APPENDIX A15

Service Review of Public Transport

Scope

1. The Public Transport Review considered the issue of public transport the range of functions and services the Council provides operates and commissions, current transport policy, funding issues, the need to develop a transport vision and opportunities this would give. It specifically considered the following topics:

• Bus Travel • School Lift • Taxi • Chain • Rail • Cross Solent travel • Working with others • Transport vision • Funding and finance

Work Undertaken

2. Having defined the scope of the review, the budgets were prepared for these areas and presented to a steering group comprising the lead Member Director and senior officers, including those representing transport operations and contracts, transport policy and finance. The Steering Group met on a number of occasions to review the information. A set of notes were taken and these were used to inform this paper.

Consultation

3. The majority of the consultation has been between the Lead Member, Director and officers involved in helping to deliver the service. Key stakeholders were identified as being , , Community Rail Partnership (CRP), Quality Transport Partners (QTP), Bus and Rail Users Group, Community Bus, Ferry Users Group (FUG), Transport for South and the . The meeting of the Cross Solent Services Scrutiny Task and Finish Group took place on 5/12/2013 which also heard representations from a range of transport users has also been helpful in adding background information.

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Initial Conclusions

OVERALL:

4. Public transport is a fundamentally important part of our lives and particularly for those without a car, access to public transport is essential for a range of journeys including - to school, work and recreation and for crossing . The Council has an important role to play in helping to provide and coordinate home to school transport, voluntary buses and the floating bridge. The operation and improvement of local rail services - Island Line and the cross Solent ferry services are also of paramount importance to those who live on and visit the Island.

5. There are a number of important issues to consider including the cost of supporting local bus services, operating and replacing the floating bridge, addressing public expectations and getting the best value for money. The public also anticipate that the Council will have influential role in the operation of cross Solent services and the Island Line – the franchise of which is due for renewal in 2019.

6. Government funding made available specifically for transport is made up of two parts – maintenance and integrated transport block (ITB). The maintenance element goes directly to support road maintenance through the PFI project and the ITB has been top sliced by government to support the growth agenda.

7. Funding for Concessionary fares is included in the Revenue Support Grant

8. The Council has joined with its neighbours – Hampshire County Council HCC), (PCC) and City Councils (SCC) in Transport for South Hampshire and the Isle of Wight (TfSHIoW). As a member of this group the Island now has a mechanism by which we can bid to government through the Solent Enterprise Partnership (SLEP) and Local Transport Body (LTB) for future major transport funding potentially available as part of the governments growth agenda.

9. We are using the opportunity to bid for additional funding by working with SCC, Homes and Community Agency (HCA) and others to bid for funding to improve East and Southampton ferry terminal and the that operate between them.

10. The Council may have the opportunity to bid for other pots of money and it is important that we devise a transport vision for the Island which building on existing policy set out in the Island Plan Core Strategy and Island Transport Plan includes a set of agreed transport priorities, for which the Council would wish to seek funding.

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BUS TRAVEL:

11. Southern Vectis provides the majority of local bus services and the Council works in partnership with them to provide home to school bus transport and with them and community groups to support the community bus services.

12. The number of passengers using Southern Vectis buses has, counter to experience elsewhere in the UK remained reasonably stable over recent years.

Year Total bus passengers (million) 2005 5.2 2006 6.1 2007 7.4 2008 8.0 2009 7.8 2010 7.3 2011 7.0 2012 xx

13. Costs associated with local bus services are:

Total cost £8.5m of which £8.1m paid is directly to Southern Vectis for the services they provide:

• School lift £3.3m • Concessionary fares £4.4m • Subsidised bus services £0.436m – including community buses.

14. Income is received from a variety of sources including Government grant, S106 contributions and fees & charges, which partially offset the costs.

School Lift

15. The Council currently contracts 57 buses & coaches from Southern Vectis for primary, secondary & Special Educational Needs (SEN) transport. Additionally 14 passenger escorts are provided within this contract to meet the needs of the students on the SEN bus services. The contract is in place for 8 years expiring July 2020.

