Issue - meetings

Cllr Philip Robinson sought Cabinet approval for the allocation of BSIP+ funding for the provision of improved bus services throughout Gloucestershire during 2023/4 and 2024/5; and to authorise Officers to procure these service improvements in line with the report.

Having considered all of the information, Cabinet noted the report and

RESOLVED to:

Delegate authority to the Executive Director of Economy, Environment & Infrastructure, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Education, Skills and Bus Transport to:

1. Procure contracts for the supply of the bus services set out In Appendix 1 from suppliers admitted to the Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS), whose combined aggregate value shall not exceed £2.384m per annum for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 financial years and

2. Procure contracts for the supply of the re-procurement of existing public bus services and home to school services set out in Appendix 2 from suppliers admitted to the DPS whose combined aggregate value shall not exceed £15.5m over their maximum contract length of 5 years.

9.1      Cllr Philip Robinson sought Cabinet approval for the allocation of BSIP+ funding for the provision of improved bus services throughout Gloucestershire during 2023/4 and 2024/5; and to authorise Officers to procure these service improvements in line with the report.

9.2      The DfT had provided a grant of £4.418 million over two financial years, primarily to support bus services in Gloucestershire, with the aim of increasing bus patronage and stabilising the local bus network. This Council must disburse that sum quickly, through standard procurement processes. The funding could only be used for revenue purposes and could not be used for capital projects.

9.3      Following conversations with operators, proposals have been drawn up shown in Appendix 1 in the report. It was proposed to secure some additional evening and weekend bus services, which provided additional opportunities for residents, whilst supporting local economies. There was also a proposal to increase the daytime frequency of some other bus services.

9.4      It is also planned to procure ‘The Robin’ demand-responsive bus services to extend this to three additional rural parts of Gloucestershire, Tewkesbury, Stroud and South Cotswolds areas, to increase the proportion of residents who have access to public transport services.

9.5      Receipt of most of this funding was conditional on the Council agreeing an Enhanced Partnership with Bus Operators by the end of September 2023. Good progress had been made, and no objections had been received.

9.6      The report also requested authority to re-procure a number of public and home-to-school transport services where the expected contract value was predicted to be in excess of £250,000. Offering longer contracts incentivises operators to procure newer vehicles and to offer lower prices. This was not related to the BSIP+ proposal.

9.7      It was noted that good public transport would help the council meet its targets around reducing carbon emissions.  Thanks were passed on to the Integrated Transport Team.

Having considered all of the information, Cabinet noted the report and

RESOLVED to:

Delegate authority to the Executive Director of Economy, Environment & Infrastructure, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Education, Skills and Bus Transport to:

1. Procure contracts for the supply of the bus services set out In Appendix 1 from suppliers admitted to the Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS), whose combined aggregate value shall not exceed £2.384m per annum for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 financial years and

2. Procure contracts for the supply of the re-procurement of existing public bus services and home to school services set out in Appendix 2 from suppliers admitted to the DPS whose combined aggregate value shall not exceed £15.5m over their maximum contract length of 5 years.