Saturday, 16 April 2011

Handy Bus Club Update


I was asked in a letter if there was going to be a bus service for Laxfield, Heveningham, Huntingfield and Walpole anytime soon.


The present situation is that Laxfield and Peasenhall Parish Councils and Suffolk County Council have been offered by me - the instigator - a ‘Handy Bus’ service, which I trialled for three months to replace the service they had which has been cut, leaving many people without any public transport. In this model, a local Community Transport Operator provides vehicles and drivers and local volunteers are bus conductors; what we have called a 'Bus Buddy'. Due to the legal complexity of operating a scheduled community minibus, the Handy Bus must be a separate entity from the CTO and is a social club that charters their bus from them.


Cllr Guy McGregor - the SCC porfolio holder for transport - has said to Laxfield that he would "look into" the scheduled service which they have demanded to be replaced and it is intimated that it would be provided though a Demand Responsive Transport operator, such as the local Pathfinder, which is supported entirely by Suffolk County Council. 


Such a service enabled this way would therefore not have the user-determined features nor bring the social care benefits that the Handy Bus model has demonstrated. I honestly don’t know how SCC can get around the regulations either. DRT works according to one set of VOSA rules and the ‘staged’ services, the regular sort of buses, have another. You can’t, as far as I understand it, have one do the other except with the Handy Bus model - which can be applied to several modes of transport.


Disregarding these technicalities: the choice for Laxfield and other communities needing access to Halesworth is to either lobby their county councillors to provide a service through the Pathfinder or have SCC contract someone else or form a Handy Bus Club and operate a service themselves.


The first two options would enable use of a OAP concession pass and thus be free to the expected majority of passengers. For the latter to be sustainable for a Laxfield, Peasenhall and Halesworth service, it would require a subscription of ten passengers paying around £5 per week, which is much cheaper than a shared taxi or per-mile charge of a volunteer community car scheme. A Handy Bus is also a more efficient use of a volunteer driver's time.


However, if a funder was prepared to give ongoing support for a Handy Bus, then passenger charges would be whatever the difference was between costs and their subsidy. The social care benefits that the Handy Bus model brings can obtain other kinds of funding not available to transport operators and thus there is a good case for support of a Handy Bus from the parish precept.


There is the third possibility that SCC might offer a contract to Halesworth Area Community Transport instead of the local DRT operator to provide a scheduled service to Laxfield etc. This is something that HACT would consider very carefully and I understand it is equipped to do. However, SCC has been reticent to support scheduled services - which HACT provide - since it removed subsidy to commercial operators because SCC policy in the 'New Strategic Direction' is committed to DRT operations. 


At the heart of it is the County Council's belief that the DRT model will deliver cost savings over subsidy of scheduled operators. HACT, the Handy Bus' preferred vendor, was not operationally equipped for DRT while the local Pathfinder and other operators were supplied by SCC with new vehicles to operate DRT to replace the scheduled services removed from the timetables. It's the DRT and not the 'staged' community transport operators that have received SCC funding to replace the services that commercial operators withdrew once their SCC subsidy was cut. However the new technology supposed to enable more efficient DRT booking  has not yet materialised, that provision too apparently has since been cut.


It was to cut through this muddle that I proposed and trialled the alternative ‘Handy Bus’ model, a hyper-local, scheduled service with the ability to vary the route, running to a timetable that users determine, so a bit like a DRT and a bit like the ordinary bus offering passengers the confidence they can start and complete their journeys. This difficulty in ensuring passenger confidence is just one drawback of DRT.


A nascent Handy Bus Club - if it serves Peasenhall too - could have some start-up funding from the Time For You Project to cover insurance etc. The Handy Bus trials lined up drivers and vehicles from HACT but it now needs to recruit five trustees and about eight volunteers to operate it, if those volunteers were to give 4 hours on one day per month. 


Several people are ready and willing but to date we only have two keen volunteers of the eight needed to make a start and potentially three out of five trustees. I consider it is the dangling promise of SCC to provide some kind of scheduled services that has squelched passengers and communities interest or initiative in achieving a service on the Handy Bus model. Why go to the trouble of running your own bus service on your own terms - free from the threats of a subsidy withdrawal by local government - when the council still could provide something?


So I wonder when will SCC declare what they are going to do for Laxfield and the communities between Halesworth so we can get on with providing it or get on with our lives if the Handy Bus is not going to be part of it?

