Wiltshire Hopper (Survey)

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Long quotation form Wiltshire Council Web site.

http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/parkingtransportandstreets/publictransport/wiltshire-hopper-survey.htm

Proposed changes to the Connect2 Wiltshire Hopper service to the Royal United Hospital ^ have your say

Why are these proposals being made?

Wiltshire Council recognises that the Connect2 Wiltshire Hopper service to the Royal United hospital plays an important role in helping people to get to outpatients appointments, to work, and for hospital visiting. It was the council that set up the service in 2001 jointly funded by Wiltshire Council, the NHS and the government.  When funding from the government and the NHS ceased a few years later, Wiltshire Council continued to fund the service.

Unfortunately, in the years since the service began, the financial pressures on local authorities across the country have increased massively, leaving councils squeezed between huge reductions in the grants received from government on the one hand, and on the other a continuing growth in the cost of providing social care as the number of elderly and very elderly people increases. These pressures look certain to become even greater over the next few years. The council is therefore having to make some very difficult decisions about future spending, and local transport services (including Connect2 Wiltshire) have been identified as one of the areas where savings might be made.

Although the Hopper service is popular, it is also very expensive to provide and the council spends around ^150,000 a year supporting it. With nearly 15,000 passenger journeys a year being made, the support per passenger trip works out at over ^10. This is much higher than the ^3.50 per trip that is the council^s usual maximum, and which is published in the guidelines for supported bus service funding in the Local Transport Plan.

What is being proposed?

Earlier this year the council proposed that it would enter into discussions with the Clinical Care Group (CCG), and the hospital, to discuss financial support to maintain the service. As a result of these discussions, money from the Better Care Fund has been set aside to provide a service until the end of the current financial year (31 March 2016), and a case is being prepared to seek further funding to keep the service running beyond this date. This may well require a reduction in the annual subsidy to make it more affordable and we have to consult on this reduced service, and the ceasing of the service should our current talks about next year^s funding fail.

We are therefore consulting on two scenarios;

* Changes to the service that would reduce the subsidy required, to be implemented early in 2016. These would include a reduced frequency of service and an increase in the fares charged.

* Complete withdrawal of the service, which may be a possible outcome if funding cannot be secured to keep the service running beyond March 2016.

Scenario 1 ^ changes to the service to reduce subsidy required.

In order to make the service more affordable, it is proposed that;

* There would be fewer journeys to and from the hospital each day. The proposed timetable would be as follows (running daily Monday to Friday); Arrivals at RUH; 0720, 0820, 0920, 1020, 1220, 1320, 1520, 1720. Departs from RUH; 0830, 0930, 1030, 1230, 1330, 1530, 1630, 1730

There would be no change in the area covered by the service or to the arrangements for booking a journey.

* All fares would be increased by around 50%. For example, the new fare from Trowbridge, Bradford or Melksham would be ^12.60 single / ^16.20 return, and the flat fare for holders of a Wiltshire concessionary bus pass would be ^9.75 single / ^12.00 return.

It is anticipated that the combined effect of these proposed changes would be to reduce the annual subsidy required from around ^150,000 to around ^90,000. The changes would be introduced in February 2016.

Scenario 2 ^ complete withdrawal of the service.

If funding cannot be secured for the 2016/17 financial year and beyond, the service could be completely withdrawn. Due to the need to give notice, this would not be before May 2016. Alternative means of transport are available to the hospital;

* There are frequent bus services from Bath city centre, and there is also a Park & Ride service to RUH from Odd Down.

* Some people who have a medical need for transport may be eligible for the NHS-funded non-emergency Patient Transport Service (ambulance or smaller vehicles); )

* People who are not eligible for non-emergency patient transport and cannot make the journey by public transport can ask their local Link or community transport scheme for help

* For patients on low income who qualify for it, the Healthcare Travel Costs scheme will refund the costs of travel to and from hospital

Further details of the transport that is available to the hospital can be found on the RUH website.

How to respond to this consultation

We are asking people to tell us their views about both of the scenarios described above, and what impact they would have on their journey to hospital.

If you or a member of your family are using the service or have used it in the past, or may need to use it in the future, please complete the questionnaire for individuals. Paper versions of the questionnaire are also available on the vehicles themselves and from the information desk at the hospital, and from local libraries in the operating area of the service.

There is also a separate questionnaire for organisations who would like to let us know what the impact would be on them or the people they represent.

The closing date for responses to be received is Friday 27 November 2015. No decision will be made until the responses to the consultation have been considered, the impacts assessed and options investigated.

More information about the current service

At present, the Connect2 Wiltshire Hopper service to the Royal United Hospital;

* Provides a service to and from the hospital every hour on Monday to Friday daytimes, from a wide area of western Wiltshire including Warminster, Westbury, Trowbridge, Melksham, Corsham and Bradford on Avon. First arrival at the hospital is at 0720, and the last return departure leaves at 1730. It will pick up passengers from anywhere within the defined operating area on request, with bookings required to be made by at least 10.00am the day before travel.