16. Additionally approximately 750 term tickets are purchased and issued to students for use on the public network of bus services. The majority of these are issued to

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post 16 students attending the Isle of Wight College and other sixth form campuses. The contract for this provision expires July 2016.

Concessionary Fares & Subsidised Services

17. The Council has an agreement in place with Southern Vectis which sets the rate of reimbursement that is paid for concessionary fares. The forecast for the current financial year is that the reimbursement of concessionary fares will cost the Isle of Wight Council £4.4m for 3.06m passenger journeys. This agreement expires at the end of March 2015.

18. In advance of the mid-point of the agreement (1 April 2014), the rate of reimbursement is to be reset using the DfT reimbursement tool for the year 2012/13 and the agreed parameters. This has now been completed and the forecast cost for the financial year 2014/15 is £4.5m based upon the current numbers of eligible passenger journeys.

19. In addition to setting the rate of reimbursement for concessionary journeys the agreement also requires Southern Vectis to maintain the network of local bus services at September 2010 level and to undertake a handful of other lifeline bus services to rural areas. The cost of this provision in the current financial year is £268,628.88.00 Rate of inflation (CPI) is applicable to this cost from September 2014.

Community Bus Services

20. Currently the Isle of Wight Council funds 10 Community bus services at a cost of £183,282.00 for the current financial year.

Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG)

21. The Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) is a grant currently paid directly by the Department for Transport (DfT) to operators of eligible local bus services to help them recover some of their fuel costs. The amount each bus company receives is based on their annual fuel consumption and operational mileage. From the 1st January the BSOG grant for subsidised bus services is being devolved to the local authorities, though the grant funds will be supplied by the DfT. The DfT have provisionally set the value of the grant associated with subsidised services on the Isle of Wight at £22,000 payable to Southern Vectis and £3,000 to two community bus operators.

22. This government has announced that they are proposing to review BSOG rebate and early indicators are that after 2015 the rebate may no longer cover the whole grant value and certainly no rate of inflation will be applied.

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23. The aim of BSOG is to benefit passengers. It does this by helping operators keep their fares down and enabling operators to run services that might not otherwise be profitable and might be cancelled.

TAXI

24. Taxis fulfil a key role in filling in the gaps between private car use and public transport. They are also an essential part in fulfilling home to school transport needs. The Council’s involvement is primarily related to regulating fares and licencing.

25. Currently 57 taxi services are contracted providing home to school transport for 142 students, who have specific needs or live in remote geographic locations where other forms of transport are not available.

CHAIN FERRY

26. The Council operates the chain link ferry which crosses between Cowes and . Operating throughout the day the ferry offers a direct link between the two towns cutting out the need to travel via Newport and the heavily used Coppins Bridge Gyratory. There are a number of issues for consideration here:

• The link is seen as essential for those wishing to cross between Cowes and East Cowes. • The current ferry is old and nearing the end of its operational life. • The operational costs are £ £0.564m pa. Charges apply to vehicles only, set to a level that means the service breaks even. . • The cost of a replacement would be in the region of £3m • Design and build might be an option for a replacement. • Putting up charges is not popular and currently travel on foot / by bike is free.

RAIL

27. Currently operated by South West Trains (SWT), Island Line in its present form opened in 1967 and operates a scheduled service between Pier Head and .

28. Operating 1938 ex London Underground Rolling stock on a two trains per hour 20 and 40 minute basis, the figures supplied by SWT show that the line carries in the region of 1,6m passengers per annum. With the exception of 2 new stations opening at Lake in 1987 and Smallbrook Junction in 1991 the line has not seen any significant investment in infrastructure or trains since 1967.

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29. The franchise for the line is due for renewal in 2019 and investment will be required to bring the line back up to the original standard.

30. Key factors are:

• Rolling stock is 1938 • Island Line is responsible for all aspects of maintenance. • Network Rail is responsible for major structural repairs – excluding track. • Repairs needed to – estimated to be £9m • Switchgear replacement £800,000 • Rolling stick options are limited due to loading gauge of tunnel at Ryde

31. SWT has stated that it is not looking to close the line and the Council is in discussions with SWT / Network Rail regarding future options including cheaper and more flexible solutions.

