Written evidence from Dales & Bowland
Community Interest Company (DBCIC) (BUS 21)
INTRODUCTION
DBCIC is a social enterprise company founded in 2007
by the Yorkshire Dales Society and the Yorkshire Dales Public
Transport Users Group to replace the Sunday bus service between
Ilkley and Skipton withdrawn in 2006. It has since taken on management
of much of the Sunday and Bank Holiday DalesBus network of bus
services within and into the Yorkshire Dales National Park, trebling
passenger numbers, attracting revenue grants from other stakeholders
in both public and private sectors and halving the subsidy per
passenger journey previously paid by North Yorkshire County Council.
Additionally some seasonal weekday journeys have been operated
in 2009 and 2010. In 2010-11 DBCIC services have already carried
over 23,000 passengers and the required support per passenger
has been further reduced. A briefing note on DBCIC is appended
to this evidence including an annex with financial and performance
statistics updated to include the latest information from 2010-11.
Unfortunately, DBCIC is currently facing the loss
of its revenue funding from North Yorkshire County Council and
the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority and there is further
uncertainty about the ability of some other funders to support
DalesBus in 2011-12.
The Company welcomes the opportunity to provide evidence
to the Transport Committee's Inquiry into "Bus Services after
the Spending Review". Responses to the four issues raised
by the Committee are detailed below. If required the Company will
be pleased to supplement this evidence orally.
1. Impact of the Reduction in BSOG
As this will not come into effect until April 2012,
DBCIC can only predict the impact based upon experience. It is
likely to affect rural operations to a greater extent than urban
operations as fuel costs are a greater proportion of total operating
costs for a rural bus service due to the longer distances travelled
and faster journey speeds. However fuel will remain a relatively
small proportion (< 25%) of total bus operating costs which
are dominated by labour costs, vehicle depreciation and maintenance
and insurance premiums. DBCIC costs are predominantly the costs
of contracts placed after securing services through competitive
tender together with marketing expenditure.
Accordingly the impact should be containable provided
operators do not use the changes in BSOG as an excuse to raise
tender prices disproportionately. Of more concern is the likelihood
of further increases in oil prices, as many smaller rural bus
operators have to purchase diesel at local pump prices and are
unable to negotiate large discounts with suppliers which the large
groups receive.
2. Impact of Local Authority Grant Support
Cuts
As indicated in the introduction, this is a major
concern for DBCIC as at the time of writing North Yorkshire County
Council (NYCC) is intending to withdraw support for all Sunday
and evening bus services and is also implementing cuts to weekday
networks. The Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority (YDNPA)
had already signalled its intention to cease funding DalesBus
after 2010 and Metro (WYITA) is facing budget pressures but still
hopes to maintain a similar level of support in 2011. DBCIC has
had considerable success in working to involve other stakeholders
in funding its activities and had hopes of extending the funding
base, for example by securing contributions from the health sector
to reflect the healthy living benefits of DalesBus services and
from other Dales business and community organisations on the basis
of the proven benefits to the Dales economy and environment of
the services. However, with the severity of cuts affecting the
public sector and the consequential impacts on many Dales businesses
who supply public organisations, not to mention the direct increase
in unemployment we have to take a pessimistic view of the prospects
for significant additional funding to replace the NYCC and YDNPA
grants at this stage.
The proposed LA grant support reductions therefore
threaten to have a severe impact on sustainable access to and
around the Yorkshire Dales National Park, Nidderdale Area of Outstanding
Natural Beauty and the surrounding area. Bus services are likely
to disappear on Sundays and Bank Holidays from much of this area,
which has few rail links, creating significant adverse economic,
social and environmental impacts.
Directors of DBCIC have met with local MPs at the
House of Commons to gain their support for a bid to the new Local
Sustainable Transport Fund as a pilot "Big Society"
project but it is feared that this funding will not be available
in time to save the Summer 2011 DalesBus season which would normally
commence at Easter (one of the busiest weekends of the year for
tourism in the Dales). Funding for the core network of services
which DBCIC manages on a year-round basis also ceases at the end
of the financial year in March, thereby placing these popular
services at severe risk in the short-term.
