County Hall

PP C302

Taunton, Somerset
TA1 4DY 29th October 2014

CONSULTATION ON REVIEW OF SUBSIDISED LOCAL BUS SERVICES AND DEMAND RESPONSIVE TRANSPORT

Due to a continuing reduction in the amount of funding the Government provides the Council to run local services, and to manage competing demands for services that the Council is legally obliged to provide; Somerset County Council needs to review its allocation of funds for supported bus services. We are now seeking your views on potential changes to these services.

We are changing the way we provide Demand Responsive Transport in Somerset and will be routing the vehicles into areas where, due to previous withdrawals of conventional public transport, there is currently no timetabled public transport provision.

As a general principle it is our view that demand responsive services should be retained but as a routed services to provide access for rural communities with particular regard to the needs of our elderly population and people with disabilities along with those who may not have access to a car.

Increasingly difficult choices will need to be made about where we provide support in the future. Routes have been identified by the Council for possible reductions in financial support due to:

• Availability of services on other days of the week or proximity of alternative services;
• Low passenger use;
• Possible Commercial replacement.

We are also proposing that some services will operate at a reduced frequency rather than our support being entirely withdrawn, to retain the ability for people to make journeys by public transport.

The affected services are listed at the website mentioned below and include No 10 – Langley Marsh – Wellington (First). SCC would like to consult with as many Somerset groups and residents as possible and we would be grateful for your views on these proposed changes before a final decision is taken by the Council in 2015.

If you would like to complete our online survey please go to the following website for full details:

www.somerset.gov.uk/bussurvey

Deadline for responses is 29th December 2014

Yours sincerely

John Perrett/Jane Newell

Service Managers - Transporting Somerset/Highways & Transport Commissioning