* Fares range from ^7.20 to ^14.40 single / ^8.40 to ^15.60 return according to location, with a flat rate charge of ^6.50 single / ^8.00 return for holders of a Wiltshire concessionary bus pass.

* It began in 2000 as an experimental service funded by a successful bid to the government^s Rural Bus Challenge, with funding contributions from Wiltshire Council and the NHS. When after a few years the government funding ended and the NHS contribution was withdrawn, Wiltshire Council provided the full funding needed to allow the service to continue.

* Annual use of the service is nearly 15,000 single passenger trips, of which around 75% are for outpatient appointments, 22% for work  and 3% for hospital visiting.  Around 70% are by holders of an older or disabled persons^ concessionary bus pass. The vehicles are equipped with a tail lift and an electric raising passenger step.

* The service is expensive to provide as it needs four minibuses to maintain an hourly service on request to the whole of the operating area, a telephone booking service to be manned throughout the operating day, and requires constant scheduling to arrange pickups at the places required and to cope with the frequent last minute changes to return transport bookings if passengers are required to stay at the hospital for longer than expected.

* The gross cost of operation in 2014/15 was ^202,000, which was offset by income from passenger fares of ^48,000, and the remaining cost of ^154,000 was met by Wiltshire Council. The average support cost per passenger trip was ^10.79.

[grahame]

The "RUH" (Royal United Hospital) is located in the western suburbs of Bath, just over 2 miles from the railway station / bus station. It is the main hospital for Bath itself and for a large area of North West Wiltshire - but it lies at one extreme side of that area, within a few hunred yards of the border. Main road infrastructure to the hospital is lacking ("a bit of a nightmare to get to"). The hospital operates 7 days a week, 24 hours per day with (I understand) some day surgury and outpatients appointments on Saturdays and Sundays.

Withshire Council are offering two options - a reduction of service with an increase in price, or complete withdrawl and reliance on other existing arrangements.  They admit this is a difficult service to run to a booked timetable due to appointments changing.  It strikes me that they should be looking at this service as part of a network rather than in isolation, but I see no suggestion of this.  I also note that that contact name for further information on the survey, which runs until 27th November, is a gentleman who retires on 1st November.

First and Faresaver between them run 8 buses per hour from areas covered by the Hopper into Bath Bus station - many vehicles being low floor / wheelchair enabled, and with some services running into the evening, on Saturdays and on Sundays.  A small proportion of these services are quite busy, with an extreme peak added in the last year on services after 09:30 when concessioalry fares were restricted to buses at this time.

It strikes me that an extension of these buses (routes 231, x31, 271, 272, x72 and 265) to the RUH would provide a more frequent, longer running, lower cost service to the hospital, and would reduce the nightmare of having to rebook / reschedule services on the fly as appointments overrun.  Local link transport within towns could efficiently help people with their final bus-stop-home movements, and it's likely to be far more efficient to do that that to take them all the way.  At present, a change at Bath bus station is a major negative on persuading people to use service buses for the hospital, with queues for the ongoing buses ...

[BandHcommuter]

* Fares range from ^7.20 to ^14.40 single / ^8.40 to ^15.60 return according to location, with a flat rate charge of ^6.50 single / ^8.00 return for holders of a Wiltshire concessionary bus pass.

If this is correct, the minimum yield per single passenger trip should be ^4 (half the cheapest concessionary return), and the average yield higher still.

* Annual use of the service is nearly 15,000 single passenger trips

which suggests that total fares revenue for the service should be at least ^60,000, and probably rather more. However:

* The gross cost of operation in 2014/15 was ^202,000, which was offset by income from passenger fares of ^48,000, and the remaining cost of ^154,000 was met by Wiltshire Council

My sums are on the back of a postage stamp, and I may have missed something obvious, but I wonder if the subsidy should be somewhat less than that quoted.

[grahame]

* Fares range from ^7.20 to ^14.40 single / ^8.40 to ^15.60 return according to location, with a flat rate charge of ^6.50 single / ^8.00 return for holders of a Wiltshire concessionary bus pass.

If this is correct, the minimum yield per single passenger trip should be ^4 (half the cheapest concessionary return), and the average yield higher still.

* Annual use of the service is nearly 15,000 single passenger trips

which suggests that total fares revenue for the service should be at least ^60,000, and probably rather more. However:

* The gross cost of operation in 2014/15 was ^202,000, which was offset by income from passenger fares of ^48,000, and the remaining cost of ^154,000 was met by Wiltshire Council

My sums are on the back of a postage stamp, and I may have missed something obvious, but I wonder if the subsidy should be somewhat less than that quoted.

That is a fascinating "spot".   Looking at the current service blurb, I note some lower fares:

Block booking discounts saving 25% are available if you use the service three or more times a week (not available for FREE bus pass holders).

