A new approach to reviewing and improving Staffordshire’s supported bus network will help to protect important community connections and provide best value for money.
It provides a consistent and evidence-based assessment process for supported bus services.
Supported services receive council funding because they are not commercially viable but provide important connections for residents, particularly in rural areas. Staffordshire’s bus network supports around 13.6 million passenger journeys each year.
Under the approved review method, subsidy cost per passenger journey will be used as the primary value-for-money measure when services are prioritised, reviewed, continued, changed or withdrawn. However wider factors will also be taken into account including network connectivity, access to essential services, community impact and home-to-school transport needs.
Several trial service enhancements developed following suggestions from county councillors and the council’s transport team have been approved. These include an additional late-evening 110 service connecting Tamworth with Sutton Coldfield and Birmingham and an extension providing a link between Stone and Stafford’s hospital.
Other improvements include a new daytime service between Perton and Codsall, incorporating a Saturday Perton to Pattingham service, a new connection between Stone and Rugeley via surrounding villages which is already successfully operating and a service connecting villages east of Stone with Stone and Longton.
Andrew Mynors, Staffordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Connectivity, said:
Good bus services are vital for residents, communities and our local economy, connecting people with jobs, education, healthcare and other essential services.
This new approach gives us a fair, transparent and evidence-based way of reviewing supported services, while recognising that their value cannot always be measured by passenger numbers alone.
It will help us use limited funding where it can make the greatest difference, protect the long-term sustainability of the network and introduce improvements where there is evidence of local need.”
Information and updates will be publicised about any individual service changes, including timescales and alternative travel options where appropriate.
The county council’s cabinet approved the service review at its meeting on 21 October.
