.
Finally, and most evident for 2006/07 is the impact that Government legislation had on the scope and generosity of the scheme. From 1st April 2006, the statutory requirement that provides for free bus travel, has brought a high degree of uncertainty to each cost driver for the service, and required a significant increase in resources (£171,000), over and above the grant provided by the Government.

SERVICE OBJECTIVES

The Concessionary Travel service contributes to the following corporate objectives:

Corporate Objective
STRONG & INCLUSIVE COMMUNITIES
Desired Outcome for Local People
A community where everyone is able to play an active part in society.
Service Objective / Processes
Travel Concessions
Encourage travel opportunities for the elderly and physically disabled through the issue of concessions and Grant Aid to the voluntary sector. / Bus pass – Provide a bus pass that, as a minimum, allows for free bus travel within the Fareham borough.
Transport tokens – Offer an alternative travel concession to those currently in receipt of tokens, limited to disabled people and those aged 75 or over.
Dial a ride – provide grant aid to the local dial a ride service as a further alternative to the primary bus pass concession scheme.

service achievements

This section of the service plan describes the key achievements for the Concessionary Travel service for the last three years.

Service Objective - Travel Concessions

Full Details of Achievement

a) The cost of concessionary journeys in 2005/06 increased by 5.2%, as a direct result of an increase in the number of bus passes in circulation and the number of journeys undertaken by users. This has increased further in 2006/07, with an additional £522,000 (91% increase) being spent on the service as a whole.

b) The number of journeys undertaken by Fareham Bus Pass holders in 2006/07 is anticipated to reach 750,000, which is approximately a 15% increase on previous years.

c) All passholders were re-issued with a new Fareham Bus Pass, ready to use on 1st April 2006. These, together with new applications have resulted in a 42% increase in concessions issued, compared to 2005/06, (14,900 in total).

d) A major service review was carried out during 2005 to identify service user requirements, to ensure that the service provided aligns as closely as possible to the needs and desires of the users.

e) The 2005 review recommended an affordable option, which was implemented on time and on budget, enabling Pass Holders free travel effective from 1st April 2006.

f) The 2006 service was designed primarily to support bus usage. Consequently, over 10,500 Fareham residents hold a Fareham Bus Pass, and conduct on average 71 journeys each year with the pass.

g) The adopted scheme not only supports journeys within the Fareham borough, but also allows users to benefit from reduced travel costs on bus journeys beyond the borough boundary. This is seen as a positive factor to the service users, as it enables them to travel to health care facilities, commercial centres and families, in neighbouring boroughs at a reduced cost.

h) During 2006/07, over £30,000 of grant aid was given to Fareham and Gosport dial a ride service. This included a top up grant of over £7,000 so that Fareham users could benefit from half fare travel on this service.

Performance tables

This section of the service plan provides a summary of all local and national performance indicators for the Concessionary Travel service.
Progress against the proposed indicators will then monitored using the corporate approach defined below.

Direction of Travel

This column compares actual figures for 2004/05 and 2005/06 and uses the following symbols to indicate the relative performance for 2005/06.

ñ / = Improved
ó / = No Change
ò / = Worse

Performance Standard

This column compares Actual performance with the Min Std and Target for 2005/06 and uses the following symbols to indicate the relative performance standard:

J / = Good (i.e. better than Target).
K / = Acceptable (i.e. better than Min Std).
L / = Poor (i.e. worse than Min Std).

Comments will be provided where appropriate to explain reasons for poor performance.

Service Objective – Travel Concessions

Ref / Performance Indicator / 2004/05 Actual / 2005/06 Min Std / 2005/06 Target / 2005/06 Actual / Dir of Travel / Perf Std / 2006/07 Target / 2007/08 Target / 2008/09 Target
CF1 / Number of concessions issued as a percentage of total eligible population / New PI 05/06 / 40% / 40% / 42% / Not Available / J / 50% / 52% / 55%
CF2 / Percentage of Fareham Bus Passes issued as a proportion of total concessions issued / New PI 05/06 / 60% / 65% / 68.8% / Not Available / J / 67% / 68% / 70%
CF3 / Free journeys taken as a proportion of total concessionary journeys / New PI 06/07 / n/a / n/a / n/a / n/a / n/a / 59% / 70% / 100%
CF4 / Number of reimbursements made to Bus Operators, in accordance with Scheme Particulars / New PI 06/07 / n/a / n/a / n/a / n/a / n/a / 90% / 95% / 90%
Comment: Performance Indicator CF4, relating to the prompt reimbursement of bus operators, reduces in 2008/09. This is due to the changes in the legislation, effective from 1st April 2008, whereby scheme details have not yet been determined. Consequently, it is anticipated that there may be occasions in the early stages of the new scheme, where reimbursement is not made on time.

