TheManOnThe172
Member
- Joined
- 1 Aug 2014
- Messages
- 344
An article about financial pressures on bus services in Dorset included data on spending by the County Council that sets their cost of public bus subsidies in context:
I was really surprised how large the Additional Needs and Adult Services costs were. If these figures are anything like correct, two things strike me:
* The prospects for subsidised public services look grim: while there is a vague Statutory Duty to provide "appropriate" public transport, authorities can plead shortage of funds to provide a very thin service (as long as it is spread equally: thus the enthusiasm for DRT). I know that School Transport has a much clearer Statutory requirement, and suspect that the same applies to Adult Services. So as transport costs rise faster than government funding to councils, the pressure to reduce public services will be immense.
* The need to take a "Total Transport" approach to rural areas is very clear. School buses have always provided middle-of-the-day public services at relatively little extra cost (but are at risk where authorities' accounting practices make them look more expensive by sharing out the fixed costs across both school and public journeys). The big scope must be in Adult Services transport. I believe that in Lincolnshire, they provide much of their Adult Services transport with their DRT vehicles, with Adult Services funding the heavy end of the fixed costs of the vehicles.
Does anyone have insight into whether the Dorset figures are typical of other areas? And are there other areas beyond Lincolnshire where Adult Services and/or Additional Needs transport is being provided in publicly-funded vehicles (which are potentially available for Public Transport use too) rather than just by contracting for individual taxi trips?
£m pa | ||
Public subsidised services | 1.2 | 2% |
School Transport - main | 10 | 20% |
School Transport - additional needs | 13 | 26% |
Adult Services Transport | 26 | 52% |
Total | 50.2 | 100% |
I was really surprised how large the Additional Needs and Adult Services costs were. If these figures are anything like correct, two things strike me:
* The prospects for subsidised public services look grim: while there is a vague Statutory Duty to provide "appropriate" public transport, authorities can plead shortage of funds to provide a very thin service (as long as it is spread equally: thus the enthusiasm for DRT). I know that School Transport has a much clearer Statutory requirement, and suspect that the same applies to Adult Services. So as transport costs rise faster than government funding to councils, the pressure to reduce public services will be immense.
* The need to take a "Total Transport" approach to rural areas is very clear. School buses have always provided middle-of-the-day public services at relatively little extra cost (but are at risk where authorities' accounting practices make them look more expensive by sharing out the fixed costs across both school and public journeys). The big scope must be in Adult Services transport. I believe that in Lincolnshire, they provide much of their Adult Services transport with their DRT vehicles, with Adult Services funding the heavy end of the fixed costs of the vehicles.
Does anyone have insight into whether the Dorset figures are typical of other areas? And are there other areas beyond Lincolnshire where Adult Services and/or Additional Needs transport is being provided in publicly-funded vehicles (which are potentially available for Public Transport use too) rather than just by contracting for individual taxi trips?