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REF0068 Written evidence submitted by Cumbria County Council Cumbria County Council welcomes the opportunity to respond to this inquiry and acknowledges the valuable input from Community Rail Cumbria representing the Community Rail Partnerships for the Cumbrian Coast Line, Furness Line and Lakes Line. The Council is the Local Transport Authority for Cumbria which is the second largest county in England covering an area of 6,768 km2. With a population of approximately 500,012, Cumbria is one of the most sparsely populated counties in the United Kingdom, with approximately 73.4 people per km2. The larger, urban conurbations are situated around the edges of the county with the Lake District National Park occupying a large area in the centre of Cumbria. The main centres of population are Carlisle, Barrow in Furness, Kendal, Workington and Whitehaven with many other smaller towns and villages. The resident population is dwarfed by the millions of visitors who arrive in the county each year, particularly during the Spring and Summer seasons. Many smaller communities have little or no access to public transport services which can increase levels of social isolation. In addition, the railway network generally services the outer edges of Cumbria which precludes convenient access for many residents. An increasing number of the county’s residents are elderly with a significant proportion unable to drive. Over recent years an increasing trend towards internet shopping and changing consumer habits has resulted in many villages losing some or all of their local amenities including shops, public houses, doctors’ surgeries and schools. Although residents have access to taxi services these may be cost prohibitive due to the length of journey required or availability of operators in particular localities. The challenges presented above have been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. In the early months of the emergency situation patronage levels on public transport dropped significantly with many passengers heeding the Government’s advice at the time to refrain from non-essential journeys. Private car use dropped by approximately 50% in many areas of Cumbria in the early months of the pandemic but in latter weeks has returned to previous levels. Presently public transport use is still reduced currently standing around 60% on the county’s main bus routes although use of the English National Concessionary Travel Scheme passes is still around 40% of normal levels. This suggests that while the number of passengers undertaking essential trips to workplaces and education settings is gradually increasing there is a lack of confidence in some older adults to return to using public transport, particularly set in the context that bus travel for this group is generally free of charge. For the rail network, there has been a gradual shift from the traditional 5 days per week commute, due to changing working patterns and the increasing number of employees electing to work from home, to more use by passengers supporting the leisure and tourism sectors which for Cumbria is one of our most significant economic drivers. Despite the change in travel demand, our tourism sector has been very badly hit - current predictions are for a loss of 23 million visits (-49%), 32 million visitor days (-51%), £1.76billion of revenue (-56%) and half of all jobs (19,000 FTEs) across 2020. REF0068 A local campaign for more support for Cumbria’s tourism and hospitality sector has been launched to provide support through to Spring 2021. Understandably, the temporary emergency timetable concentrated on providing adequately spaced capacity to get essential workers and returning employees to work however, this wasn’t used to a large extent and resulted in insufficient capacity and frequency to accommodate the upsurge in leisure staycationers to Cumbria from 4 July 2020 onwards. Cumbria Tourism and the Lake District National Park Authority have indicated that the 2020 tourism season is likely to be extended into the Autumn and Winter months which is likely to boost patronage levels on the public transport networks. At present, usage is reported to be around 35-40% on the rail network but is gradually moving in an upward direction. New approaches such as cycle trains could be considered to support emerging travel demands. More frequent train services (Transport for the North aim to introduce 2 trains per hour on the majority of lines) is now a priority to cater for increased numbers of staycationers which may well continue to rise as COVID-19 is unlikely to go away quickly. Capacity along the Cumbrian lines is severely hampered due to single line operations, manual signalling and the legacy of a Victorian infrastructure which has had little investment for several decades. Feedback from passengers and operators suggests that passenger confidence in using public transport is still lacking. A variety of campaign messages have been used by Government pertaining to public transport over the past 6 months ranging from only using if essential to making available for key workers. Reinforcing clear, consistent messaging led by Government and supported by the public transport sector may help to encourage increased patronage in future months. This should provide assurances that the transport provision is safe to use with appropriate levels of cleaning, sanitisation and social distancing. All messaging should be disseminated via a variety of mechanisms including the print and broadcast media and social forums such as Facebook and Twitter. Communications with major employers are also likely to be beneficial particularly if accessible public transport can be promoted as an incentive to return to the workplace and thus support the local retail and leisure industry - Cumbria is open for business. Financial incentives may also be prudent to encourage increased use of services, exploring options other than the traditional weekday season and saver ticket offer. By providing these inducements some travellers may divert from private car to public transport use as a long-term option. The mechanisms for purchasing travel tickets should also be enhanced to improve the customer experience. All railway stations in Cumbria now feature ticket vending machines however some stations with two platforms would benefit from one on each platform to avoid access challenges. In addition, the electronic ticket offer should be enhanced facilitating multi-modal tickets valid across operators and transport types. Train operators should increase the visibility of revenue protection officers to dispel the perception in some groups that rail travel is free. This issue is particularly pertinent at unstaffed stations without access control barriers and on well-used REF0068 services. Investment in such team members will secure the payment of fares and provide a deterrent to those tempted to travel for free in addition to enhancing the financial viability of the service. Cumbria welcomes moves by the major rail operator to introduce flexible season tickets which will help attract commuters who travel less than every day out of cars, and the continued availability of Scholars’ season tickets for rail journeys. Rail operators have reported to be struggling with staff availability during the pandemic. This is attributed to some employees shielding, caring for dependents and self-isolating due to contracting the virus. Passengers have generally been understanding of this predicament however this flexibility may not be maintained as the economy progresses through the restart phase. Training regimes across the sector are reported as slipping back by around 6 months and there appears to be a lack of staff resilience across providers which can impact on service availability. Unlike the bus sector the rail industry suffers from a lack of surplus assets which can present challenges with breakdowns or in instances where additional carriages are required. Furthermore, the rail industry cannot easily call on extra rail crew because of the need for training on specific routes and traction types. Government funding would be of assistance to the rail industry to ensure resilience with respect to staff and stock capacity and this would also assist continued service delivery during other emergency situations such as adverse weather events. In addition, mutual-aid provision across the sector could be improved with operators agreeing to share staff resources and stock to assist with emergency situations. This will enhance the resilience of the networks and promote healthy working arrangements resulting in less disruption for passengers. Connectivity between rail and bus routes could be further enhanced by operators working in partnership with their local transport authority – this could be strengthened if the Local Transport Authority was in a position to support funding initiatives. Aligning timetables will encourage increased public transport patronage particularly with seamless journeys across modes. Skip stopping patterns continue to be challenging and deter passengers. There is still a perception that Cumbria is part of the “Forgotten North” and existing services, facilities, infrastructure needs to be built upon to dispel this notion. The Council welcomes funding opportunities such as Transport for the North’s Integrated and Smart Travel initiative and has recently submitted an Expression of Interest for financial assistance to deliver a solution in partnership with several rail and bus operators. Railway stations should offer safe