CROSS SOLENT TRAVEL

32. Unlike nearly every other local authority area there is primarily only one way to cross into the local authority area. Travellers to and from the Island do not have the availability of a range of travel options – bus rail, car, walking and cycling and nearly everything and everybody that comes to the Island does so by one of the cross Solent links.

33. Key issues are:

• Perceived high cost in travelling. • Fall in patronage • Cuts in services. • Age of some vessels. • Increasing operational costs • Capacity issues at some ports. • Government support for services not forthcoming.

34. The number of cross Solent journeys has declined slightly and plateaued over recent years and the statistics since 2005 are as follows:

Year Passengers Cars Coaches Commercial

2005 9,406,601 1,759,859 24,815 266,779 2006 9,278,865 1,757,057 24,034 277,261 2007 9,184,283 1,760,913 22,436 294,265 2008 9,050,909 1,740,485 21,099 270,856 2009 9,111,058 1,736,748 20,669 278,631

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2010 9,104,611 1,741,838 20,523 290,649 2011 9,112,200 1,769,747 19,518 299,350

35. Maintaining and improving cross Solent links are essential for the wellbeing of the Island and its economy. The Council is currently seeking views on the cross Solent services through a scrutiny task and finish group meeting which took place on 5/12/2013, where it heard representations from a range of transport users. It will also be taking views from the transport operators at a future event.

36. The opportunity to expand current port facilities is limited in many instances. and Red Funnel have recently announced improvements to their vessels with a new now on order for the Ryde to route and a £2m planned refurbishment of Red Funnel ferry Red Falcon which will see a 55% increase in passenger capacity.

37. The Council is working with SCC Red Funnel and others to submit a bid to the Local Transport Body for government money to relocate and improve the port facilities at East Cowes and Southampton transport which will improve access and marshalling facilities, unlock development potential and employment and investment opportunities on both sides and facilitate the upgrading and improvement of the ferries on that route. This bid is seen by DfT and SLEP as a positive way to improve cross Solent links and bolster the local economy

WORKING WITH OTHERS

38. The Council recognises the importance of working with others both in terms of learning, joint working and sharing best practice. The council has recently joined Partnership for Urban South Hampshire (PUSH) and Transport for South Hampshire and the Isle of Wight (TfSHIoW). Joining these groups is helping the council make the best of its available resources and inform the authority about discussions and opportunities on the other side of the Solent.

39. A joint bid with TfSHIoW partners Southampton City Council could help unlock funding to improve one of our key cross Solent ferry links and act as a catalyst for other similar improvements on the Island.

DEVELOPING A TRANSPORT VISION

40. Transport policy for the Island is currently contained in the Island Plan - Core Strategy and Island Transport Plan. Both documents help establish the overall transport policy for the Island. Using these agreed policies as a the foundation the opportunity exists to now develop a Transport Vision for the Island which sets out agreed local transport priorities and transport schemes, so that if any funding should become available the Island will be well placed to bid for it.

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Budget/Financial Implications

41. Supporting local transport at £8m is one of this Council’s major expenditures. The Council has an agreed contract with Southern Vectis which pegs services and expenditure at a 2011 level until 2015. Clearly in the short to medium term consideration will have to be given as to how we continue beyond that date so as to achieve an acceptable level of service and the best possible value for money

42. Consideration will also have to be given to the costs of running and potentially replacing the chain ferry. Although currently with no direct financial implications the council also has a key role to play in the future of Island Line and any opportunities that may be available through the franchise process.

43. There may well be the opportunity to bid for government transport funding through the SLEP and Local Transport Body and developing a transport vision for the Island with a list of agreed prioritised schemes will be essential if the Island is to maximise any funding opportunities alongside assisted area status.

Lead Cabinet Member Cllr Ian Stephens Leader of the Council.

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