All RUH staff can use the service for just ^6.50 single or return ticket.

So if the service was to be used only by RUH staff on daily round trip commutes, and the number of trips was actually just 14,770 rather that 15,000 (it did say "nearly"), you have your ^48,000.  I'm not suggesting for a moment that all trip are staff-to-work so I don't think this is the full answer, but I am told they find the service very useful.

I would suspect that full fare passengers are very much in the minority, far less than staff or concessions.

[TeaStew]

Hehe, I too made the same calculation using the staff fare! But then noticed in the info above (towards the end):

* Annual use of the service is nearly 15,000 single passenger trips, of which around 75% are for outpatient appointments, 22% for work  and 3% for hospital visiting.  Around 70% are by holders of an older or disabled persons^ concessionary bus pass. The vehicles are equipped with a tail lift and an electric raising passenger step.

and so have been unable to get the numbers to work either!

[edit: and I used a more conservative "nearly 15k" - 14k!]

[grahame]

Hehe, I too made the same calculation using the staff fare! But then noticed in the info above (towards the end):

* Annual use of the service is nearly 15,000 single passenger trips, of which around 75% are for outpatient appointments, 22% for work  and 3% for hospital visiting.  Around 70% are by holders of an older or disabled persons^ concessionary bus pass. The vehicles are equipped with a tail lift and an electric raising passenger step.

and so have been unable to get the numbers to work either!

[edit: and I used a more conservative "nearly 15k" - 14k!]

So that's 22% at ^3.25, 70% at ^4.00 and just 8% at rather more.

[grahame]

Another interesting calculation ...

Runs 250 days per year, 11 runs in each direction - so a total of 5,500 runs.   With just under 15,000 journeys made that means that each run averages around 2.7 passengers.



30 journeys in (and 30 journeys out) per day .. daily flows in each direction
- 2 fare paying passengers
- 7 staff
- 21 concessions

[grahame]

A couple of follow ups to this ... as I had to visit the Royal United Hospital for an outpatients appointment on Tuesday:

a) before visit

b) and after

In summary - excellent service, and made necessary by the lack of integration of other public transport.  But expensive.  The logical way to save cost may be to sort out the integration - I suspect you could come up with a service that's even more user friendly and runs 7 days a week not 5 with just a bit of joined up thinking!

From my appointment's viewpoint, I'm confirmed as having suffered right sided vestibular failure, which means that I'm now permanently deaf in the right ear.  The background for anyone who's not been in the picture is that I lost my hearing (and sense of balance) over a couple of hours one evening in August.  In the immediate following days, even moving my head around made me "seasick" but I have gradually got used to the balance issues and no longer throw up all the time.   My balance remains poor, with the other ear, eyes, and other senses coming in to help but I still appear drunk, and get tired very quickly when moving around.  There is a very slim chance of it being a benign tumour (and I'll be getting a scan for that) but in reality, I'll probably never again know which direction a sound is coming from, and will aways have to ask people in a group to wave at me when they talk so I know who's addressing me.

[ChrisB]

That might be enough to get you a Disabled rail card.....worth a try. Very sorry to hear.

[grahame]

That might be enough to get you a Disabled rail card.....worth a try. Very sorry to hear.

Thanks, ChrisB. Wish I could hear    ... my understanding is that I could indeed qualify for a disabled railcard, but as I already have a senior railcard I don't think it would gain me much; morally I could wave it at people to get a priority seat, I suppose.   What it does not give me is the ability to get any form of bus pass / concession.   But then my (fit and able bodied, personal, view) is that we should support our disabled and old society members properly at source, meaning that they have the resources to pay the same as anyone else for their travel.

[ChrisB]

But the Diabled card gets a 'carer' the same discount.....a bonus over the Senior Card?

[NickF]

Wiltshire Council confirm the hopper will be discontinued:

http://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/news/14205844.Wiltshire_Council_confirm_Hopper_bus_will_be_discontinued/?ref=mr&lp=5

[grahame]

I have been - and remain - very careful on this one.  It's an excellent service which is loved, useful, and I have used it.  Subsidy at 10 pounds per journey is high compared to other public bus services - but then it's not quite a normal bus service being 'demand responsive' at one end.

The current alternative - which I have also used is to get the bus from [wherever] to Bath, change to the no. 14 to the hospital.  Disadvanage is the change / wait, and the lack of door to door local link in Wiltshire; there are also questions as to the suitability of a public service for some hospital customers.  Advantage of the regular bus is its longer hours and 7 day operation ... and for fare-paying passengers it's lower cost, for the council lower or even no subsidy.  Of course, that 7 day and evening operation is itself in question.

If and when the "what now?" question is asked, there can be ways under http://option247.uk to provide something more suitable for passengers and lower again subsidy.   Total transport and network stuff, if we have to.