Experience has shown that withdrawal of services
results in loss of regular passengers, often to cars. Even if
services are subsequently reinstated a substantial marketing push
is required to build up new patronage let alone increase it from
previous levels. This would be particularly disappointing as DBCIC's
marketing has been notably successful in attracting new business.
In recognition of the Company's innovative approach to service
development and marketing we received SIS (Stimulating Innovation
for Success) funding from Nottingham Business School in 2009 to
assist with marketing the DalesBus network; this contributed to
56% growth in passenger numbers in 2009.
It is often not recognised (particularly in political
circles it has to be said!) that cutting subsidised services will
also have an adverse impact on commercial and indeed other supported
services in the area. This is because many return journeys will
be made in one direction in the daytime when services may be commercial
or supported on the basis that daytime services are busier and
therefore of greater "value" than evening or weekend
services. If the evening or weekend service is no longer available
both legs of the return journey are lost. In consequence the user
suffers, in many cases accentuating social exclusion for low income
families in rural areas, bus operators suffer additional loss
of income on their remaining commercial or supported services
and, if the trips transfer to car, there are potential adverse
consequences for the environment and energy conservation.
DBCIC has been working to increase the utility of
its services (which were initially designed for leisure and recreational
use for the local Dales communities) and fears that the impact
of the NYCC approach to blanket subsidy cuts will be disproportionately
severe on workers in rural areas, particularly in the service
sectors, many of whom have to travel on evening services and for
people travelling to attend clinics and hospitals, whether as
patients or visitors, who also need to travel in evening and weekend
periods.
Even if DBCIC is able to secure funding to maintain
its existing core services at 2010 levels in the coming year,
the loss of NYCC support for other services within the DalesBus
network, some of which act as feeders to services managed by DBCIC,
is a serious concern. Whilst DBCIC could not replace these services
without additional funding an offer has been made to NYCC to manage
these services. We anticipate that the support required would
be 20% lower than 2010 cost levels. By the end of 2010, this offer
had not been taken up by the Council, although productive discussions
are in progress regarding the inclusion of DBCIC and community
transport proposals within a NYCC-led bid for support from the
Sustainable Local Transport Fund, when this comes into effect
later in 2011. We remain concerned however that, without sufficient
funding to cover the period until the outcome of the bid is known,
the Dales are vulnerable to discontinuation of several core services
from April 2011.
3. Impact of Free Concessionary Fares
DBCIC supports all measures to increase the use of
public transport so the principle of free bus travel is to be
welcomed. However although this is a universal benefit (ie not
means tested) it is also an unequal benefit as it is of no use
if there are inadequate or non-existent bus services to use it
on. Furthermore it is a hindrance to improving rural bus services
if it results in lower total income for operators as is the case
with DalesBus.
The problem emanates from the false assumption for
rural bus services that free travel will generate large
numbers of additional passengers and these can be accommodated
within existing capacity. Infrequent weekday services such as
those found within the Yorkshire Dales area in Swaledale, Wensleydale
and Upper Wharfedale are still carrying essentially the same passengers
but the concessionary reimbursements are considerably less than
the fares previously paid. DalesBus services from West Yorkshire
conurbations into the Dales have generated additional concessionary
passengers but these buses were well patronised pre 2008 (or else
they would not have been operating) and are now prone to overcrowding
which discourages fare-paying passengers.
Worse still for DBCIC, total revenue is less than
pre-2008 as the CIC has resisted the temptation to increase adult
fares to compensate for the lost revenue and indeed generate extra
concessionary reimbursements. By comparison, some operators have
increased adult fares and rover tickets by over 25% to generate
additional concessionary reimbursements. The iconic Yorkshire
Dalesman service from York and Leeds to Hawes every Summer Sunday
carried an average of over 100 passengers every day throughout
the season with standing loads on peak days but due to the high
proportion of concessionary passengers carried (approximately
70%) and the low reimbursement rates for long distance services,
it failed to break even let alone deliver a profit which most
users would expect it to achieve.
