Q&A - TOP TEN QUESTIONS! Integrated Transport: One Network, Many Operators - A Single Experience

The webinar explored the successes and challenges of implementing two very different DDRT (Dynamic Demand Responsive Transport) schemes in Zeeland (Netherlands) and Portsmouth (UK). 

You can watch it here.

Questions were submitted by participants – from the role of regulation to the use of taxibuses – and fuelled interesting discussion with panellists and in the chat. We’ve summarised the top ten highlights below:

1. Are fares integrated, and how is income distributed?

This was a hot topic! Whilst everyone agreed fare integration was important and through-ticketing the ideal scenario, in practice, integrating fares is tricky in the UK because of deregulation, and even in the Netherlands, it’s not yet complete as multiple stakeholders need to buy into the system. The technical element - showing combined ticket prices in the DRT app (or third-party planners) is the most straightforward for the DRT software supplier.

An integrated ticket proved commercially too difficult in Portsmouth, and integration of DRT in the Breeze app turned out to be technically too challenging with the resources available.  

As a ‘workaround’, the Pompey link charges a flat £1 fare to get to the nearest fixed bus stop to encourage people to access the wider transport network (other fares go up to £2.50 per trip). To properly integrate the Pompey Link into the Solent integrated ticket back office requires funding certainty for the service so that the investment needed is not wasted.

The Breeze app closure highlighted the wider difficulty that an integrated app struggles to be cost-effective when individual transport providers have their own apps and offer cheaper fares. 

Currently, outside regulated networks, it’s hard to compel an operator to buy into a fares income distribution model; however, some Enhanced Partnerships have used the fullest extent of their powers to get commercial operators to agree on a simple fare structure (for instance, Norfolk CC) and simple best price intermodal ticket pricing (Transport for Cornwall).  There are also some technical issues around ensuring that newer ticketing technology (eg, using contactless, tap on tap off, etc) also addresses concessions (ENCTS), but these are generally more easily solved than the commercial negotiations around revenue distribution.

2. Is there a role for taxibuses in DRT?

Taxi buses have potential for DRT in the UK, where taxis and private hire vehicles may be used to run bus services as “special restricted operators” charging per passenger rather than a per-trip fare. The Pompey Link service was offered by open tender, for which taxi or private hire operators could be considered, but in the event, the contract was won by a community transport operator. In Zeeland, the contract for operations is separate from the technology. There is a central "mobility authority" that oversees all the municipalities, and has created a hub and spoke framework in which it is easier for smaller contractors and operators to also be part of the mix. The mobility centre handles contracts and in some areas contracts small ‘village taxi’ operators to deliver some services.

In the UK fares for trips on small vehicles (8 people or fewer) attract VAT whilst fares on larger vehicles do not. This makes it more difficult to run mixed size vehicle fleets in the UK to ‘right size’ vehicles to demand. 

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DRT integration, patient transport, and regulation

3. What steps have been taken to integrate commercial and community DRT with non-emergency patient transport to achieve a total Transport solution? 

Integrating non-emergency patient transport with any public bus service has proved difficult in the UK. The Pompey Link service area was set up to serve the local hospital; however, formally integrating patient transport hasn’t been possible. Patient Transport Services require a ‘one stop shop’ operator for all their needs, which didn’t work with the fleet available from the community transport providers. 

The Zeeland services can serve all users with differing needs by using the same fleet for both DRT and Paratransit, whilst ensuring that the right type of vehicle is provided for each specific trip, combining different operators and using the platform to manage them.

There is one UK example of combining non-emergency patient transport with passenger services in Devon, where persistent work with the NHS by the county council has enabled better combined services for all.

4. How does bus franchising in the wider network affect how DRT/community services can integrate?

Regulation – as long as it is tailored to local areas – can remove risk for suppliers and the local authority. It usually gives operators more clarity over goals, standards, and financial parameters when they design operations. The ecosystem agrees collectively on what is needed to deploy. Padam Mobility has integrated DRT across Europe, and overall, it is easier to integrate DRT into mainstream transport when you have heavily regulated systems, as in Zeeland. It is already possible to display intermodal and multi-modal public transport trips in the DRT app.

5. What progress do you see on the Integrated Transport  Strategy (ITS) white paper in England?

The ITS paper is expected to be published later this year. The DfT has recognised the particular issues for rural communities and ensured that they are included in the strategy. DRT is understood to have a role. There are also plans for rural bus franchising pilots to help understand how counties might design and provide a better bus network. This is encouraging.

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Calculating costs and benefits

Cost is always an issue, and several attendees asked about the direct costs of the provision of DRT and also how these are balanced by the costs incurred by the absence of transport, including the secondary costs of loneliness, isolation, transport deprivation, and the costs to the economy where people are unable to access good-quality jobs. 

6. What's the net cost of the service at the moment, and the per-passenger subsidy?

The aim is £15-25 per passenger trip. Obviously, it was many times more than that at launch, but each week it reduces. At present, it’s double the cost per passenger projected, but it is still trending downwards, and there is still capacity in the service to be filled.

7. How can we see costs in the context of the benefits?

The sector really needs to understand how much emphasis to put on social value or cost avoidance. Whilst it’s easy to measure distances, the impacts of loneliness from lack of transport on health are much harder to quantify. There is a need for more industry-wide standards setting out the costs of the lack of transport to understand how putting money into DRT (or other transport initiatives) can reduce costs for other services. The Community Transport Association social value toolkit and other studies indicate that this is the case, but they need to be formalised to help plan.

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Pompey Link & Portsmouth Questions

Getting into detail on the Pompey Link service is really helpful as a way of understanding the parameters and impacts of DRT – particularly as the service design is different from many of the UK DRT schemes. 

8. The Pompey Link area is quite small, about 2x1miles. What would we need to do differently to cover a larger area with lower lower-density population?

The Pompey Link service area is both small and urban, which does make it easier to manage and increase patronage. The area served means that people never wait long for a service, and this definitely helps. Larger areas can need different service designs to try and shape the service to the needs of people living in the area – these could be more ‘flexiroute’ services or focus on key destinations.

9. What about Sunday services?  

The future development of the service depends very much on funding and having some certainty about the longer-term settlement. However, patronage is driven by leisure and employment, so it appears that a Sunday service would really maximise the service potential and is something that would make sense in the future.

10. To make the service more attractive to people with mobility problems who find it difficult to get to bus stops, are you likely to reconsider running the service door rather than bus stop to bus stop only?

The service is advertised as bus stop to bus stop, which makes the design simple; however, wherever it’s advertised, it’s made clear that people who have difficulty getting to a stop for any reason can call the call centre. It’s possible to tailor rides for them as the software makes it possible to run door to door for certain passengers, and the buses are fully accessible.

Some questions and answers from the panellists were summarized for brevity.

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