APPENDIX C(1) Summary of comments - Lets talk about Supported Transport Aim of the consultation The consultation sought to engage a range of stakeholders in a debate about the savings the council needs to make with its spending on supported transport services and the opportunities to reconfigure these services following a tendering process and a reflection on some of the recent changes e.g. concessionary bus passes for older people. The consultation ran from 1 March 2011 and closed on 11 May – a period of just over 9 weeks. How was the consultation conducted The council used multiple channels to get the message out that it was seeking to engage people on these issues. The channels used were: • Press release • Leaflets on all buses, community transport vehicles, in doctors surgeries and newsagents • Posters at Park & Ride sites • A listing on the council’s Consultation Finder which details all the council’s consultation in one place on the internet: www.bristol.gov.uk/consultationfinder • Twitter • Facebook • Informed existing operators of supported transport services • Emails to equalities fora / letter to Bristol Older People’s Forum • Posters and information packs to all the council’s libraries In order to have an informed public debate about these issues, the ASK Bristol discussion site was used which gave an overview of the challenge and opportunities facing the council with these services. The site also allowed people to access detailed passenger, expenditure and subsidy information to help participants make an informed contribution to the debate. This information can be seen at: http://askbristol.wordpress.com/2011/03/02/lets-talk-about- supported-transport-services/ Access for those people NOT online For those people without internet access, paper copies of a briefing paper were sent to the council’s libraries along with a paper feedback form. These were publicised in the libraries by a poster and on the leaflets. We also set up a dedicated telephone line for members of the public to request a paper copy. People responding to the consultation offline could also use a freepost address. Responding to the consultation Various options were available to suit respondents’ needs for how people could take part: • Leave a comment on the online public discussion forum • Complete an online private response form • Complete a paper survey – large print / specific needs also catered for In order to facilitate a dialogue between participants, councillors and council officers – the latter two were encouraged to join the public discussion and answer people’s queries and help inform the debate. Cllr Gary Hopkins and the Passenger Transport Team took part. Overview of the response to the consultation Appendix 1 shows a complete list of all respondents comments and readers of this report are encouraged to study this. This is a summary table: Number of views on Ask Bristol 1,552 Number of comments on Ask Bristol 109 Number of questionnaires sent to libraries 580 Number of queries on dedicated answer phone 15 Number of paper questionnaires sent out 48 Number of responses to questionnaires (paper and online) 75 Ask Bristol statistics – breakdown of views Popular comments/ideas for saving money (Ask Bristol and survey monkey) Whilst accepting this is a qualitative exercise, the Consultation, Research & Intelligence Team has read all respondents’ comments and identified common themes and recorded how many times these themes were mentioned. Inevitably, this is an inexact science, so you are recommended to read people’s comments in their own words in appendix 1 Supported Transport - most popular comments for saving money Severn Beach Line - improve ticketeting and reduce subsidy 42 Invest in a local light rail network for both the centre and suburbs. 41 Don’t subsidise or stop commuter ferry services (retain cross ferry) 40 Oyster card to work on buses and trains 38 Night buses- don’t subsidise 26 Park and Ride - remove subsidy and get residents/surrounding LAs 23 to contribute to cost Re-introduce environmentally friendly trams 22 Shopper services - remove subsidy and/or get big retailers to 18 contribute Stop wasting money on showcase bus routes and works to kerb 16 sides etc Use Cycling City funding to subsidise public transport 13 Local bus/train services being run by the local council 12 Orbital services - remove subsidy/need support and funding from 12 surrounding councils Smart card system, subsidised by other big employers 12 Need overall vision and plan for tackling public transport 11 Prioritise services which help get people to work and college 11 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 number of comments Survey monkey results People completing the offline and online private response form were asked to categorise their comments in this question: “In Supported Transport Services, we need to save at least £600,000 in 2011/12 alone. Please indicate which category your comment is going to relate to:” This produced the following table: Let's talk about : Supported Transport Services 50.0% 45.0% 40.0% 35.0% 30.0% 25.0% 20.0% 15.0% 10.0% 5.0% 0.0% How can we do How routes Opportunities Who should Are there more for less? could be for improving receive these services which changed to how we do services? no longer serve increase things the community passengers and can be cut. and grow the For instance services? where two similar routes serve the same community? Comments relevant to equalities groups These services are often used by people from the equalities groups. We read all the responses and attempted to identify comments relating to these groups. Comments relating to disabled people and older people were identified and have been reproduced here in their entirety. Disabled people As a caring society we should support the more vulnerable. Transport for people with disabilities should be subsidised to give the same oppotunities available to society as a whole. As a country, we cannot afford to offer everyone everything. Those who are MOST vulnerable who need door to door services should get this, later evening services, and services that make Bristol the amazing city it is, should continue. Also bcc tell me what the eligibility criteria currently is for dial a ride / demand responsive services? This should be for registered disabled only as ive heard in some communities anybody can get in. Subsidies should be applied to early morning, late evening and Sunday services, park and ride, rail and the travel subsidies for pensioners and disabled (community transport). Subsidies such as orbital subsidies, ferry services, shopper services, night buses are lower priorities. As such they should be the first to be affected by any cuts. a) The Bristol Disability Equality Forum believes that, as the DDA became law in 1995 it is time that operators are required to provide accessible transport as a condition of the contract; b) Many Disabled people cannot use the Severn line trains, even tho’, for many, they are the most suitable public transport, because stations are not accessible and require one to book a day in advance. It really is time that the stations and trains are accessible. Freedom of movement, after all, is meant to be a basic human right! This would be very simple to arrange as each train has a ramp on it so all that is required is to give staff the key to the ramp as a matter of course. Also, platforms could be changed a little to ensure the gap between train and platform is not too great. Bristol Disability Equality Forum We, the two Angelas, use the Bugler’s Easy Rider bus every Tuesday morning so that we can go to Broadmead. We are picked up at our doors and brought back safely. We are both elderly and disabled, one of us is in a wheelchair with leg extensions and the other about to make use of Shopmobility when we arrive. We would be absolutely lost without this service. We would not be able to shop, meet friends, visit the post office and banks, or have a civilised coffee and snack before being taken home. In effect, we become second class citizens. Dial-a-Ride is, sadly hopeless…if you can every get through to them they don’t seem to be able to help. Likewise, if the subsidised services 517, 518, 584 and 585 were taken away it would have a catastrophic effect on the many other elderly and disabled people in Coombe Dingle who rely on these buses. These buses are our only way to get fairly easily to Southmead and Frenchay Hospitals. It is very hilly and a long way to the nearest Firstbus service and many would not even make it there. Those in previous posts who are advocating scapping these services are shortsighted and selfish. They will probably be elderly and/or disabled in the future…..what then? I was, and am, very concerned that I only found out about the consultation when the chief executive replied to my letter, a matter of days before the end of the consultation time-frame. I suspect that the vast majority of DialaRide users were, and probably still are, unaware that there even is a consultation in process. I myself use the internet to order, and have delivered, not only my food but also many other items. This means my 'need' to use the service is reduced to hospital and dental appointments, one-off 'special' shopping and social events. Many DialaRide users do not have access to the internet and would be utterly unable to buy essential/basic food. Many of the DialaRide users I have met are far from frail or elderly, yet would be housebound without it.