7. Integrated and accessible transport for all
Introduction
This chapter is about the opportunities for integrating infrastructure and services to improve all aspects of the public transport passenger experience to enable seamless and accessible journeys The aim is to focus on ensuring that as many people as possible can readily access high quality, frequent and reliable public transport provision. Alongside access to local active travel networks to ensure people have travel choices, as outlined in chapter 6 – Safer, healthier and more active travel.
An integrated transport network, along with attractive ticketing arrangements, will also support accessibility, therefore it is proposed improved interchange between modes of travel (mobility hubs) at busier interchange locations to support seamless journeys. It is recognised that access to the car is essential for some journeys, especially in more rural areas of the County, so there is a need to support communities in enabling access to options for cleaner fuels or energy sources.
Click here for a larger version of Figure 7 'Key Schemes for Theme C' in pdf format [1.8 MB] [pdf]
A full list of schemes presented in this map is available in Appendix B.
Integrated and seamless travel
We propose an integrated transport network that allows as many residents as possible to the make the trips they need to make by public transport by making services affordable and accessible. It also recognises the importance of improved connectivity between the first and last mile part of journeys (i.e. walking from home to/from the bus stop or cycling to the railway station) and that these can be barriers to using available public transport services. It is aimed to:
- Create and enhance an inclusive transport network for all users.
- Improve interchange between travel modes.
- Improve access to key local services (including education, training, employment and health services) by all modes.
Accessing and using the bus and rail transport network
The plan delivers a network and service provision that is responsive to and accommodates users with different needs, including some of whom may be using wheelchairs, pushchairs, use other mobility aids or have hidden disabilities.
East Sussex County Council’s long-term aspirations for bus service improvements are set out in the East Sussex Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) adopted in October 2021. The BSIP has the following mission:
“Our mission as a local transport authority and bus operators is to ensure that East Sussex residents and visitors enjoy the highest possible quality bus services that provide a frequent and comprehensive choice, reduce congestion and make a positive contribution to better air quality and decarbonisation.”
The BSIP has targets relating to:
- Faster journey times.
- Improved reliability and punctuality of services.
- Increased patronage and passenger satisfaction.
- More households with access to a bus service, and within 30, 60 and 90 minutes of a town centre.
Digital Demand Responsive Travel (DDRT) fulfilment targets. Whilst the BSIP sets out a longer-term vision for the county’s bus offer, funding and partnership working is required to ensure successful long-term realisation of the BSIP. Short-term funding has delivered the following improvements to grow bus patronage:
- Running of more frequent bus services across East Sussex.
- Making bus services faster and more reliable with the County Council’s investments in bus priority, including bus lanes and changes to traffic signals.
- Improving bus stop infrastructure and real time information provision.
- Lowering fares with new ticket products.
- Making public transport provision more comprehensive, especially in rural areas with demand responsive ‘Flexibus’ services.
In the longer term the shared mission of East Sussex County Council and the bus operators remains to ensure that East Sussex residents and visitors enjoy the highest possible quality bus services that provide a frequent and comprehensive choice, reduce congestion and make a positive contribution to better air quality and decarbonisation.
The County Council is working in partnership with bus operators to deliver a bus network that works for residents and visitors through the mechanism of the statutory East Sussex Enhanced Bus Partnership Plan.
Complementing the network of commercial and supported bus routes and the Digital Demand Responsive Transport (Flexibus service), East Sussex also has community transport providers in specific geographic areas. These provide services where there is no public transport or the needs of users are not met by other public transport offer. However, community transport providers consistently express concerns about their limited capacity for expansion. Many of these providers heavily rely on the dedication of specific individuals, and the sector faces challenges in recruiting volunteers to sustain its services. Accessing and using the railway network
The development of this plan will include a review of the East Sussex Rail Strategy. Which will support infrastructure and service enhancements such as:
- Faster East Coastway line (Hastings, Eastbourne, Seaford and Lewes to Brighton routes) services.
