PTPS Review of Services 120 / 155 – Response to Community Concerns

Further to the community engagement events held with regard to the intended course of action for services 120 and 155, as well as subsequent emails received following these events, the table below summarises the main comments and concerns raised and the follow-up actions which have been undertaken.

The intention is to operate the revised service - Service 125 – from February half-term 2020.

Service Comment Response 120 Concerns regarding reduced There will be 4 return journeys per day from and access to Bradgate Park to the Park, offering varying dwell times. Although access to ‘leisure’ is a secondary journey purpose within the Policy and Strategy, it is recognised that access to Bradgate Park is important and has been retained, albeit at a lower level than is currently available. Considered against the Policy and no action required. 120 Need for better promotion Issue was discussed with the operator. The new service of service 120 for access to registration will include Bradgate Park in the title and as a Bradgate Park timing point within the timetable - ‘Newtown Linford (for Bradgate Park)’. No cost implications 120 Retime the last journey from Issue was discussed with the operator who has retimed the Leicester to 17:45 (rather journey as requested. No cost implications. than the proposed 17:30) 120 Concerns re. loss of 06:30 The 06:30 journey is outside of the Council’s Passenger journey from Leicester to Transport Strategy which states that: Coalville which carries “We will only consider supporting service runs that depart workers from or arrive at their first location between the following times: • Monday to Friday 07.00 to 19.00 • Saturday 08.00 to 18.00” The 06:30 journey will not, therefore, be reinstated 155 Concerns raised re. access to The issues were raised with colleagues in school admissions school in for clarification. Pupils travelling on the service are not attending their nearest suitable school so are not entitled to travel assistance under the County Council Policy. A Safe and Sustainable Travel officer travelled on 4 journeys around morning and afternoon school times on Weds 23 October to assess current demand and reported back as follows: • One pupil travelled on the 07:00 Coalville to Castle Donington journey, plus one paying adult • No passengers travelled on the 08:00 journey back to Coalville from Castle Donington • 2 passengers travelled on the 15:00 Coalville to Castle Donington journey • 3 pupils travelled on the 16:05 journey from Castle Donington, all boarding in Castle Donington, plus one paying passenger The operator confirmed that to operate extra journeys in the morning and afternoon peaks would require an additional bus and driver. This would remove any cost savings achieved by integrating the two services. 155 Could there be an additional The issue was discussed with the operator who confirmed journey from Coalville to that there would be an additional charge to provide the Castle Donington at the end journey. Operational data supplied by the operator of the timetable indicated that demand for this journey would be very low and therefore no additional journey will be provided. 155 Loss of access to East The limited 07:00 – 19:00 timetable of the current service Midlands Airport 155 means that it would not meet the Airport’s criteria for providing funding for the service to continue to serve the Airport. Analysis of passenger data indicated that there were few boardings at the Airport. It is intended that the service will not serve the Airport in the future. 155 Concern regarding loss of In response to concerns regarding access to employment in access to employment Coalville and Airport, a meeting was held in opportunities December with representatives of the ‘Work, Live Leicestershire’ (WiLL) project, the local community transport operator and County Council officers, to explore whether any alternative travel solutions could be identified to assist people in the search for employment in the Coalville area. Discussions at the meeting indicated that the new journeys on the Castle Donington to Coalville section of the route will provide access to and from the Job Club at the library in Coalville at appropriate times. Discussions regarding other journeys are ongoing. 155 Concern over the limited By amending the final journey out of Leicester to run 15 dwell time in Coalville minutes later, it is possible to increase the dwell time in Coalville by 15 minutes (to 2 hours 15 mins). This will be incorporated into the new timetable at no additional cost. 155 Query regarding integration Service 129 has been reviewed and is providing a good of 155 with other services at service with an active Community Bus Partnership in (e.g. service 129, support. The timetable for Service 129 has been reviewed Ashby – ) and is working well; we would not, therefore, look to amend the 129 timetable to meet the 155 timetable. The 155 timetable is constrained by the need to integrate with service 120. There is, therefore, no opportunity to better integrate service 155 and service 129. 155 Could the new service avoid The routing of the service is designed to take passengers looping around Castle from the villages along the route into the centre of Castle Donington and serving Park Donington. In order to make the return journey back Lane as there is very low towards Coalville, the bus would logically cover its current usage from there route and continue to serve Park Lane.