The report, relating to Public Bus Services in the Royal Borough, is urgent as a number of routes would have services withdrawn at the end of April 2017 if a decision is not made by Cabinet on bus services  before that date

Ben Smith, Head of Highways & Transport stated bus services operated in different ways. There were stand alone commercial operators, some were subsidised by the council and some would not run without a subsidy. In May 2016 operators of some services came to the council saying that without financial support, some routes would cease to run. Cabinet funded some services for 12 months and work was carried out on how the subsidies worked.

The number 16 by Courtney Buses wrote and sais they would end the route in April 2017 if the council did not subsidise so the report was requesting extra funding to continue to subsidise the route.

The Head of Highways & Transport continued that Surrey County Council had ceased funding therefore, RBWM needed to increase funding for buses to continue running to Staines. The Panel needed to consider continue funding each year for the services to continue.

Mr Henry Perez attended the Panel in order to speak about the petition he and others submitted in keeping services on specific bus routes running. He stated he was there to tell us about route 305. He had asked to address the Panel as he wanted to keep the 305 bus route on the radar and emphasise the need for the bus service. He and his friend Mr Cribbin decided to petition the council to request funding for the service. He set a limit of 12 days for the petition to run and at the end of the period, there were over 1,200 signatures; other residents had also contacted him to help get more signatures on the petition.

The bus service was used to carry school children to and from Magna Carta school in Staines and without the service, there would be no other way of them getting there. There were a number of elderly residents that used the bus rout to visit friends and family and elderly residents used the bus to get to the bus station in Staines; without the service, the couldn’t visit anyone. Mr Perez ended by saying the 305 bus service provided a lifeline in the community.

The Chairman left the room during the rest of the discussion and Councillor Jesse Grey chaired the item.

Councillor Hunt said she thought it was excellent for RBWM to keep the service running to keep communities together. She said she had heard from the speaker regarding the 305 route; that service would be paid for by the Borough but, it would also pay for residents in areas not within RBWM. The route also took the Borough’s residents outside the Borough to shop in Staines in another Borough. She added that she could understand paying for a bus to bring residents from outside the Borough to shop in the royal Borough. The Head of Highways & Transport confirmed that the bus service was operated by Surrey and they stopped funding it so it fell to the Borough to step in; it was now being run on a monthly rolling contract. He added that Slough, Colnbrook and Poyle would be approached and asked to contribute to the route as their residents also benefit.

Councillor Sharpe said he was troubled by the situation as the service was useful and played an important part in the community. There were a number of children that relied on the bus to get to school in Staines. The Head of Highways & Transport confirmed there was a duty on the local authority to provide home to school transport. At present, there was only one child in that area that went to a school outside the Borough that was under the Borough’s duty. The other children in that area had attended the school through parental choice and so would have to make alternative arrangements should the bus service to Staines stop running.

Councillor Grey stated he understood Mr Perez standing up for his area but, there was a balance to be struck. He wanted to encourage more usage of the bus services in the Borough before the council committed to running the service for a very small number of people. He was not against funding the route, but it was a question of affordability. The head of Highways & Transport said there had been cuts to subsidies; there was a government grant two years ago for bus services to grow and become sustainable but, it was not viable and the funding ended.

Councillor Beer stated the Borough was an affluent area so while people could afford to use their cars, people would continue to do so. In the borough with such a large proportion of elderly people, buses became more important. He felt it was strange that residents in Wraysbury and Horton used Staines for their shopping instead of Windsor but it was probably to do with having better transport links. Councillor continued that it was essential to try and cut pollution and reduce parking problems. Buses were essential in that and it might have been a good idea to stretch intervals between buses when there was low usage. The Borough should be supportive at all costs to keep transport links operating.

          UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED: Members of the Highways, Transport and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Panel recommend That Cabinet:

i)             Approves additional annual expenditure of £153,000 for five-years from 2017-18 for the continuation of the operation of the existing network of bus services from 1 May 2017.

ii)            Provides delegated authority to the Interim Executive Director in conjunction with the Deputy Leader and Lead Member for Highways and Transport to award contracts for the tendered bus services from 1 August 2017.