Brentwood Borough Questionnaire for Essex County Council Local Bus Service Network Review Consultation September 2015

Background Essex County Council (ECC) is carrying out a thorough review of its financial support for local bus services across the County. The role of the County Council under the Transport Acts is to look at where market failure occurs in the local road passenger transport network, decide whether a service is needed, and if in the council’s opinion, it is, then to provide one.

Given increased pressure on Local Government grant funding from Central Government and increased calls on statutory services such as education and adult social care, the County Council needs a way to balance the differing potential transport needs of residents when allocating funding. It also needs to manage the network in the light of changes to the commercial bus network, travel demand and changing corporate priorities over time.

This consultation sets out a proposed revised policy for doing this and the proposed revisions to the existing network that will result. The policy is based on responses to previous consultations which asked about people’s priorities.

We will collate all the responses from the survey and summarise them as part of our report. We will not identify individual people, and your name will not be mentioned in any reports that we write for this purpose. You do not have to take part if you do not want to - this is a voluntary activity.

A supporting document explains in more detail the contract changes, how they will affect our customers and how demand responsive transport works. It also lists timetables where a change has been proposed. This document can be viewed at www.essex.gov.uk/busreview. Reference copies can also be found in libraries or at your local parish, town or district council.

Please complete this survey and return to Freepost RTKH-XUBZ-CJZS, Essex County Council, Bus Review (Passenger Transport E1), County Hall, CHELMSFORD, CM1 1QH.

You may wish to complete this survey over the telephone, or may require it in an alternative format. If so, please call 08457 430 430 to arrange this.

Please complete the survey by Wednesday 21st October 2015.

The Proposed New Policy The Council’s proposed new policy approach to managing the supported local bus network is set out in the Local Bus Service Priority Policy 2015 to 2020 and the associated Appendices, which can be found on the Essex County Council website at: www.essex.gov.uk/busreview. A hard copy can be viewed at your local library, district council office or parish council office.

In summary existing services have been prioritised according to the priorities expressed by respondents to our three rounds of consultation carried out between 2013 and 2015, and the key corporate outcomes as set out below:

Essex County Council key corporate outcomes:

• Children in Essex get the best start in life. • People in Essex enjoy good health and wellbeing. • People have aspirations and achieve their ambitions through education, training and lifelong-learning. • People in Essex live in safe communities and are protected from harm. • Sustainable economic growth for Essex communities and businesses. • People in Essex experience a high quality and sustainable environment.

The results of the consultations can be viewed at: www.essex.gov.uk/busreview. The Local Bus Service Assessment and Priority Evaluation The proposed new policy sets out the order of priority in which service categories would be provided. This is set out below. Priority 1 indicates the most important service category:

Service Category Priority Allocated

Other Monday to Saturday daytime bus services linking rural areas to key service centres 1 (Shopping, Health, Employment, Education)

Monday to Saturday Peak Services, (Access to Employment, Training or Education). 2

Monday to Saturday services connecting to bus interchanges, railways and airports at peak times 3 (Commuter Services)

Infrequent rural ‘lifeline’ services (less than 5 return journeys per week) linking rural areas to 4 key service centres. Non rural services providing access to major health sites (i.e. Hospitals)

Evening Services (after 19:00) 5

Sunday Services 6

Access to tourist/leisure destinations and other services 7

Within each category, services would be prioritised in accordance with its cost per passenger journey figure (annual net cost after all income is deducted, divided by number of passenger journeys carried out over a year, with priority given to the lower costing services). Currently provided services have been assessed according to this system and all new service requests will be considered in the same way. Where funding is insufficient to maintain all services categories, or services within categories services would be withdrawn in line with this priority system.

The proposed impact of this process is set out at www.essex.gov.uk/busreview or in the booklet accompanying the hard copy of this questionnaire, viewable at your local library, district or parish council office. Please look through these proposals and comment through the consultation questionnaire below.

Do you agree with these priority categories?

Yes No

If you have ticked no please explain why ECC currently funds 10 bus services that serve the Brentwood borough. These are shown below together with the proposed changes to each service.

For each one, please tell us whether the proposal meets your needs.

For the following services there are no proposed changes.

Reason –

1. The current contract is not due to expire until 2017. The services will be reviewed in 2016. 2. This service will be tendered for one year and reviewed in 2016 to allow it to be looked at together with the other services ending in September 2017.