Several DalesBus services are limited to smaller
vehicles by the infrastructure of the road network in the Dales,
especially the arch at Bolton Abbey and narrow roads with steep
gradients around Malham Tarn, Dentdale, Swaledale and Upper Nidderdale.
On these roads a 30 seater vehicle is considered a "large
bus" (16 to 25 seaters are the norm) and as such vehicles
are often classified as coaches with seat belts, standees are
not permitted. If 70% of passengers carried are concessionaries,
a full load may only contain six fare-paying passengers and the
total income generated may only be the equivalent of 12 fare-payers.
On some routes, children carried commercially at half fare generate
more income for the operator than elderly concessionaries.
A further problem generated by free concessionary
bus travel is the perception that rail travel (even with a Railcard)
is disproportionately expensive leading to elderly passenger resistance
to integrated rail-bus services for longer journeys. This is very
unfortunate as both Northern Rail and the Friends of the Settle
Carlisle Line are prepared to support connecting buses at Ribblehead
and Dent Stations to enable the Leeds-Settle-Carlisle trains (which
are running anyway with spare capacity and receiving DfT support)
to be used for the "long haul" with a short connecting
bus journey into Dentdale, Swaledale and Upper Wensleydale. Such
services are much faster than long distance buses and can actually
be quicker than travelling by car and considerably more environmentally
friendly.
Free travel also has a tendency to lead to poorer
service quality as concessionary passengers are less likely to
complain and the usual compensation provided by operators (free
travel vouchers) is of no benefit to them. This corollary applies
to other public services offered free at the point of use such
as car parking, the NHS and public conveniences.
4. Taking Account of Passenger Views
DBCIC's business model is built on inclusivity and
responding to the views and needs of the wide base of Stakeholders
including users, community organisations, funders and operators.
For example, the Company consults with the Yorkshire Dales Public
Transport Users Group on a regular basis to ensure that its services
meet the needs of their users. DBCIC directors and volunteers
travel regularly on DalesBus services talking to passengers and
monitoring standards of operation and we have worked with the
University of Central Lancashire and Nottingham Business School
on research projects which have included passenger surveys and
market research.
Whilst it was pleasing to see that NYCC put its proposal
to cut evening and Sunday services out to consultation, it is
disappointing that examination of the published reports to the
Council's Executive and Scrutiny Committee suggests that the concerns
expressed by over 300 users and other stakeholders do not appear
to have resulted in any modifications whatsoever to the council's
original plans. It is also unfortunate that NYCC are not even
going to reply individually to objectors, including a substantial
number of representative organisations such as parish and town
councils and business groups.
For many years it was anomalous that the generally
more affluent and eloquent market segment of rail passengers had
statutory representation on a wide range of issues, but that the
far larger, but generally less vociferous, group of bus passengers
had only a voluntary mechanism established after the 1985 Transport
Act deregulated bus services outside London. DBCIC was therefore
pleased when Passenger Focus remit was extended to include bus
services and we have had some useful contact with its officers.
We also maintain liaison with other organisations who take an
interest in matters affecting bus passengers, both nationally
and locally, including Bus Users UK, the Campaign for Better Transport
and Travel Watch North West. It is however unclear how much influence
these organisations are currently able to exert on behalf of the
passenger.
With the resources available to Passenger Focus it
is likely that its interest in bus matters will be mainly directed
to general monitoring and suggestions for improvement on an industry
wide basis. It is gratifying that they have already recognised
that the bus industry needs the active involvement of local highway
and transport authorities and we believe that they are taking
a close interest in the way in which decisions are taken to allocate
contracts for supported services.
January 2011
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