In his third offering, our Mystery Contributor considers local subsidised services. See his second contribution here
Local authority transport planners are often placed in impossible positions in the face of operators' decisions to make savings. Local government finance is a complex matter made even more demanding by calls for budget efficiencies. These inevitably force transport officers into making difficult decisions in the quest for cash savings. This in spite of several years’ worth of procurement costs for supported bus services rising faster than inflation.
Most local authorities have some guidelines on what sort of services take priority for public funding. One council I know well used to set a minimum of three passengers on a rural service or five on an urban service, coupled to maximum subsidy of £2.50 per passenger journey. Those criteria served them well for many years, but lately councils need to grapple with budgets they find increasingly hard to balance.
Sunday evening services, however well used, do not generally carry passengers to work or education, so here at least they have faired poorly, as subsidies are withdrawn. Perhaps unsurprisingly, there’s been little negative publicity. The problem is that, to persuade motorists to give up their cars, they need to be convinced that public transport will be there seven days a week, preferably for at least 18 hours a day. Take away the facility even on just one evening a week, and the car wins the battle. It’s the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
The other change that is noticeable of late is the withdrawal of services by stealth.
Wilts & Dorset’s X35, previously mentioned in these pages, is a case in point. The two-hourly service from Ringwood to Southampton was well enough used to justify support, but the cost saving option of only running the X35 from Ringwood to Lyndhurst, where a change of bus onto service 56 to continue to Southampton is required, is likely to kill demand to the point where the X35 ceases completely.
Who’d be a local authority transport planner?
Friday, 15 February 2008
What to Subsidise?
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7 comments:
"Who’d be a local authority transport planner?" - Seeing as they make a good deal more than their industry counterparts, with a good deal less personal pressure, then I guess quite a lot of us might be looking for a chance...
But do you really want to lack real influence whilst having to deal with all the councillors and professional complainants who never actually use a bus ???
You mean...be far better paid for doing (by comparison) very little?
Well make me an offer...
Northerner, 15 years ago I moved from a bus company position to being a local authority officer. I went for a pay rise and the holidays were better. At that time wage rates were better in the Town Hall. 15 years later and contact with former and new bus co colleagues and the holidays are still slightly better (bus co has caught up a bit) but the salary is now CONSIDERABLY WORSE in local government. A few years ago I went for a job back in the business to try to catch up. No one even interviewed me! The grass was greener so I thought.
I suppose it depends on which bus company, and which County Council, and their structures too...
In my case the junior on the Council's team gets just above what I do...and I've in excess of thirty years under my belt as a planner/scheduler...and am paid in excess of anyone else in the office...
Perhaps we should all ask for a raise...
Cogidubnus, pay rates do vary from council to council as they do in the bus industry. A significant proportion of our (council) team get paid about the same as a bus driver or less. The bonus is that its 9-5, no shifts, no weekends.
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