Members and ranks services based on cost, usage, journey purpose and the availability of other forms of transport (such as the rail network). these criteria we will consider supporting a bus service if its main purpose meets one or more of the following journey activities: Access to work Access to learning Access to healthcare Access to food shopping Next, services are ranked in priority order based on the times and days of the week on which they operate and the cost per passenger journey (the cost of the contract divided by the number of journeys made on it). The table below shows how we prioritise services in this way. Priority Days of operation £ Per Passenger Journey (KCC subsidy) 1 Any day of the week Less than £3 2 Monday to Friday £3 to £5 3 Monday to Friday Over £5 4 Saturday £3 to £5 5 Sunday and evening £3 to £5 6 Saturday, Sunday & evening £5 to £7 7 Any day Over £7 8 Poorly performing contracts with very limited implications Regardless of cost Our approach to savings The Council is very aware that any change or withdrawal to a bus service will have a negative impact on users who in many instances will have made personal arrangements around it. Our approach seeks to minimise these impacts as far as possible by taking account of: The Council’s criteria for supporting bus services (detailed on page 7) Equality legislation (the Equality Act 2010) (detailed on page 14) Feedback from the public received through this consultation Why do we need these additional steps?
standard Risk Matrix we have determined that any bus service withdrawal would have an Impact Score of 12 mainly because of the ‘likely’ and ‘significant’ impact on the users of the service. If you would like more information on this please visit . Applying KCC’s criteria KCC’s criteria for the support of socially necessary bus services identifies that financial support will be prioritised to bus services and journeys that provide the only access to one or more of the following : Education Employment Healthcare (hospital appointments, doctors, dentists etc.) Essential (food) shopping responses to this consultation, our inspections, and other engagement and information, we will identify the services and journeys being used for these purposes. We will clarify where these activities could not be completed if those services or journeys were withdrawn. An additional point will be added to the overall Impact Assessment Score of those services or journeys that meet this criteria. Examples In making these assessments, the Council will take account of the availability of other bus services and journeys possibly available at different times or on different days of the week. For example, if an early morning journey is taking workers to start a specific shift time then a later journey might not be usable, in which case the additional point would be added to the overall Impact Score. However, if a Sunday service is being used to complete food shopping and this could be completed on the remaining Monday to Saturday service, then it would be assumed that there is little impact and no points would be added. Understanding how equality impacts our scoring approach We will then use what we know about the service and statistical information to identify if the service is used by particular types of passenger (for example, older people or disabled passengers) or for certain journey purposes. Our initial EqIA has identified that bus passengers falling into the categories of Age people), Disability or those with Caring responsibilities could be more adversely affected by bus service changes. This is because they
How to get involved and have your say By responding to the consultation, you will help us make informed decisions. No decisions have been taken and your views will be instrumental in the final decision taken by County Council Members. Please let us know your views by visiting and completing the questionnaire. Alternatively, complete the questionnaire at the end of this document and return to: Freepost, KENT COUNTY COUNCIL BUS FUNDING REVIEW. If you require any further information about the proposed changes before responding to the consultation please contact us at . Easy read and Microsoft Word versions of this document and the questionnaire are available on our website or upon request. If you require this or any of the consultation documents in another format please request these via email to or by telephone on 03000 421553 (text relay service 18001 03000 421553). This number goes to an answer machine, which is monitored during office hours. Please complete your questionnaire and return it to us by the 15th May 2016. What happens next? Your responses, along with the final Equality Impact Assessments, will be presented to KCC Members in July following which we will publish our results. Any changes to bus routes resulting from decisions made by Council Members most likely take effect in August 2016. 11. Glossary of Community Transport Operators: means operators who have a different license to the likes of Arriva and Stagecoach. These operators are typically more voluntary in their nature and can often provide transport services for the Council at a lesser cost. Council Members: means KCC’s elected politicians, in this instance represented through those members forming part of relevant Cabinet Committees. Criteria for bus service support: means the KCC Member approved way of ranking existing and new bus services to identify if they will or won’t be paid for by KCC.