- Extending High Speed 1 services into the county, via Ashford, to Rye, Hastings, Bexhill and Eastbourne.
- Reinstatement of the Uckfield -Lewes Line and potential electrification or other power solutions for the Uckfield to Hurst Green section of the current Uckfield line.
Together these present a step change in connectivity across much of the county, bringing more people closer to a wider range of rail journey opportunities.
Some changes have recently been realised on the rail network in the county:
- Newer and longer trains operating on the Sussex Downs Line (Seaford – Lewes - Brighton route).
- Improved timetables for trains on the East Coastway line, providing a more even service, with improved connections at Lewes for services to/from Seaford and London (via the Brighton mainline).
With the establishment of Great British Railways (GBR) in the near future, which will bring together rail infrastructure improvements and the delivery of services, the County Council will work in partnership with GBR and other key partners to bring forward improvements to both rail services and infrastructure.
Across the county, a number of railway routes are covered by the Southeast Community Rail Partnership (SCRP), who lobby for improvements to rail services and support local community groups and operators to improve the station environment, support community activity including use of station space (e.g. Friends of Bishopstone Station), encourage the use of rail and host events to promote rail. Particularly supporting access to the railway and local stations in rural parts of the county, the current SCRP line groups within the county are:
- 1066 Line (Hastings to Tonbridge).
- Marshlink Line (Hastings to Ashford International).
- Sussex Downs Line (Seaford – Lewes – Brighton).
- Uckfield and East Grinstead Lines (Uckfield to Oxted, and East Grinstead to Oxted).
SCRP are also developing proposals to formally extend the community rail line from Lewes to Eastbourne and forward to Hastings to join up the Marshlink and 1066 lines at Hastings.
Accessing and using walking, wheeling and cycling and wheeling networks
- The East Sussex Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP) sets out proposals to introduce a network of walking and cycling routes in East Sussex. The LCWIP will consider the different context and challenges of different parts of the county (e.g. rural and urban) to provide local and longer-distance connectivity by walking, wheeling and cycling. A review of the East Sussex LCWIP will commence in late 2024. This review will incorporate the opportunities for active travel to be improved as part integrated journeys (i.e. walking, wheeling or cycling to a bus stop or rail station or travel interchange / mobility hub).
- Accessibility to walking, wheeling and cycling routes is important for health and wellbeing. The approach and policies are presented in chapter 2 Safer, healthier and more active travel.
Accessing and using walking, wheeling and cycling and wheeling networks
The East Sussex Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP) sets out proposals to introduce a network of walking and cycling routes in East Sussex. The LCWIP will consider the different context and challenges of different parts of the county (e.g. rural and urban) to provide local and longer-distance connectivity by walking, wheeling and cycling. A review of the East Sussex LCWIP will commence in late 2024. This review will incorporate the opportunities for active travel to be improved as part integrated journeys (i.e. walking, wheeling or cycling to a bus stop or rail station or travel interchange / mobility hub).
Accessibility to walking, wheeling and cycling routes is important for health and wellbeing. The approach and policies are presented in chapter 2 Safer, healthier and more active travel.
Accessibility and inclusive transport
Transport provision (services or networks) is an important factor influencing how people can access the services they need or want to get to, including healthcare, education, training, employment and leisure. For this reason it is critical that the County Council and their partners across the key sectors of health, employment and skills, business and leisure, culture and tourism continue to work in partnership to ensure that people can get to the places that need or want to go to.
Public spaces need to balance the needs of a broad range of users, some of whom use spaces in different ways. Therefore, physical accessibility to buses, trains and their stops or stations, is just as important as geographic accessibility. Spaces and public transportation vehicles, in addition to walking, wheeling and cycling routes need to be accessible to all users and not present a barrier to travel.
East Sussex BSIP includes proposals for all buses to have audio-visual announcements, dementia friendly floors, and the introduction of a wheelchair taxi guarantee scheme.
