Follow up - Local Government Excitement

Some thoughts on the Somerset County Council BSIP, published in mid-October which I've shared with the Somerset Bus Partnership. 

"To use the words of Yes, Minister there are some very courageous ideas contained within the BSIP. It almost reads like a wishlist of very expensive things which stand no chance of ever taking place, thus permitting SCC a free pass to continue the indifferent attitude they have toward public transport in the county.

Most notably, the use of electric buses. This is laudable, and to be commended but there needs to be consideration of the whole life costs of the vehicles themselves. In addition there is the additional premium these vehicles will attract, compared with purchasing Euro 6 diesels.

Buses are written down over a 10-15 year lifespan, and the batteries on these electric vehicles will not last as long. So, around 7 years (halfway) through the life of the vehicle, those batteries require replacement. That won’t be the concern of the operator of the vehicle, First will look to SCC.

A number of ‘hybrid’ buses bought with Government assistance around 2012/3 have subsequently been converted, at the midlife stage to conventional diesels, the cost of doing this being cheaper than the replacement batteries. So any discussions on the prospect of alternative power need to taken in this context. It would be possible to operate gas vehicles, which use more readily available animal by products as their fuel source in preference to electrics.

The discussion of a Somerset ‘triangle’ bus service is also very interesting. The consultants, here are drawing on experiences of working at Kent County Council in the late 2000s. Stagecoach have enjoyed a lot of commercial success in Kent through joining up services. Another example, not mentioned is the Thanet Loop.

The example of the Canterbury Triangle is a very good one. But, the services joined together are long standing commercial ones in their own right. There are a number of secondary passenger flows between Herne Bay and Whitstable, and Whitstable and Canterbury (taking in the University of Kent) as well as between Herne Bay and Canterbury. All of these flows justify the use of double deck buses on a high frequency and the route has received regular new vehicle investment over it’s 17 year operating life.

Underpinning the route also is the Kent Freedom Pass. As the county retains a selective education system (Grammar Schools), there is a lot of ‘discretionary’ travel to schools by pupils. As Stagecoach don’t allow child fares prior to 0930 that meant Kent is reimbursing each passenger journey at a rate close to the adult single fare each time a freedom pass is used. This spike in the peaks means that Stagecoach were having to put on additional buses to cater for the additional passenger journeys, leaving a pool of buses, and drivers available offpeak for enhancing their other services.

Neighbouring Arriva has the reverse problem, as they have child fares prior to 0930, so they have peak hour spikes in passengers which aren’t paid for – leading to full up buses losing money as with concessionary pass holders.

Unfortunately, whilst the 21/28 corridors in Somerset are mentioned as commercially sustainable – and ideal candidates for vehicle upgrades the same cannot be said of the Bridgwater to Minehead corridor. This has been abandoned by First as commercially unviable and is run on a ‘free’ basis by SPS with three journeys each way, weekdays. To provide a basic daytime, hourly, timetable would require 4 buses, costing £400k p/a assuming the lower end of First South West’s vehicle costings.

There is then the issue of vehicle size to consider. The Minehead – Bridgwater service runs through Nether Stowey and Stogursey down some very narrow lanes. A single deck bus longer than 10m will have issues getting round those lanes, and it would be difficult to operate the route with double decks, though there is a peak working on the 14 using such a vehicle. The 21 service is the main route between Taunton, Bridgwater, Highbridge and Burnham on Sea, whilst the 28 is the post Beeching replacement for the railway branch line closed in 1970. The Butlins site in Minehead alone ensures a reliable flow of passengers going to/from the site from Taunton Rail Station.

The BSIP notes a number of college students making bus journeys and that will underpin the main commercial services. First could and should be operating these routes with double deck buses – though the 13’9’ bridge at Taunton Station means those double decks need to be low height.

Current commercially available ones are normally built to 14’6’ height and most secondhand ones available from dealers are to this height. Therefore any vehicles bought would be specially constructed. This never used to be an issue as during National Bus Company times, double deckers were typically 13’6’ high…

Ticketing is another important issue which has been skirted around. In Wiltshire, there is a day rover ticket which operators must issue, and accept for travel on the council’s supported bus services. Failure to do so results in contracts being removed.

