IGS School Transport Smartcard System ECS Nov 2013

EDUCATION AND CHILDREN'S SERVICES COMMITTEE 19 NOVEMBER 2013

SCHOOL TRANSPORT SMARTCARD SYSTEM

Report by Director of Education and Children’s Services

PURPOSE OF REPORT To update the Comhairle on proposals to introduce an electronic smartcard system for home to school transport.

COMPETENCE 1.1 There are no legal, equalities or other constraints to the recommendation being implemented.

SUMMARY 2.1 In September 2013 the Comhairle agreed that a Working Group be set up, comprising Officers from Education and Children’s Services, Technical Services and Finance and Corporate Resources, to develop the business case, funding options and implementation plan for smartcard system for Home to School Travel. The Working Group has been set up and had its first meeting on the 24th of October 2013. The members of the group are Anne Macleod (Senior Accountant), David Smart (Transport Coordination Officer) and Jim Morrison (Transport Operations Assistant), Peter Macinnes (MIS Assistant) and Iain Smith (Principal Officer – Education Resources).

2.2 Initial research identified a national meeting in the COSLA offices on the 31st of January 2011 to discuss the possible uses by local authorities of the National Entitlement Card (NEC) for bus travel. The NEC Programme Office attended the meeting and were keen to see one business case to be used by all local authorities for the use of the card instead of 32 different ones. Some local authorities attending the meeting expressed an interest in using the card for home to school transport. Initial contact with John Berry of Dundee City Council pointed the Comhairle towards Andrew Mclellan of Council. Andrew Mclellan has been seconded to Transport for two years to work on the project to utilise the NEC for home to school transport. The project is nearing the final stages and will soon be entering a pilot phase to test the system and iron out any initial problems. The East Lothian Council requirements for their project are attached as Appendix 1 to the Report and are similar to what the working group agreed were the Comhairle requirements. The NEC can also be linked with sQuid. This is an eMoney transaction platform that can allow online payments for cashless catering, bus transport and other payments.

2.3 Andrew Mclellan is quite clear that the work he has been doing on this project is intended for sharing with all Scottish local authorities as advised in the Transport Scotland document “Delivery Strategy – Smart & Integrated Ticketing.” A lot of information relating to the project has already been received by email. This information will be useful to the Working Group when developing the business case for the Comhairle. East Lothian Council have agreed to allow Andrew Mclellan to come to Stornoway to give a detailed description of the East Lothian project and the work carried out so far, the current status of the project and the current timescale for completion.

2.4 The working group will link with other Comhairle Departments to investigate other potential uses for the card and payment system to maximise the benefits of the project to the Comhairle. The timescale of the Comhairle project will be linked to the progress and success of the East Lothian Council project. They are about to undertake a pilot of the new system and full implementation is planned following a successful pilot. It is anticipated that following the visit from Andrew Mclellan, currently programmed for the 13th November 2013, the next progress report to the Comhairle will be able to give a detailed project brief with informed milestones and timescales.

RECOMMENDATION 3.1 It is recommended that the Comhairle note the progress of the Working Group established to consider a smartcard system for Home to School Travel.

CONTACT OFFICER: Iain G Smith 01851 822734

BACKGROUND PAPERS: 28/8/12 – “IMPLEMENTATION OF THE HOME TO SCHOOL TRANSPORT POLICY” and 3/9/13 – “SCHOOL TRANSPORT SMARTCARD SYSTEM”

APPENDIX 1: East Lothian Council – Use of the national entitlement card for home to school transport IGS School Transport Smartcard System ECS Nov 2013

APPENDIX 1 TRANSPORT SERVICES

Use of the National Entitlement Card for Home - to - School transport (public bus)

User Requirement Document

Andrew Mclellan 19/03/2012

The use of National Entitlement Cards for Home to school transport on public bus services IGS School Transport Smartcard System ECS Nov 2013

East Lothian Council Use of the National Entitlement Card for Home - to - School transport (public bus) User Requirement Document Background

1. East Lothian Council (ELC) has aspirations to use the National Entitlement Card (NEC) to carry scholar information for pupils using Public Bus Services. ELC currently has 2800 pupils entitled to mainstream Home-To School transport (HTS), of which 1,000 pupils use public bus services between two operators, First Scotland East (95%) and (5%).

