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Report from the New Forest Transport Group Meeting 19/4/16
The meeting was opened by Peter Shelley Head of Passenger Transport Hampshire County Council.
Peter told us about the forthcoming Buses Bill which was currently going through Parliament. There were NO people out of all the Parish and Local Councillors, New Forest National Park and local Colleges who knew about this Bill! Apparently Hampshire County Council have been involved in workshops and meetings since January 2016.Peter stated that the Buses Bill had been somewhat overshadowed by the Euro Election Campaign.
Peterstated that the Buses Bill will have the biggest impact on transport for 30 years.
Currently the way transport is organised and provided is very complex and costly and the local authority carry the cost(a cost comparison was given of £26.00 per journey with the NEW system to a current cost of £1.60 per journey).
The Buses Bill proposes for local Councils to decide what services are needed in their local area. This will not be straightforward. There will be franchising and partnership opportunities. Also there was a mention of Taxi share schemes.
Authorities for example Solent will need to put in place safeguards especially in cross border areas to protect New Forest Services.
Partnerships may need to be formed by bus authorities working together, maybe extending their areas and to give improved passenger information.
Local authorities hope to be able to make more realistic choices and pay realistic premiums. Any cuts to services will need to be notified 56 days before ceasing a service to allow opinions to be voiced.
There is a website called My Journey Website that is very helpful for planning a journey as well as the Travel Line on line facility.
Peter was not sure where the funding for all the changes will come from and funds will have to be juggled to cover transport costs!
A point was raised that as the public and Councillors were not aware of the Buses Bill how could they be involved in any decisions?
Also mentioned was that time would tell whether rail and ferry links would be able to complimentbuses. It was mentioned that Pennington was a particularly poor area for transport links, this will be looked at by H.C.C. lobbied by the Parish Councillor..
The Buses Bill does not talk about extra funding to achieve the new system.
Expected implementation time if the Bill is passed is early 2017.
The meeting was then taken over by Nikki Honer, Marketing and Communications Manager of Go South Coast buses.
Go South Coast includes Blue Star, Damory, Hants and Dorset, Wilts and Dorset, More, Reds, Vectis Southern,Tourist and Unilink bus/coach transport.
Nikki stated that there will be no changes in May to the X1 and X2 timetable and however some Sunday services are due to return.
The New Forest Tour and Beach Bus (concessionary bus passes can be used on the Beach Bus only but not on the Tour Bus) will also return but not the New Forest National Park Baby Bus which has lost it’s funding.
Lymington Bus Station has been closed to save money and also passengers being taken to the area they want not just a central point. A Bus Staff room has been opened above the National Rail ticket office as good Staff facilities has proven to improve customer standards. All Staff are receiving customer service training and this has reduced complaints and improved compliments.
New buses will have USB chargers and WiFi.
Smart card users can top up online or on the bus and will be able to pay by Paypal or download ticket information onto a mobile phone application. This will enable Parents to buy their childs tickets so there will be no money concerns.
Also Digi tickets will be available, tickets will have a barcode so for example a family on holiday can buy a weekly ticket.
Nikki stated that the number of concessionary fare / ticket journeys had decreased and suggested that people made an occasional journey by bus rather than car.
Kevin Ings – Community and Social Care Transport Manager for Hampshire County Council spoke for the last part of the meeting about future challenges.
Kevin talked about the current BSOG fuel costing arrangement was only in place until May 2017 and he was unsure of the longer term future. Also the reducing budgets ( Community First New Forest is Council grant funded) and ageing vehicle fleet and possible legal changes under which the community transport services run.
Some areas are putting contracts out to tender and some are combining areas.
Contracts will be for 4 years with an option to extend for an additional 2 years to attract people to invest in a longer term contract. Some contracts are currently only for one year. They are also looking at more fairness when distributing funding for services. Also they are exploring further whether they can package transport services by combining 3 services that compliment each other.
Dial a Ride and Call and Go vehicles will remain HCC property and will be transferrable to tenderers for contracts.
Also being looked at is joint funding for example with New Forest District Council.
Exploration started in February 2016 and the engagement period ends on the 6th May 2016. This then goes to the Executive Committee Members on the 30thjune 2016.
New contracts will be announced in April 2017.
Community Transport Fares can only be increased with the permission from HCC after contracts have been given.
Full notes of this meeting are included with this report.
Mary Hindmarch – 21/04/2016
Stable Family Home Trust Job Coach, Project Worker at Gifted Garden Centre, Highcliffe and Touching Base Club Sopley– Club Leader.