Agenda item

Nigel Whyte (Principal Transport Planner) stated that this note was an update on the note provided to the committee in September 2020 and was endorsed by Cabinet in October 2021. Bus patronage in Warwick was at 70% of the level is was pre-pandemic and the commercial sector in the bus market was supported by government in terms of the bus recovery grants. This funding was supposed to end in March 2022 but the local authorities were engaging with the DfT (Department for Transport) to extend this beyond April 2022 to help recovery. The West Midlands Combined Authority had been awarded nearly £50million from the DfT to become the first all-electric bus fleet in the country. Network West Midlands ordered 150 electric buses these will come online in the Coventry area and there will be further vehicle procurement which will include cross-boundary services into all Warwickshire boroughs and districts. This will be a five-year programme ending in 2024-25 and investment was expected into Warwickshire in 2023-25. Warwickshire will receive £1.3million from the Capital Investment Fund to provide an on-street charging infrastructure for cross-county. The bus plan at the time of the meeting was to make improvements of the North-South corridor where cross-boundary services occur to reduce journey times. The mobility scheme was used to fund a demand travel service in rural areas west of Warwick like Budbrooke and parts of Kenilworth where you can book journeys on a mobile phone app like Uber; this will launch by the end of the financial year. The national Bus Back Better scheme was launched by central government in March 2021 to boost bus patronage to above pre-pandemic levels to push people to use buses instead of private cars. The National Bus Strategy committed the council work on an enhanced partnership which was implemented by Corporate Board in June 2021 and Cabinet in October 2021. The bus plan was done with the bus cross-party group who helped promote Warwickshire’s bus survey which received 1600 responses. The next part of the bus strategy was to look at the ‘hotspot’ plan which was going out to consultation with the cross-party working group and bus operators, and this would change depending on the results of the public consultation which received 250 responses. A consultation for the enhanced Warwickshire Partnership Plan will be run next. The EP (enhanced partnership) scheme was recently launched by the council will be shared with bus operators and the working group. Defined minimum standards for bus/roadside information was being worked on and would be shared with the working group and bus operators before March 2022 and this define bus quality standards. Work was done with the borough and district councils to help buses deal with obstructive parking as well as where to spend money on bus improvements.

Maintenance of the network will be carried out as part of the annual bus service network review and this will look at gaps in the network and how they can be improved e.g. with feasibility studies, workplace parking levies and charging. These will be preliminary measures which could help improve bus services in terms of reduced journey times and the impact of congestion and to educate the public and members in terms of the benefits from these measures if they were delivered in the long-term. The approved us plan will have a three-year programme running until 2024/5 and cost £216million of which £152million will need to be provided by central government via bidding; £1.5million of which is for the national network and the rest will support the commercial bus network through the pandemic. The EP board is independently chaired, and the EP plan will be subject to minor revisions before submitted to the DfT in April 2022; Cabinet will receive the report in March 2022, it was reviewed by the legal team, and it will include the DfT’s bus pass charter. The second the third EP schemes were being developed in partnership with bus operators and the working group, subject to the funding announcement from the DfT at end of February; the second EP scheme will include the bus priorities, demand responsive transport and the electric bus scheme. The EP schemes will include the first Warwickshire multiple bus ticket which will run like Oyster cards, and it will resolve the safety issue on the Leicester Road dual carriage in Rugby. The transport demand service is called ‘Indigo’ and currently runs in Aston Cantlow and Coleshill; these journeys were used for commuting, shopping and medical appointments. Both services were subject to a DfT bid to use transport to tackle loneliness and help promote social inclusion. There were waiting to hear from the DfT if they were successful in progressing this into the next stage.

In response to Councillor Sinclair, Nigel Whyte stated that the bus services TFG would dictate what they want funding to be spent on if the council receives a fraction of what they applied for.

In response to Councillor Fradgley, Nigel Whyte stated that the Indigo service could be used to transport people into town centres, this service will soon be available in Stratford and Rugby. Councillor Fradlgey noted the importance of making buses accessible.       

Nigel Whyte added that they received money from the Capital Fund towards the improving on-street charges on provisional voluntary charging infrastructure cross-county in the town and rural areas. Warwickshire had to do their own electric bus work for Rugby and North Warwickshire and the North South corridor didn’t cover these areas.

Councillor Chilvers praised the strategy so far and concurred that the North-Couth corridor needed prioritising to enable travel between Nuneaton and Stratford via Coventry/Warwick University. In response to Councillor Chilvers, Nigel Whyte stated that the multi bus ticket would not be ready in time for the Commonwealth games because of distribution issues; the ticket should be rolled out by next financial year, subject to DfT funding and consultations with distributers.

In response to Councillor Pandher, Nigel Whyte stated that the Indigo bus service would replace buses running all day and would only be sent out when booked. Nigel Whyte agreed to circulate a note on how saving would be achieved. Scott Tompkins (Assistant Director – Environmental Services) added that they combine people's journeys together by working out a time of the day that works well for all the different journeys so it ran like a normal bus service and not like taxi.

In response to the Chair, Nigel Whyte said that the EP scheme would look at trying to level out bus tickets prices cross-county; bus services on the North South corridor will be the first to have a unified price on its route. Scott Tompkins added that there was a cross-boundary issue in the north of the county so some of the services that come out of Coventry are affected by the Combined Authority subsidising some of these services. Therefore, the service prices are cheaper than in Warwickshire, resolving this issue was being investigated.

The Chair noted the work being done and that should provide a better service for Warwickshire’s residents.