The current process for public bus passes within East Lothian is as follows:

Transport request sent to Transport Services receive Request Pass from Operator sends Transport Services by and assess operator pass school using SEEMis system as per Appendix A

Operator sends Transport services pass attach photo

Laminate pass Transport services

attach photo

Issue Pass Laminate pass

Issue Pass

The time frame for this process varies depending on Royal Mail/Internal mail and operator.

2. Bus drivers have a hard job trying to read and check the passes as pupils only need to show the card as they pass the driver.

Solution

3. Use a smart enabled card that can be read by Electronic Ticket Machines (ETMs) already deployed on the buses. The current National Entitlement Card would be suitable for this purpose.

4 The benefits are:

 Reducing different ticket types;  improving the accountability of recording pupils actual usage;  monitoring the capacity levels of buses thus ensuring that overloading should never happen;  Improved boarding times.  Safer controlled loading of bus in conjunction with the code of conduct IGS School Transport Smartcard System ECS Nov 2013

Requirement 3. East Lothian Council requires the smartcard to allow the bearer travel between Boarding point A and drop of point B, when placing the card on the ticketing machine, as per the table at appendix B: 4. The smartcard should allow the bearer to board onto the bus within 3 seconds, therefore not causing timing delay to the operator when large numbers of pupils are boarding. 5. The smartcard will operate Monday to Friday inclusive only on schooldays, allowing one return journey with a no reshow time of 1 hour per day between:  0730 - 1000 inclusive  1500 - 1700 inclusive

6. The smartcard is required to process the boarding point information allowing the driver to determine whether the bearer is allowed to board from this point, but allow any boarding between point A and B. 7. The smartcard will only allow a maximum 190 journeys in a school calendar year (2012/3 detailed appendix c): 8. The smartcard must link to the HOPS to allow the invoicing from the contractor with a clear breakdown of the journey completed as per the table below: Date Journey from Journey To Fare Cost

9. The smartcard should have 99.9 % reliability; also East Lothian Council requires an agreement based on the concessionary travel scheme system for card failure. 10. The replacement of the card for a lost or malfunctioning card should be within 3 days of the report of failure of the card on the system. 11. The withdrawal of the card based on fraudulent use or behaviour problems will follow the East Lothian Councils code of conduct procedure as per appendix D and be fully investigated by the Transport Officer. 12. The CMS/NEC portal requires a function button to allow setting up of travel authorisation with possible dropdown menus for boarding point/school. 13. The smartcard should also be linked to click & go to allow the full use of the SEEMis system.

A Mclellan A Mclellan Transport Officer

Appendix A Applying for Home to School Transport Mainstream Appendix B Mainstream Service Bus Route Appendix C East Lothian School Calendar 2012/13 Appendix C East Lothian Council Code of Conduct for Home to school Transport

IGS School Transport Smartcard System ECS Nov 2013

Appendix A

IGS School Transport Smartcard System ECS Nov 2013

Appendix B

Mainstream Service Bus Route Route School Boarding Points Pupil Contractor Numbers MG1 Service 44 Wallyford 90+ Lothian Grammar Buses MG2 Service 44 Musselburgh Wallyford 90+ First Bus Grammar RH1 Service 44 Ross High Macmerry 67+ First Bus RH2 Service Ross High ELPHINSTONE 20+ First Bus 110 KA1 Service Knox Ac East Linton 31+ First Bus X45

KA2 Service Knox Ac Gladsmuir 2 First Bus 44c

DG1Service Dunbar Grammar East Linton 60+ First Bus X45

NB1 Service ABERALDY 230+ First Bus DIRLETON GULLANE NORTH BERWICK

NB1 Service North Berwick ABERALDY 80+ First Bus 126 GULLANE NORTH BERWICK NB2 Service North Berwick BALLENCRIEFF 21+ First Bus 127 DREM FENTON BARNS LONGNIDDRY NORTH BER NB3 Service North Berwick ATHELSTANEFORD 25+ First Bus 121 EAST FORTUNE WEST FORTUNE NORTH BERWICK PL1 Preston Lodge PORT SETON 31+ First Bus COCKENZIE PL2 Preston Lodge LONGNIDDRY 114+ First Bus