Similarly the LCWIP requires that all new active travel infrastructure considers Local Transport Note (LTN) 1/20 and ATE’s Active Travel Design Guidance (guidance provided to local authorities on delivering high quality active travel infrastructure), where deliverable. This guidance ensures it enhances safety for walkers, wheelers and cyclists. The design of public space and public realm schemes need to be subject to access audits to make them as inclusive as possible.
The rail network already advises which stations have step-free access and how users can book any required assistance at stations. The County Council will continue to work with Network Rail/Great British Railways and train operators to make all the county’s stations fully accessible.
Seamlessly integrated journeys
Networks and journey interchange (including mobility hubs)
When people undertake journeys there can be a number of components within, for example:
- Walk from home to the bus stop, take the bus into town, walk to the shops.
- Cycle from home to the railway station, take the train to the next town and cycle into the office.
- Wheel from the office to station, take the train to a town three stops away, before catching the bus to the next village, before wheeling to client’s office.
- Walk from the house to get into your car (parked on the street), drive to a car park in the nearest large town before walking to the theatre.
The plan will implement measures to integrate the county’s bus, rail, funicular (Hastings), walking, wheeling and cycling transport networks to deliver seamlessly integrated journeys. Integration of networks is important to enable all users to complete their first/last mile journeys (for example getting between your home and the bus stop, or between the railway station and your place of work or the shops).
To support seamless integrated journeys there will be support for the delivery of high-quality public spaces and transport infrastructure where people can change transport modes. It is proposed to deliver a network of improvements to interchange (mobility hubs) opportunities in rural and urban areas, between different modes, to enhance experiences of using and connecting with public transport and expand the catchment areas of bus stops and railway stations.
These improvements may include bus stop enhancements (e.g. adding shelters, real time passenger information and seats) or the addition of cycle stands or car club parking. The improvements to interchange will be designed to suit the different place and movement characteristics, the local environment and reflect the needs of local users (including demand).
In addition, the County Council are working with partners to review and improve public transport timetables, to have more buses or trains per hour between key destinations along main corridors (e.g. inter-urban bus services) which also serve the rural settlements along these routes between destinations, and with higher frequencies during the evenings and weekends.
Ticketing
To further encourage use of sustainable transport the County Council will work with operators, and government, to improve ticketing integration, for example expanding on multi-operator bus ticket offer, to ensure that the mechanism for paying for transport and services is transparent and intuitive. Proposals include introduction of affordable and attractively priced smart ticketing to allow all public transport services to be paid for in the same way, particularly for journeys requiring both rail and bus.
By improving provision across the board from integrated ticketing, better information and improved interchange facilities, a readily available transport system will be created which allows users the flexibility to choose the transport services that work best for them. Introducing strategic interchange opportunities to integrate bus, rail and active travel and to deliver complete end-to-end journeys for all users by non-car modes, ensuring access to vital public services, employment and leisure.
This plan will also encourage affordable cost of travel and the County Council will work with partners to deliver cost effective fares for journeys within urban parts of the county as well as for rural/urban trips.
Cars as part of seamless integrated journeys
We recognise that access to the car may be essential for some journeys (i.e. making the transport network inclusive in the absence of reliable and suitable alternatives). This plan seeks to address the challenges of unsuitable or absent alternatives and provide opportunities to demonstrate how the built environment and transport services are inclusive, thereby, providing the option to enable people to travel using sustainable modes.
As partners deliver on addressing these challenges, there may be times that there is a need to focus on placemaking and/or specific modes (i.e. giving priority to other modes) or managing demand (e.g. limiting or restricting parking, redesigning road space to prioritise people walking, wheeling and cycling, or amending the cost of parking) to meet the objectives and outcomes of the plan.
Delivering these objectives
These objectives will be delivered through the following policy areas:
- Policy C1: Inclusive access.
- Policy C2: Bus and coach.
- Policy C3: Rail.
- Policy C4: Integrating transport.
- Policy C5: Demand responsive (taxi, private hire and DDRT) and community transport.
- Policy C6: Public transport infrastructure.
