Have your say on transport services

It is working with partners and other local organisations to ensure that commercial bus and rail services, voluntary and community transport services and health transport all meet local needs – and to identify potential gaps in the system.

The move follows a successful pilot in the Newark, Southwell and Ollerton areas.

People currently use transport services in Nottinghamshire for a variety of reasons, including:

l travelling to education, employment and training

l getting to health and social care services or appointments

l going shopping and enjoying leisure activities

l using buses to connect to other forms of transport (e.g. park and ride, railways and airports).

All of these services are part of the county’s transport network, but are provided in different ways. The County Council financially supports some local bus services, home to school transport, special education needs transport and

adult social care transport.

However, it needs to look at changing the way some services operate in order to make sure they continue to meet essential needs and can be affordably maintained for the future.

Therefore the County Council is keen to develop a new local transport network which meets local needs. As part of this process the County Council is considering the following:

l expanding the role of voluntary and community transport services to cover areas such as social care, health and education-related journeys

l increasing public bus services and encourage more people to use them

l making improvements such as better bus stop waiting areas

l promoting accessible vehicles across the new network

l reviewing any bus services that are under-used

l ensuring it gets maximum use out of vehicles

l sharing some vehicles and drivers across transport provider organisations

l enabling children and young people to use public transport for school journeys where possible

l enabling some people who use specialist transport to develop the skills to travel independently on public transport

l ensuring the way that bus services are delivered supports economic development across the county.

The County Council spends over £30m per year on transport services. Reorganising and making services more efficient will reduce this amount by £2m over the next two years, whilst still retaining services that are important to local people.

The revised transport network might involve providing connecting services to ‘transport hubs’ in order to pick up direct bus services to key destinations. This may mean some changes to timetables, frequencies and routes which would be well publicised.

Changing services for those people who use specialist transport might mean sharing services in future. For example, using the same vehicle to transport people who are going for medical appointments and those going to an adult social care service.

“We recognise that one size doesn’t fit all and there will be different solutions to meet local and specialist needs,” says Coun Richard Jackson, chairman of the County Council’s highways and transport committee.

“This is where we need residents’ help. The County Council would like to find out their views on the way we intend to change transport services.

“This is a unique opportunity for residents to help shape how transport services are provided in the future.”

The consultation runs until Tuesday, 4th September.

To take part in the consultation people can complete an online questionnaire at www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/titan; call the Customer Service Centre on 08449 808080; or visit their local library to complete an online or paper questionnaire.

Following the consultation a transport network plan will be developed in summer 2013, which will then be available for comment. More details of this will follow next year.