IGS School Transport Smartcard System ECS Nov 2013

Appendix C TERM 1 In-service Day 1 Monday 13 August 2012 In-service Day 2 Tuesday 14 August 2012 Pupils resume Wednesday 15 August 2012 September Holiday (schools closed for Monday 17 September 2012 staff & pupils) All resume Tuesday 18 September 2012 All break (October Friday 12 October 2012 break) October break Monday – Friday 15 - 19 October 2012 In-service Day 3 Monday 22 October 2012 Pupils resume Tuesday 23 October 2012 All break (Christmas) Thursday 20 December 2012 = 85 pupil days

= 88 Staff days TERM 2 In-service Day 4 Monday 7 January 2013 Pupils resume Tuesday 8 January 2013 All break Friday 8 February 2013 February break Monday – Friday 11 – 15 February 2013 All resume Monday 18 February 2013 All break (Easter) Friday 22 March 2013 Good Friday Friday 29 March 2013 Easter Monday Monday 1 April 2013 = 49 pupil days

= 50 staff days TERM 3 All resume Monday 8 April 2013 Spring holiday Monday 15 April 2013 (schools closed) May Day (schools Monday 6 May 2013 closed) All resume Tuesday 7 May 2013 Victoria Day (schools Monday 20 May 2013 closed) In-service day 5 Tuesday 21 May 2013 Pupils resume Wednesday 22 May 2013 Term ends Friday 28 June 2013

IGS School Transport Smartcard System ECS Nov 2013

Appendix D East Lothian Council School Transport Code of conduct East Lothian Council. High School Representatives, School Transport Contractors and the Police have, jointly, produced this Code of Conduct, which will apply to all pupils using school transport. The Code of Conduct has been devised to ensure the safety of all passengers by establishing positive social skills and reinforcing appropriate citizenship values. 1. You should carry your bus permit with you at all times. Failure may result in you being

refused travel or having to pay for the journey.

 You should show your pass to the driver when you board the transport, and to any other official of the Transport Company, Council, Police or Government Inspectorate, when requested.  Your permit is for your use only and is your authority to travel on the contracted transportation and forms part of the legal agreement made by the council and the contractor to transport you. It should not be given to anyone else, or used on any other route. Failure to comply with this will lead to the removal of the pass and the right to free school transport. The Transportation Company, Police or Government Inspectorate may even constitute this as fraud.  If your permit is lost/stolen or damaged, then you are required to purchase a replacement, and must notify school reception staff immediately. Until the replacement pass request and the necessary fee have been placed with the school, staff will issue a one week temporary pass on contracted services. Parents will have to issue pupils with cash for public service routes; failure to carry out this action will mean that you will not be able to access transport. 2. You should remain seated at all times, until you reach your destination.  Seatbelts must be worn, when provided and only one person to a seat.  It should never be necessary for you to change seats or use the stairs on buses until the end of your journey. 3. You should be on your best behaviour throughout your journey.  The driver and other passengers must be treated with courtesy and respect at all times. o Teasing, tormenting or bullying other pupils, however trivial, is likely to lead to a major disruption, which could distract the driver causing an accident and so should not happen at all. o Pupils must not under any circumstances throw anything around the bus ( or out the windows), interfere with emergency doors or the bell, smoke or be involved in any rowdy or loud behaviour which might distract the driver. o Littering and vandalising any transportation in any form is strictly forbidden. Pupils/Parents will be required to pay for the cost of making good any damage caused and offenders will be banned from school transport. o Access to the existing school transport provision may be refused for pupils who persist in bad behaviour and travel arrangements will become the responsibility of the parents/guardian. o The school may also take disciplinary action against a pupil misbehaving on transport to and from school. This may include exclusion from school. o Contractors have the right to refuse to carry pupils whom they feel is likely to jeopardise the safety of the other passengers. In this event the transportation will stop all pupils will remain on the transport and follow the directions of the driver. The driver will call the Police, School and council immediately. o In the event of the Transport stopping mid route due to breakdown all pupils will remain on the transport and follow the directions of the driver. The driver will call the company recovery, the School, and council immediately. ------The pupil and a parent/guardian must sign below, to indicate that they have read and agree to uphold the code, Parents/guardians are expected to encourage adherence to the code, to reinforce this from time to time, and to support any investigations of any incident, which occurs. This form is to be return to Transport Services John Muir House Haddington EH41 3HA

I, ……………………………….. (pupils name) Have read and agree to uphold the Code of Conduct at all times when using the school transport.

Signed …………………………… (Pupil) Date ……………… Signed …………………………… (Parent/guardian) Date ……………