Bus service provision
Campaign for Better Transport made this Freedom of Information request to North Yorkshire Council This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.
Dear North Yorkshire County Council,
I am gathering information on bus and public transport provision as part of the Save our Buses campaign, which maps cuts to bus services across the country. We know that the Government has made deep cuts to local authority budgets, and that this is having an effect on the provision of local bus services. We would like to gather a national picture of bus cuts, so that we can explain to central Government exactly how their decisions are having an impact across the country.
My questions are as follows, in each case only with respect to North Yorkshire County Council:
1. What is the total budget for supported bus services in the fiscal year 2016/17?
2. What was total budget for supported bus services in the fiscal year 2015/16?
Note: This refers to the Department for Transport’s definition of a supported bus service as: “one where a local transport authority has invited tenders for the operation of a service (not e.g. seats on a bus or subsidised tickets etc), and a contract exists as a result of that tender”. Please, exclude extra sources of funding such as Section 106/developer funding, Community Infrastructure Levy, local authority staffing and publicity, RTPI expenditure and revenue, the Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG), Local Education Authority funding for home to school transport, NHS-funded non-emergency patient transport, social services transport, voluntary transport and other central and national government grants or income streams.
3. What is the fiscal year 2016/17 budget for supported bus services as a percentage of the total transport budget?
Note: For the purposes of this request 'transport' includes highway maintenance, home to school/college transport; adult social care transport; demand responsive transport; special educational need transport and voluntary driver schemes, cycling and walking, roads spending, supported bus services and fares. Please include the council’s contributions to projects jointly funded by multiple organisations, but exclude contributions from those other organisations and funding streams, such as Local Enterprise Partnerships, private sector contributions, Local Growth Fund, Department for Transport contributions to Local Authority Major Projects, Local Sustainable Transport Fund etc.
4. What proportion of total council expenditure (capital and current) is constituted by local bus funding?
5. How many and which supported routes have had cuts in services in the fiscal year 2016/17 (for example loss of weekend or evening services)?
6. How many and which supported routes have been completely withdrawn in the fiscal year 2016/17?
7. Does your council provide free school transport to nearest or catchment school, or to nearest school only? If nearest school only, please indicate if this is a change since Jan 2012.
Our campaign also seeks to promote examples of councils which have protected bus services, sometimes in innovative ways. Please do feel free to share any information you feel is relevant on how your council has protected bus services.
Thank you.
Yours faithfully,
Lianna Etkind
Campaign For Better Transport
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Yours faithfully
The information governance team
Dear Ms Etkind
Please find below our response to your recent request for information.
1. The total budget for supported bus services in the fiscal year 2016/17
is £1,390,000 2. The total budget for supported bus services in the fiscal
year 2015/16 is £2,852,800 3. The budget for supported bus services as a
percentage of the total transport budget for the fiscal year 2016/17 is
4.61% 4. The proportion of total council expenditure (capital and
current) is constituted by local bus funding as a percentage is 0.14%.
5. None
6. None
7. With effect from September 2016, free school transport is provided to
the catchment school or nearest school to the home address if it is over
the statutory walking distances set out by law.
Questions 1 to 4 are subject to interpretation of the additional notes
provided.
Yours sincerely
Suzanne Plumb
Business Development Manager
Integrated Passenger Transport
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