Verbal update to be given by Andy Evans, School & Public Transport Team Manager, Shropshire Council

A verbal update and presentation was provided by the School and Public Transport Team Manager and the Public Transport Development Officer – copy of slides attached to the signed Minutes. The School and Public Transport Team Manager gave an overview of what transport was like at the current time and explained that there were two sets of bus services, commercial bus services and subsidised bus services.  The Board were informed that the regulatory body responsible for public transport in Shropshire was the West Midlands Traffic Commissioner although the Council did have certain powers.  He confirmed that no bus services in Shropshire had been cut recently but that at least 60 days’ notice of any planned cuts to bus services would have to be given to the Traffic Commissioner.

Turning to commercial bus operators, the School and Public Transport Team Manager explained that many years ago there used to be about 80% of bus services that were subsidised by the Council and 20% were commercial, whereas now about 97% were subsidised and 3% commercial.  The Council usually step in when there was a gap in the commercial market and would tender the route and award it to the successful operator.  The Council could not however compete with a commercial service but they could step in where there was no commercial benefit to the operator.  He informed the meeting of the different types of contracts depending on where the fare risk sat.  He reported that currently the Council spend approximately £3.5m on the subsidised bus services.  They had received some grant funding from covid from the Government which has been allocated to bus services.

The School and Public Transport Team Manager then discussed Community transport groups of which there were about 9 in Shropshire and who were awarded grants if up to £500,000.  He explained that Shropshire Council had a dedicated passenger transport officer who oversaw the community groups and liaised with them on a regular basis.

The Public Transport Development Officer explained that his role was looking at how to develop public transport going forward.  He gave some background around the difficulties in Shropshire including the lack of investment from operators, rising cost of fuel, declining patronage, large concessionary market etc.  He explained that after the pandemic councils were encouraged to create enhanced partnerships with operators in order to release funding from the DfT.  This had been done in Shropshire and regular meetings were held to discuss the challenges/changes, development and investment of which will be led by Shropshire Council. 

The Public Transport Development Officer drew attention to the Government’s Bus Back Better Campaign which required Local authorities to create a bus service improvement plan which was submitted in October 2021.  It allowed the Council to write a ‘shopping list’ of how it was going to improve public transport in Shropshire.  The first bid of £98m was unsuccessful and so the bid for round two took forward two elements of the original bid being Connect on demand, which was a demand responsive service and a rebrand of Shrewsbury Park and Ride (Shrewsbury Connect) which would link with key strategic sites across the town such as the railway station and hospital.

This bid was also unsuccessful and so, following meetings with the DfT last summer, another meeting has been arranged shortly in person in Shropshire.  They have agreed to invest but wish to ensure that some of the projects had begun and that Shropshire Council had invested in them.  This has led to the launch of the first demand responsive transport provision which was run by the council’s fleet department at Longden Road.  He explained more about the service being offered, the areas it covered and how it could be booked.  This service would be reviewed with a view to extend it into further areas moving forward.

The Board thanked the School and Public Transport Team Manager and the Public Transport Development Officer for their presentation which helped them to understand the complexity of the issues.  The Head of Joint Partnerships informed the Board that transport was coming out repeatedly within the joint strategic needs assessment work and queried how they could work more closely with the transport team to develop responses around transport, particularly in rural areas.

The Public Transport Development Officer explained the fare cap which was set up by the Government at £2.00 and which had been extended until November 2024.  concern was expressed about what would happen after November as the price inconsistencies across the County was one of the factors pulling people away from using public transport.  In response to concerns, he explained that the team were very passionate about rural transport and getting it into certain rural areas and was something they had tried to work on with local operators however there was not a great deal of interest.  The idea behind Connect on demand was to treat every area as unique however it would take time to put that in place and would require DfT investment.  The Public Transport Development Officer informed the Board that the Council had been allocated £1.8m from the closure of the North line of HS2 which would be used for investment and to improve certain corridors that were in need of investment.

A brief discussion ensued.  A query was raised as to possible links with taxi services and train services.  It was confirmed that the nighttime economy had been mentioned in the bus service improvement plan and was being actively worked upon with conversations being had with Transport for Wales who owned the majority of the lines in Shropshire.  It was slightly more difficult with taxis as they did not form part of the same public transport network, but they would work with Licensing to resolve this.  Concern was raised that lack of access to taxis was a contributory factor in the number of deaths and road traffic accidents amongst younger people.