POSITION STATEMENT

This section of the service plan reviews how well the concessionary travel service is currently performing against a range of criteria and identifies, where appropriate, issues that need to be addressed over the next three years. This section provides the basis and justification for identifying and prioritising service improvements.
The scheme that operated prior to 2006/07 had been in operation for several years, so when the announcement was made to amend the minimum statutory level of concession, the Council took the opportunity to carry out a detailed review of the service provided, and in particular how this aligns with the Council’s corporate objectives and the needs of the service users. The scheme that was adopted consequently brought with it a high degree of uncertainty surrounding usage and cost. While the first six months of operation have indicated that usage and cost are broadly in line with expectations, the number of concessions in circulation has exceeded initial estimates (14,920 as at 30th Sept 06), with an overall increase of 36.5% in the number of people receiving a concession.
In March 2006, the Government announced that the statutory travel concession would be extended beyond its current remit, to allow free, off peak travel on local bus services throughout England from 1st April 2008. This represents a significant enhancement, and consequently will attract a further cost. While Government funding has been allocated for this, there are no certainties that the distribution of the funding will match the associated cost, at a local level.
The Government allowed a period of two years to develop proposals for the new scheme and a national Concessionary Travel Working Group has been discussing potential options for delivery. While no plans have yet been published for consultation, there is an expectation that there will significant changes in the way the scheme is operated, which could have significant implications for the Council.
These changes may mean, for example, following a nationally agreed framework for administering the scheme and reimbursing Bus Operators, use of common systems and bus passes at a national level, or even the transfer of the service to a different administering body (e.g. at a county or regional level).
Due to the uncertainty of the scheme in 2008/09, the focus for 2007/08 will be to consolidate on the scheme currently in place, and take steps to prepare for the changes, effective from April 2008.
Cost Control: The cost of the scheme is driven primarily by the number of journeys subsidised and the number of applications received for travel tokens. The cost of the service can therefore only be managed through restrictions to the scope of the scheme. The first six months of operation in 2006/07 indicate that the scheme is affordable, within budgeted limits, but there is little scope for extending the boundaries of the scheme, without further increasing the budget available.
The 2006 pass holder survey indicated that, in general terms, the passes met the needs of the users, and whilst there was a general view that a wider range of “free” journeys would be preferable, 85% of pass holders found the scheme either useful or very useful. This was supported by ticket machine data, indicating that 85% of all concessionary bus journeys are conducted within the borough boundary, and are therefore free of charge.
Consequently, as the cost of the scheme is within budget and the service is achieving high satisfaction rates, there are no specific actions proposed to improve the scope or reduce the cost of the scheme in 2007/08. Minor improvements may, however, be explored during consultation with operators, where they can be accommodated within the overall budget for the service.
Demand: During 2005/06, demand for the service reached 42% of the eligible population of Fareham. The Council takes a number of steps to ensure that the scheme is accessible to all those who are eligible and would benefit from travel concessions. For example, a series of renewal road shows are carried out annually to enable users to receive their concessions without travelling to the civic offices. A support service also exists to assist applicants in completing the required forms and a variety of methods are used to deliver the concessions should the applicant be unable to travel to the Civic Offices. Through these measures, and with the enhanced scope of the scheme, 57% of the eligible population in Fareham receive a travel concession in 2006/07.
Further steps to further improve access to the scheme, will be considered, (for example, the ability to apply via the internet) but such an investment will only be progressed once the 2008 proposals are published, to ensure that there is no abortive work undertaken.
The information presented above has been used identify and prioritise a range of service improvements, which are listed in the following section.