Policy C1: Inclusive access
Context
In 2020 DfT published its Inclusive Transport Strategy for achieving equal access for disabled people. That strategy has the following key themes:
- Raising awareness of the obligations on transport operators.
- Ensuring that transport staff (frontline and managerial) understand the needs of disabled people.
- Ensuring that transport operators provide travel information in formats that all passengers can easily access.
- Ensuring that vehicles, stations and streetscapes are designed, built and operated so that they are easy to use for all.
- The future of inclusive transport - ensuring that technological advances and new business models provide opportunities for all.
In the south of the county the East Coastway rail route connects major towns including Lewes, Eastbourne, Bexhill and Hastings. The bus network connects a number of the major towns, in doing so providing access to/from rural areas in between, though provision is sparse where public transport use has traditionally been poor. The voluntary, community and social enterprise sectors play an important role in keeping people and places connected in these areas through community support activities.
Everyone should be able to access the travel mode they want for their journey where practical. Improved access to transport networks will help improve social inclusion, through access to employment, education, and training regardless of where you live in the county.
Issues/opportunities
Increasing the travel options available and publicity of their availability can help achievement of accessibility, equity and social inclusion goals by extending people’s ability to access the places they need and want to go to a range of services, including health, education, training and employment and leisure.
Six of the 38 railway stations in East Sussex have the top accessibility rating of A (these are Buxted, Eastbourne, Eridge, Hastings, Seaford, and Uckfield). Therefore, there is considerable opportunity for improvement of the accessibility of facilities at the other railway stations to help increase the number of disabled people who can safely use railway services in the county. Network Rail currently have a competitive national Access for All approach to fund or part-fund accessible. However, East Sussex County Council will work in partnership with Great British Railways in the future to address accessibility at rail station.
Working with operators there is an opportunity to increase the affordability of public transport, for example, with the help of continued government funding for lower bus fares. However, the County Council is limited in that it does not have powers to directly influence the affordability of public transport.
Reducing the cost of providing bus services through the introduction of bus priority is also key, as this saves the need for more buses and drivers due to increased traffic delays. Working in partnership with the bus operators, these operating cost savings would be passed on to service users through improved services and better value fares, particularly in the most deprived areas.
There are also areas of deprivation in rural areas and local centres including Hailsham, Rye and Eastern Rother where there are areas amongst the most deprived in East Sussex (using indices of multiple deprivation). By improving interchange between modes (mobility hubs) and enhancing bus services in between rural and local centres can support better access to health, education and skills facilities can help to address deprivation.
Component policy measures
In summary policy measures will focus on:
- Promoting accessibility improvements to physical transport infrastructure.
- Improving access to employment, education, health, social care, retail, social destinations and other key services.
- Promoting the provision of accessible transport information across key sectors including health, employment and skills, business and leisure, culture and tourism.
- Working with operators to make public transport more affordable and better value for money.
- Working in partnership with bus operators to reduce bus operating costs through the introduction of more bus priority measures, with savings passed on to service users.
- Working with community transport providers and groups (e.g. Southeast Community Rail Partnership) to make access to transport as widespread and inclusive as possible.
Policy C2: Bus and coach
Context
In 2020, the government announced £3bn of new funding to improve buses services and infrastructure across England towards London standards and published ‘2021 a new National Bus Strategy (NBS) - Bus Back Better’. East Sussex submitted a Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) to the DfT at the end of October 2021, which made the case for and included interventions to achieve high quality bus services across the county that provide a frequent and comprehensive choice and improve journey time reliability and punctuality of buses. These can be achieved through, amongst other measures, better scheduling of services and bus priority infrastructure that will in turn make a significant positive contribution to better air quality, decarbonisation, the local economy and accessibility (to services) improvements.
East Sussex is a popular tourist destination, with many visitors arriving by coach as part of coach holidays, especially within Eastbourne.
The county has previously been part of commercial national coach networks, though these connections have been lost in recent years. Those wishing to travel by coach need to travel to Brighton, West Sussex (A23 corridor – Hickstead or Gatwick) or Kent for coach connections towards London and other destinations.