Monday, 11 April 2011

Current transport issues in Halesworth and Waveney

I glanced an item in the Beccles and Bungay Journal this week (not yet online) that the Beccles Welfare Vehicle has rebranded itself as the Beccles Community Bus to boost bookings. It's news to me this bus even existed, perhaps that's there's no website for it has been a factor. This is a 12 seat minibus owned by Beccles Town Council which is run by a trust so users have to join it for £1 and then they can hire the bus for 60p per kilometre. This should not be confused with Beccles and Bungay Area Community Transport.


It isn't clear if this hire includes a driver (as comparable HACT charges do) or whether the hirer's driver must have a D1 license and a MiDAS certificate or not. It looks attractive though, for example people without a bus service could hire this minibus to collect them and take them into Beccles for shopping. If they got 8 passengers and the bus travelled 40 km, each passenger would only pay a fare of £3 per person. A 1:8 volunteer/user ratio is very good considering most 'Community Car' schemes operate a 1:1 service and a single passenger pays for that at around 30 pence per kilometre.
     
But if you have a plan for communities to hire their own minibuses and get volunteer drivers to replace services cut by the county council, it's not just that easy. If you passed the UK test before 1997 a D1 category on a driving license is automatic but if you passed the test at 17 or so after then, you could be about 30 years old now but not have it. This is a obstacle for Community Transport Operators to recruit volunteer drivers to provide public transport as without a D1 you must have a PSV license and those cost around £1000 per person in fees and training.


My correspondence with the DVLA confirms that a Handy Bus Club driver doesn't need a D1 nor MiDAS certificate to drive a minibus if used for that service model. 

The Beccles Community Bus hire contact is Michael Doherty 01502 716324 or michael.doherty@onetel.com (he’s also Beccles town councillor). This situation would be ideal for Beccles or anywhere else to start up a Handy Bus operation to use a surplus vehicle that is otherwise costing money and having spare vehicles available nearby builds resilience for all the local CTO services.



A bus passenger reported to me that Anglian Buses have recently begun a policy of charging a child fare to riders presenting a OAP concession pass before 9.30 AM (unless exempt route). That is much fairer than charging full fare and response to this indicates that most concession holders would gladly pay something towards their fares.

A paper on ‘Halesworth Integrated Sustainable Transport Strategy’ was asked for and provided to Halesworth's county councillor Tony Goldson by Halesworth Town Plan Group to inform a bid to the central governments Sustainable Local Transport Fund. Halesworth's proposal asked for £150,000 to pilot extending the local area served by community transport and create a brand new cycle route towards the coast avoiding the B1123, (which is something I myself have been championing for several years.) It has been reported to me that Councillor Goldson's response was that "it was not considered of sufficient priority for the national bid but would be included in bids for Suffolk funds in the future..." It needs to be determined whether that was his decision or that of the SCC portfolio holder which would be Cllr Guy Mcgregor.

There was an article recently in the Beccles and Bungay Journal  and similarly in the EADT about the isolation people are feeling now many have lost their bus services. It's not online but the headline was “Fear as village folk lose lifeline” but in response; Derek Johnson from Shadingfield has started a petition for a 'Bus For Us' because Demand Responsive Transport, or what he calls community taxis, don't work. The Beccles & Bungay Journal has more information on the petition. When I showed the petition to a Suffolk County Council transport officer, they said "oh, I wondered when the protests like the libraries were going to start for the buses..." Both Derek Cocker and Guy McGregor have frequently stated to me that DRT is the only solution on offer and as SCC have lately made significant investments in Community Transport Operators who are prepared to run buses on a DRT model, many independent parties consider it undeniable, on the evidence of their actions alone, that their position won't countenance support for those CTOs who won't.

People are also complaining about the new 520 Anglian Bus timetable as it is no longer coordinated with as many trains at Halesworth as before, which is rather more the fault of the train company National Express than the bus company.  You now can't get down to Ipswich or London on an off-peak fare nor home from the station by bus in the evening. This link is something that took years of lobbying to achieve, and ironically, £6500 was just spent on providing a bus shelter at the station and thousands more to create a turning space for the buses. Many passengers for Southwold used to use this service. Now there is even more parking pressure on Halesworth Rail Station from people now using their cars to meet the train which is exacerbated by Waveney District Council removing several free car parks in the town and raising parking charges to a multiple of 65p, determined no doubt with the mendacious knowledge most people will have to pay with £1 coins.