Service Current Route Journeys that are supported by Reason number Essex County Council (ECC)

71/72 Stondon Massey to Warley The whole Monday to Saturday timetable 2

73 Bishops Hall Estate to Brentwood Station The whole Sunday and Public Holiday timetable 2

80A/80C Brentwoood – Shenfield – Hutton (Circular) The whole Sunday and Public Holidays timetable 2

268/269 Blackmore/ Brentwood to Grays The whole Monday to Saturday timetable 2

351 Brentwood to Chelmsford The whole Sunday and Public Holidays timetable. 2

565 Brentwood to Grays The whole Monday to Saturday timetable 1

Do you have any comments to make about this (or these services)?

The proposed changes and reasons are listed below for the remaining contracts which have Essex County Council support. Service 21A: Brentwood to Ongar ECC contracted journeys Two evening journeys run to meet Townlink’s commercial 21 service in Ongar. Proposal To withdraw the service from April 2016. Reasons This service significantly exceeds the £5 maximum cost per passenger limit used by ECC as a value for money measure.

The proposal meets my needs The proposal does not meet my needs I have no opinion about the proposal or I do not use this service

If you have said that the proposal does not meet your needs, please explain why Service 73: Pilgrims Hatch to Warley via Brentwood Town Centre ECC contracted journeys All Monday to Saturday journeys that run from 20:27. Proposal To reduce the service timetable by removing the last journey in each direction. Reasons The withdrawal of the evening journeys reflects the low patronage on the later running services and the relatively high cost of the service. The service on the whole is very close to failing the £5 maximum cost per passenger limit ECC uses as a value for money measure and this change should reduce the service cost.

The proposal meets my needs The proposal does not meet my needs I have no opinion about the proposal or I do not use this service

If you have said that the proposal does not meet your needs, please explain why Service 251: Warley/Brentwood to Southend ECC contracted journeys The whole Sunday and Public Holiday timetable. Proposal There will be route and timetable changes. Reasons This service is close to exceeding the £5 maximum cost per passenger journey limit used by ECC as a best value measure. To lower the cost the service will be reduced so that it will no longer runs to Southend and instead will only run between Warley and Wickford. It will be timed to connect with the First Essex Buses 25 service at Wickford, The Swans which will allow customers to travel to Southend and back.

The proposal meets my needs The proposal does not meet my needs I have no opinion about the proposal or I do not use this service

If you have said that the proposal does not meet your needs, please explain why Service 898: Blackmore to Romford Queens Hospital ECC contracted journeys The whole Monday to Friday timetable. Proposal The service will be withdrawn from April 2016. Reasons This service was set up before the extension of the Transport for London (TFL) 498 route to the Queens Hospital. Following the 498 extension, it now duplicates the 498 route and it is therefore proposed that it will be withdrawn from April 2016.

The proposal meets my needs The proposal does not meet my needs I have no opinion about the proposal or I do not use this service

If you have said that the proposal does not meet your needs, please explain why About you In order to ensure the continued development of our Under the Data Protection Act we have a legal duty to protect Diversity and Equality practices, everyone that we work with any information we collect from you. The information will only is asked to complete the information below. You are not be used for the purposes described above and will not be obliged to answer all questions, but the more information kept longer than is necessary to do so, up to a maximum of you supply, the more effective our monitoring will be. two years. We will not share your personal details with any If you choose not to answer questions, it will not affect other agency unless we have concerns that you or another your participation. The information you supply below is individual may be at risk of harm or if it is required by law. We confidential and will be used solely for monitoring purposes. do not collect personal information for commercial purposes.

Your gender: Copy of the report Male Female If you would like to receive a copy of the final report please tick Yes and insert your contact details below. Where in Essex do you live? Yes No Basildon Epping Forest Braintree Harlow Please tell us what format you would like the report in: Brentwood Maldon Large print (please specify font size) Castle Point Rochford Audio Chelmsford Tendring Easy read Colchester Uttlesford Braille Other, please state Please give us your postcode

Do you consider yourself to have a disability, and if so Please provide details on how to contact you by your please tell us what type of disability you have? preferred method (post, telephone or email). These fields are all optional. Hearing impairment Name: Physical impairment Visual impairment Address: Learning disability Mental health need Other long term health condition that affects my transport needs (eg epilepsy) None of the above Telephone:

Please tell us which age bracket you fall into. Email address:

Age 18 - 24 Age 65 - 74 Age 25 - 34 Age 75 - 84 Thank you for your help Age 35 - 44 Age 85 - 94 Age 45 - 54 Age 95+ Further Information Age 55 - 64 If you have any queries about this strategy, please contact [email protected] Your employment status. Please pick the option that applies to the majority of your time. Complaint, Comment or Compliment Working full or part time If you would like to make a Complaint, Comment or Retired Compliment regarding any services provided by Essex County Council, please contact 08457 430 430. Studying full or part time Not working or studying Prefer not to say Other, please specify