Issues/opportunities
East Sussex County Council secured £41.4m of BSIP funding in July 2022. The BSIP funding will improve bus services through to April 2026, reduce fares and simplify ticketing, and deliver infrastructure improvements (including bus priority measures, bus stops and real time information provision), targeted at supporting increased usage of bus for short, medium and long-distance trips. This includes supporting operators to adapt to and accommodate changes in travel demand, e.g. increased working from home and changes in leisure travel.
The plan proposes a step change in bus frequency throughout the day and on weekends on high demand inter-urban corridors and in urban conurbations, where possible, enabling a turn up and go service for all users. These frequency changes will help to increase competitiveness of inter urban bus journey times and reliability with private car.
In rural areas, Digital Demand Responsive Transport (DDRT) known in East Sussex as ‘Flexibus’ is currently funded through the BSIP until March 2026. This DDRT service means that nearly every resident has access to a bus service. Work continues to optimise the DDRT provision in East Sussex, to try and deliver DDRT services in the most needed areas beyond the BSIP funding and ensuring that these services can be provided cost effectively (i.e. achieve value for money).
Mobility-a-a-service (MaaS) is a term used to describe digital transport service platforms that enable users to access, pay for, and get real-time information on, a range of public and private transport options. These platforms may also be linked to the provision of new transport services (UK Parliament, 2017). Innovative MaaS principles will be explored and delivered when it can be done in an effective manner both in terms of cost of delivery and the benefits.
This provision makes transport more integrated and a key part of MaaS. Introducing integrated ticketing means that the resultant cost should be reduced / less than the combined price to all users. It also fosters technical and operational innovation to improve the efficiency of services such that the whole region has access to high quality, rich and accurate public transport information that will in turn allow for the network to be enhanced and continuously improved.
Bus delay analysis, using improved data systems in partnership with the bus operators, is expected to be an increasingly powerful tool to review feasibility options and potential interventions. These solutions may be a range of interventions including:
- Operational adjustments to bus timings and routes to improve punctuality and reliability.
- New ticketing and payment schemes that reduce passenger boarding delays.
- Changes to roadside parking schemes to reduce highway pinch points, including enforcement improvements.
- Introduction of priority for buses at traffic signals.
- Review of bus priority opportunities at pedestrian crossings and traffic signals to reduce undue delays to buses and ensure pedestrian safety.
- Introduction of traffic light control at roundabouts where there are significant delays to buses.
- Changes in bus stop design, including carriageway re-profiling and longer bus stop clearways, to reduce delays caused to buses in entering and exiting bus stops.
- New bus lanes, including bus gates, to speed bus journey times and improve reliability.
Where operational savings will be realised through bus priority measures, the bus operators have committed through the Enhanced Partnership to re-invest these savings into service enhancements and/or better value fares.
There may be opportunities to reintroduce commercial coach services to East Sussex, providing an alternative mode of travel by which residents and visitors can access the county. Working with partners to ensure there is suitable coach pick-up and drop-off spaces at key destinations, in addition to providing adequate coach parking. Alongside investment in inter-urban and rural bus services, to improve important cross-boundary links with neighbouring counties such as West Sussex.
Component policy measures
In summary policy measures will focus on:
- Supporting the continued development of urban and key corridor bus networks by working in partnership with bus operators to improve frequency, punctuality, reduced cancellations and frequency.
- Delivering significant improvements to the public transport network within urban areas to support growth and deliver a step change in accessibility.
- Supporting measures to better manage demand for road space following the provision of high-quality public transport infrastructure.
- Supporting opportunities to reinstate commercial coach operations into the county and ensuring provision is made of coach pick up/drop off and parking at key destinations in East Sussex.
