Agenda item

To hear about the current public transport provision across Derbyshire and DCC’s plans for the future, and to voice any concerns back to DCC and EMCCA Reps.

Chris Hegarty, DCC / Cllr David Hughes, Derbyshire Dales District Council/East Midlands County Combined Authority Rep on Scrutiny Board

The Bus Service Improvement Plan Technical Lead from Derbyshire County Council, Chris Hegarty, delivered a presentation to the Committee updating them on current bus service provision and changes in the County. The presentation included details on:

• The market for buses
• The Derbyshire bus network
• National Bus Strategy
• County Council’s Bus Service Improvement Plan
• What funding is spent on
• Work undertaken since 2023
• Bus service enhancements in North East Derbyshire District
• Passenger satisfaction survey
• Plans for future years
• Electric buses

Members asked about the passenger numbers before and after the COVID pandemic. Mr. Hegarty explained that there were around 24 million passenger journeys a year pre-pandemic, but the pandemic saw the County Council lose a quarter of its bus passengers, although these numbers were slowly improving.  Members were also informed that the majority of the bus service is provided by private companies, which are funded solely by the County.

Mr. Hegarty advised that in November 2022 the County were rewarded £47 million, by the Department for Transport (DfT), to be spent over 3 years.  DfT made clear how that funding was to be spent, and since 2023 a number of improvements have been made including increased frequencies of buses, adding new destinations and longer bus running times, new ticket purchase options (i.e. flat rates, wayfarer tickets), new Real Time Information (RTI) signs, additional transport hubs, station improvements. 

The Committee were informed that going forward from April 2025 the responsibility for public transport provision will be through the East Midlands County Combined Authority, so it was unclear as to what to expect in future.

Members asked if bus shelters in particular areas could be installed or replaced by the County Council. Mr. Hegarty stated that the County Council will pay half of the cost to replace bus shelters, with the other half being funded through someone i.e. parishes and the District Council. He also added that the County Council were currently replacing old shelters with their newly designed ones.

Members discussed digital bus stop displays and ticket machines, and asked what causes some areas to not have them on their bus stops. Mr. Hegarty explained that it depended on internet coverage as some areas were “black spots” which causes some issues.

Members shared anecdotes of some bus services becoming more unreliable in recent years. Mr. Hegarty explained that the COVID pandemic had caused driver shortages which was being addressed by County Council.  However, Members were informed about the new Travel on Demand service, which was a pre-bookable service with flat rate arrangements in place.  This service gave passengers direct travel to their destinations.

Members were concerned with Mr. Hegarty informing them that the bus budget for County Council was going to decrease, because it would coincide with passenger numbers increasing as we got further away from the COVID pandemic. Mr. Hegarty stated that this was a concern officers at County Council were aware of and would give consideration to.

The Chair thanked Mr. Hegarty for his attendance.

RESOLVED – That the presentation was noted.