There have also been complaints that the new bus schedules and service cuts mean that students attending college in Norwich can’t get home after classes, putting more people on the road driving empty cars to collect their children in rush hour after classes or less affluent children dropping out. Many passengers have complained that the 17.45 service on the Anglian 588 from Norwich to Bungay but supposed to continue on request to Halesworth isn't being honoured and the 16.05 through service has been leaving Norwich early. Fact is, Halesworth is cut off from Norwich after 5 pm and has been for years. I myself have been stranded in Norwich when the 588 is suddenly cancelled or has departed early. I tried a few times taking a bus from Norwich to Beccles in the hope I could then catch the Beccles to Halesworth train but this route requires covering 3/4 mile between the station and the bus stop in about eight minutes.

Also on train services it appears that signalling works for the Beccles Loop have already begun work at Saxmundham though the installation of the lifts at Ipswich Station is now behind schedule and they won't open before June. Without through-trains either, this is a great barrier to people travelling with luggage. It has been widely reported that National Express have lost their franchise for East Anglian services. No doubt followers of the Twitter hashtag #nxeafail are rejoicing.

Southwold Town Council have given and applied to SCC for match funding for an alleged total of £40,000 subsidy from public funds to remove bus services from Southwold's High Street to ease congestion in the town. It seems to me to be backward thinking if the congestion is caused by cars not buses. I suggested on my Twitter stream a ban on cars would be better. Again the story is not online but the Lowestoft Journal of April 1 had the headline "Bus ban plans get green light". Now people will have to walk about several hundred yards further to access the shops, something many older people will find difficult to do. My twitter complaint of this madness was responded to by the local MP Therese Coffey that "issue was one-way route for buses disrupting residents". I understand that a local CTO offered Southwold TC their expertise to set up a minibus service on a circular route to enable shoppers and residents from Reydon and outlying parts to access the town without causing congestion but no action has been taken.

Saturday, 9 April 2011

Rifle Hall Community Day

The Halesworth Rifle Hall has been taken on by a trust who are now raising funds to restore it back into a community centre after years of neglect by Waveney District Council. 


Today (April 9th) the Rifle Hall Trust and several other community groups held an exhibition of their projects and showcased their opportunities for volunteering. 


The Handy Bus posters and leaflet elicited many comments and I had long conversations with two people about the scheme and how they could help. We left on promises to get in touch with me. I hope these brave souls don't get cold feet and will join the other volunteers, it would mean we have reached about 50% of the personnel needed.

Saturday, 2 April 2011

Handy Bus Club - Important Announcement


Wednesday 30th March was the last scheduled run of the Handy Bus Club under the aegis of Suffolk ACRE and the Time For You Project. At this time there will be no service in April.

The service has not ended, in as much as those involved so far wish to carry on but we don’t yet have the resources to continue. We have secured our vehicles, drivers, passengers and seed money. We now need to recruit more trustees to form an association (or charity) and a larger cadre of volunteers to be the ‘conductors’ for what has proved to be a very useful service.

Ideally there is a local person who will volunteer to lead on this process. Besides the ranks of the newly retired (or redundant!) this is a great opportunity for a young person to enhance their CV. Naturally that volunteer would have support from several agencies.

Please see the prior posting for a discussion paper on how we can achieve our ambitions


If the Handy Bus has enough resources to serve Halesworth and Sibton/Peasenhall, it can easily include a service to Laxfield too. That applies to Yoxford and other communities nearby as well. The Handy Bus Club model is very adaptable to numerous localities.

Open meetings of the Handy Bus Club at Halesworth Library will continue on the 2nd Wednesday of the month (13th April) from 1-2 PM, RSVP is desired to avoid disappointment if there are extraordinary circumstances. 

If you see a Handy Bus timetables posted somewhere, please be kind enough to remove it. For removal of doubt, they were always dated as ‘valid to’.

Please get in touch if you can support us in any way:

Nat Bocking

Community Development Researcher
Suffolk ACRE
BRIGHTSPACE
160 Hadleigh Road
Ipswich
Suffolk
IP2 0HH


Reception         01473 345300
Mobile              07787 258137