Policy C3: Rail
Context
Rail, in East Sussex, transports large volumes of people quickly, safely, efficiently, and with less impact on the environment due to a largely electrified network, with the exception of the Oxted Line from Hurst Green (Surrey) to Uckfield and the Marshlink line between Ore and Ashford. Rail services are more effective in carrying concentrated flows of passengers between town and city centres at higher speeds than bus and private cars.
However, rail is much less competitive for shorter door-to-door journeys. The East Sussex Rail Strategy focusses on how rail can better facilitate the two key strategic, longer-distance movements:
East-West along the south coast, using the East Coastway and Marshlink lines, connecting Brighton, Newhaven, Seaford, Lewes, Polegate (which provides a rail hub for Hailsham and other nearby villages), Eastbourne, Bexhill, Hastings and Rye.
Between East Sussex and London, with an ambition of closing the gap between service provision and journey times such that Eastbourne, Bexhill and Hastings to London are comparably competitive to Brighton to London.
Issues/opportunities
The county rail network serves the majority of main urban areas. With improvements to frequency, journey time and reliability, rail could be more competitive with private car for inter-urban trips.
Pre-pandemic rail in East Sussex was based on a ‘commuter railway’, where higher peak time fares are charged. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, leisure rail travel has recovered strongly, whilst commuter and business travel remains below pre-pandemic levels. An increase in leisure travel provides an opportunity to cater for an expanded and new rail market and needs to consider the different requirements and expectations of this market.
The strategy focuses on partnership working to, reinstate former railway lines such as the Uckfield – Lewes line, upgrade existing rail alignments such as the Marshlink and utilising technology such as dynamic signalling to support faster, higher capacity and more frequent services, particularly on the Coastway lines.
There is emerging railway reform and emerging policies through the establishment of Great British Railways which will focus on maximising railway performance and reliability, whilst making railways easier to use; rolling out accessibility improvements at stations; integrated ticketing and improved industry response during disruption to increase the perceived attractiveness of rail.
Rail is expensive to construct, maintain, and operate, and this cost is reflected in fare levels which mean that travelling by train can be more expensive than travelling by car. Fixed infrastructure can also be difficult and expensive to modify, and services are susceptible to disruption which can discourage its use.
Component policy measures
The East Sussex Rail Strategy will be updated in 2025. In summary policy measures will focus on:
- Supporting measures to deliver a more reliable, integrated, passenger friendly rail network.
- Facilitating improvements to stations to improve the experience of travelling by train.
- Exploring options to expand/reinstate the rail network to link to new settlements, corridors and growth areas to improve journey times to and from East Sussex as well as provide network resilience.
- Supporting frequency and journey time enhancements on rural and intercity rail links to improve connectivity and capacity (for both leisure and business travellers).
Policy C4: Integrating transport
Context
Public transport, including bus, rail, and demand responsive transport along with active travel is most effective, and attractive to the public , when seamless, easy-to-use and attractively priced. Poorly integrated public transport services deter their use amongst residents and visitors, making it difficult to understand which service to use, where to change buses or onto other services, or the best way to pay for journeys.
Campaign for Better Transport’s Integrated transport: A new generation of interchanges states that “an integrated transport network with reliable and well-positioned interchange points requires clear long-term policy supported by meaningful planning attached to investment decisions”. The aim is for a transport network that enables seamless trips - a faster and more reliable strategic network paired with improvements to first/last mile connectivity.
Issues/opportunities
The strategy emphasises a series of strategic urban and rural interchange opportunities in key locations in East Sussex, enabling interchange between rail and bus services, active travel corridors, and could accommodate shared mobility solutions such as e-bike hubs and Digital Demand Responsive Transport (DDRT) – Flexi-bus. These strategic interchanges will be co-located at key locations (e.g. railway stations such as Polegate, or locations where several identified inter-urban bus routes intersect such as Lewes and Uckfield) enabling longer-distance trips across the county and beyond for residents of East Sussex and visitors.
East Sussex’s BSIP and Transport for the South East’s Strategic Investment Plan sets out ambitions to integrate ticketing between operators and transport modes as well as to improve timetable co-ordination and integration between different services and modes.
