Agenda item

To consider the contents of a further report on the subject of recommendations for the future delivery of the service and to determine whether to make any recommendations to the Executive Committee regarding the service.

(Report attached)

Officers explained that the report and recommendations had been produced in accordance with the suggestions that had been outlined in a report produced by JMP Consulting.  Officers had also taken into account feedback which had been provided by customers in a customer survey and the work of the Dial-A-Ride Task and Finish Group that had been undertaken in 2009.

Members were informed that the funding available to support community transport and concessionary fares would be affected by the transfer of responsibility for concessionary fares from District to County Councils.  The Bus Service Operator Grant (BSOG), which was distributed to fund community transport and concessionary fares, was likely to be affected as part of this process.  Officers were anticipating that the BSOG grant to the Dial-A-Ride Service of £11,000 would be cut.  Reductions in funding would also impact on private bus companies which currently operated concessionary fares. 

Many customers were aware that the economic climate and cuts to funding for local authorities could impact on the delivery of services like Dial-A-Ride.  A number of customers had indicated in their customer survey responses that they would be happy to pay a larger sum for the use of the service.  The fee was £1.05 per journey, a sum which had been inconvenient for some customers in the past as it required vulnerable elderly travellers to identify small change to pay for the service.  Officers were suggesting that £1.60 would be a more convenient charge for the customers, though a number had suggested that they would be willing to pay as much as £2.00.

Members noted that the Council had a spare bus and that the possibility of removing this spare bus had originally been discussed as one solution to reduce the costs involved in operating the service.  However, this option had not been feasible.  The spare bus provided service cover when any of the other vehicles were out of circulation, thereby helping to minimise the impact on service delivery.  Moreover, the introduction of the spare bus had helped the Council to ensure that maintenance work was undertaken on the Dial-A-Ride fleet during the week.  Prior to the introduction of the spare bus this work had been carried out on the vehicles during the weekend at a greater financial cost to the Council.

The Committee also questioned why there had been a reduction in the use of the Dial-A-Ride service.  In part, changes in usage of the service occurred over time due to client morbidity and social mobility.  Furthermore, recent closures of a number of social venues had impacted on a number of customers who had regularly utilised the service to visit these locations.

Members noted that Dial-a-Ride had been the subject of a Task and Finish review which had been placed on hold earlier in the year.  As these Members had developed expertise on the subject it was agreed that they should have an opportunity to review the report prior to consideration of the matter by the Executive Committee on 10th November. 

RESOLVED that

1)                 the Dial-A-Ride Task and Finish Group scrutinise the report in further detail and, subject to the approval of the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, report its findings for the consideration of the Executive Committee; and

2)                 the report be noted.