In the South East, there is the all operator ‘Discovery’ ticket allowing a day’s unlimited travel across Kent, Surrey and Sussex. Beyond operator specific bus tickets it is expensive to use local bus services in the county and the high fares (which are very notable in the case of South West Coaches) represent a significant barrier to increasing bus use.

It would be possible for SCC to introduce an all operator bus ticket which permits unlimited travel on all operators. If that is made a requirement of a tendered local bus service contract, and is added to each contract when it is relet then over time the use of the ticket will become commonplace. The aspirations to develop a bus network catering for tourists will be assisted with such a ticket too.

There is the issue of expanding a number of bus routes within the county, and some unrealistic expectation on the part of SCC, given it’s history of cutting supported bus services. It now attempts to recover the lost customers, but forgets that once customers have been driven away from the bus network it will take a long time before they return, if they return at all.

SCC foresees these enhanced services being commercially viable within 5 years, but in reality they will have to commit to supporting these services for much longer than that. It is an area where they will revisit and another administration will have alternative views. Even at a National level, this funding is not being viewed as lasting longer than three years and it might take that long for these services to become used to an acceptable level.

So, where in Somerset should there be evening services provided, when there are presently none?

• Bridgwater, Taunton and Yeovil town services. These have, in the past had local authority supported evening services running around the town. Yeovil had these for the shortest amount of time – 1999 to 2004 when Nippy Bus started operations.

• Some of these town routes are well used during the day, and lend themselves to a limited pattern of evening operations, using one/two buses and drivers from 1900 until midnight.

• Service 21 between Taunton, Bridgwater and Burnham on Sea.

• Service 25 between Taunton and Wiveliscombe (and certainly as far as Cotford St Luke)

• Service 28 between Taunton and Minehead.

• Service 30 from Taunton to Chard and Axminster.

• Service 54 between Taunton and Yeovil – used to have one bus working two round trips.

• Service 58 between Wincanton and Yeovil. - used to have one bus working three journeys, even before the 1998 money.

• Service 75 between Bridgwater and Street. If the timetable connects with the 376 journeys to Bristol in Street, there is no need to use additional resources.

When it comes to Sunday (and Public Holiday) services the council should be looking to support the following services. At what frequency that is should be determined by the bus operator and the council, taking into account current use of services. It might be that a ‘2 hourly’ timetable achieves a decent level of service whilst minimising drivers and vehicles.

• Bridgwater, Taunton and Yeovil town services. These have, in the past had local authority supported Sunday services running around the town.

• Some of these town routes are well used during the day, and lend themselves to a limited pattern of Sunday/Bank Holiday operations, using one/two buses and drivers across the day.

• Service 21 between Taunton, Bridgwater and Burnham on Sea.

• Service 25 between Taunton and Wiveliscombe (and certainly as far as Cotford St Luke)

• Service 28 between Taunton and Minehead.

• Service 30 from Taunton to Chard and Axminster.

• Service 54 between Taunton and Yeovil.

• Service 58 between Wincanton and Yeovil.

• Service 75 between Bridgwater and Street. If the timetable connects with the 376 journeys to Bristol in Street, there is no need to use additional resources.

Buses of Somerset provide all of these services at present, and would be receptive to operating additional journeys with SCC support. It might be possible that a combination tender offers the cheapest option, but also an all operator bus ticket might mean the services could be provided by some of the small operators currently operating SCC contracts, which might be cheaper than an established operator who has other costs.

Much of these enhancements can be made without committing extra buses to the network, the primary costs here are drivers wages and operating costs of the vehicles through additional mileage. It is an example where £1.5/2m of money will make a real difference to the county’s bus network.

The observation that there is a substantial passenger flow between Chard and Crewkerne is an interesting one.

It would be possible to provide a timetable that needs one vehicle, and connections in Chard/Crewkerne can be made for buses going to Taunton and Yeovil by co-ordinating the timetables for the 30 service to Axminster, Ilminster and Taunton and with the 6 service from Bridport.

If there is serious appetite for an hourly timetable, that is very achieveable with two buses and that would be in the region of £200/220k annually for those two buses. SCC already funds two buses along this line of route, so it would be a matter of varying the contract, ensuring the peak flows to Taunton and Yeovil for college students and workers are maintained, and then offering an hourly timetable between Chard and Crewkerne.