Whilst all bus operators in the county offer contactless payment, they do not all provide tap on tap out services or fare capping for contactless payments. Complementing policy measures focus on working with partners to deliver simplified fares and ticketing across East Sussex and neighbouring areas, and integrating bus and rail timetables to reduce end-to-end journey times and achieve a vision of seamless multi-modal connectivity which delivers an attractive, competitive journey time against private vehicles.
Component policy measures
In summary policy measures will focus on:
- Encouraging the rollout of smart ticketing and value for money fare options across all modes of transport, working towards seamless multi-modal ticketing.
- Delivering improvements to major transport interchanges to help deliver a seamless transport network.
- Delivering intermediate and smaller scale interchange improvements (mobility hubs) in rural and local centres.
Policy C5: Demand responsive (including taxi, private hire and DDRT) and community transport
Context
Taxi, private hire, digital demand responsive transport (DDRT, called Flexibus in East Sussex) and community transport provision is an important service for individuals across East Sussex, forming an integral component within the transport ambition. This policy summarises the approach to rural mobility, adopting Mobility as a Service (MaaS) principles which promote integrated DDRT which feeds into strategic interchange locations that allow access to the wider public transport network. This policy will also incorporate private taxi hire and specialist transport provision, with a focus on connecting people to services, including healthcare, education, retail and leisure facilities across the region.
‘Digital platforms’ will enable transport providers to fully optimise transport provision, especially where providers’ data is shared. The incorporation of several transport resources from standard buses to private taxis is likely to play a crucial role in the cost effectiveness and value for money of transport provision and is seen as a significant opportunity that needs to be captured as early as possible.
Community transport is non-profit making transport provision. In East Sussex, these range from local car lift schemes intended to meet a particular need, such as access to a doctors’ surgery, to minibus dial a ride and local bus services. Some rely exclusively on volunteers, whilst others employ paid staff.
Issues/opportunities
Taxi and private hire provide a vital service to rural populations where public transport provision may still not be frequent and timely for connecting people to key services such as healthcare and education as well as for protected characteristic groups who are not able or feel uncomfortable accessing public transport.
A challenge is the availability of taxi services in rural areas, and at peak times when capacity is reduced due to taxi’s working on school transport runs.
The BSIP has delivered bus service enhancements across all days of week and day time and evenings, in some locations public transport may still not be available outside of regular hours of operation. Therefore, taxi and private hire play an integral part in the meeting and fulfilling demand of customers and staff of the night-time economy.
To serve one-off major events or surges in tourism demand in the summer months, specialist transport may play a role in adding capacity and resilience to the network.
Transitioning taxi, private hire, demand responsive and community transport vehicles to electric vehicles would considerably reduce the carbon and air quality impact of these trips.
Community transport providers may have limited capacity for significant expansion. The providers are often reliant on the efforts of key individuals and volunteers, though providers will pursue every possible means to take on additional services as the need arises.
The guidance in the Bus Services Act 2017 specifically suggests deploying publicly funded DDRT services to transport passengers from isolated villages to bus stops and transport hubs where they can connect to commercial bus services and complete their journeys, which keeps costs down both for the DDRT service and the commercial bus operator. On community transport, the guidance recommends that local authorities encourage community transport operators to integrate services into the wider public transport network. These are all policies which partners will continue to pursue.
Component policy measures
In summary policy measures for demand responsive and community transport will focus on:
- Introducing incentives for taxi and private hire operators to electrify their fleet.
- Supporting the introduction of taxi only electric vehicle charging points on the road.
- Continuing to pursue the community transport principles noted in the DfT’s guidance relating to the Bus Services Act 2017. Including helping and encouraging community transport operators to run DDRT services.
- Assisting community transport operators to increase their service provision where they wish to do so, with help in seeking funding opportunities, training, knowledge sharing and assistance with recruitment and seeking volunteers.
- Working with operators and drivers to ensure training for drivers is provided to support improved accessibility, comfort and quality of service, and safety and security.