To consider the report.

Chris Joyce, Head of Infrastructure, Sustainability and Economic Growth, said bus services outside of London had been deregulated since the 1980s, which withdrew local authorities’ powers to control and direct where bus services were placed. This allowed private companies to operate on a commercial basis, setting routes, timetables, and fares. Where a commercial service was not viable, the council had powers to secure provision of any further public transport services it considered necessary through contracts and supported services.

There were national discussions about the drop in demand of bus services during the pandemic, which was supported through grants by central government. The national bus strategy, Bus Back Better, set out a new vision to increase bus service usage up to pre-pandemic levels and delivered new models of delivery. The strategy asked local authorities to either commit to enhanced partnerships, which was a new form of partnership with private organisations, or a franchising model by June 2021. The strategy also sought to implement bus service improvement plans by October 2021, and the government offered £100,000 in grants to support local authorities to undertake the work.

Councillor Haseler asked if the bus services decided what was commercially viable. Chris Joyce said a bus operator could put forward any route on a commercial basis, and if it did not recoup its costs, it would withdraw the service. The borough would be able to operate supported services; however, it could not compete with commercial services such as providing subsidised routes. The borough could identify areas where there were no bus routes and put out a tender and bus companies would set out how much money they would need to operate.

Councillor Haseler asked how ward councillors should address representations made on changing and adding bus routes and Chris Joyce said his team should be contacted. As part of the bus service improvement plan, views on improving existing and additional routes would be explored and assessed. The purpose of enhanced partnerships was for a greater focus on service quality rather than a commercial approach.

The Vice Chairman asked if there would be funds for electric buses (e-buses) and Chris Joyce said e-buses were more expensive than diesel buses and central government had not yet announced the use of funding. The Vice Chairman said with cars transitioning to electric, would buses also be changing, and Chris Joyce said there was a transition to hybrid and e-buses. High demand routes were able to justify high investments, and the government had funding opportunities to upgrade fleets from diesel to hybrid and electric models. Councillor Knowles said having hybrid or e-buses could be part of the contracting basis for companies to bid and suggested options such as making town centres a low emission zone. Councillor Stimson, Cabinet Member - Climate Change, Sustainability, Parks and Countryside, said the borough would do everything in its capacity to decarbonise and electrify services where possible and seek funding availability.

The Vice Chairman asked how bus routes through multiple boroughs were managed and Chris Joyce said if it was a commercial service, bus operators decided the bus stops, fares, and routes, though they would often liaise with the borough. If it was supported services, neighbouring authorities could work in partnership to deliver the bus routes.

Councillor Knowles said there were bespoke taxi services for less mobile residents in Old Windsor to travel to GP practices because there were no direct transport links. The engagement with ward councillors in the bus service improvement plan would allow local intelligence such as this to be considered and could be an opportunity to have a demand and needs based analysis.

Councillor Singh said it was surprising to see the number of supported services in Maidenhead, which was a considerable cost to the borough. Councillor Singh asked if there were options to incentivise bus contractors to increase demand of buses, and Chris Joyce said the current model made it difficult to work in partnership with bus operators. Enhanced partnerships would allow the borough to work closely with bus operators and encourage usage and service quality rather than having a commercial focus. This was because once the contract was secured, it was in the operators’ best interest to increase demand.

Councillor Singh said the borough had one of the lowest bus usage and highest car park usage in the country. With the regeneration of Maidenhead town centre, it was likely that the town centre car park would not be accessible for at least five years, and therefore supported services could be used to drive footfall and traffic into the town centre. Chris Joyce said the local borough was polycentric, with three town centres rather than one, therefore it made it more difficult for traditional bus services to increase demand. However, bus services and demand could be improved, as it was a cyclical process where the better quality the services were, the greater the demand would be, and therefore greater revenue would be generated. Councillor Singh suggested inviting Courtney Buses to the meeting.

Councillor Hilton asked what an enhanced partnership was, as from July 2021, only local transport authorities who are engaged in advanced partnerships would continue to receive any new sources of bus funding from central government. Tim Golabek, Service Lead – Transport and Infrastructure, said franchising was only available to certain authorities with combined mayoral powers and therefore this was not an option for the borough, unless the borough applied for additional powers from the DfT. Through franchising, an authority would own the bus services and would be franchised to a bus operator. Enhanced partnerships were a negotiation between the bus operator and authority, where they were contractually obliged to benefit to bus operators and the borough. For instance, the authority may need to commit to improving aspects of the borough such as bus priority measures in certain locations, and bus operators may provide more buses or reduced fares.

Councillor Hilton asked if enhanced partnerships gave scope to working with all bus operators across the borough to change the way bus operators collectively worked. Chris Joyce said this was intended, and the bus strategy was looking into better integration between services, such as fares and ticketing. The national bus strategy advocated lower and simpler fares, simpler structures, and better integration.