Agenda item

To receive the written response to questions and data requests and to carry out interviews with the HCC Director of Transport Unit and the Executive Portfolio Holder for Transport and Highways.

The Chair welcomed to the meeting Herts County Council Officers Simon Aries Director of Transport, Waste and Environment and Dan Tancock, Transport Unit along with Councillor Phil Bibby in his role as HCC Executive Portfolio Holder for Highways and Transport.

The Chair opened the debate by expressing concern regarding the situation with the poor bus service in Stevenage, the ZEBRA Scheme not going ahead, inaccurate timing information, falling passenger numbers and the tired and worn-out bus fleet.

In response to several questions the following answers/comments were given by the representatives from HCC:

·       The unreliability issues of the bus services were a concern.  HCC were trying to encourage sustainability for the service but the combination of the issues of low passenger numbers/enhanced costs/lack of drivers and an ageing fleet were obstacles to this;

·       It was agreed that the concerns were not limited to Stevenage as nationally bus services were struggling, with passenger numbers not recovering post covid and combined with driver recruitment difficulties;

·       The real time information displayed at bus stops around the Town was in the process of being upgraded.  Members were of the view, however, that the extent of investment in screens to carry the information to do this by HCC was inadequate;

·       The Committee was informed that if the bus operators were of the view that a route was not commercial there was nothing that the County Council could do to change their stance due to the funding model adopted;

·       Franchising had been considered by HCC but the high costs involved had ruled it out and the partnership model was adopted instead.  HCC advised that they might look at Franchising again to assess the viability;

·       £18million had been invested by HCC across the County, much of this for concessionary travel;

·       In relation to the failure of the Zero Emissions Bus Regional Area (ZEBRA), it was noted that the funding would only have been available if a willing partner had been in place and HCC advised that Arriva had declined for commercial reasons.  ZEBRA Part 2 would be announced at some point but again a willing partner would be necessary for this to be applied for and Arriva had ruled themselves out for commercial reasons;

·       The concern regarding the condition of some bus stops in the Town had been noted. HCC advised that a programme of improvements was in place and several had been completed but it was accepted that more work was needed on others, including the installation of real time information for bus times and which routes were running;

·       A new 907 route had been launched between Stevenage and Cheshunt and the SB6 would be replaced by a more frequent SB7 route;

·       The Committee was advised that unfortunately the County Council had no influence on Arriva running the bus service in Stevenage as it was a commercial operation although they were willing to work with Arriva and to support them in any way;

·       Cllr Bibby would be attending an East of England Forum to discuss bus services across the region;

·       Cllr Bibby stated that as part of Herts Rapid Transport Links, the County Council were looking into solutions such as guided buses which run on rubber wheels along a fixed guided track, for routes linking major towns in the region (A414 ST Albans – Hatfield – Hertford corridor);

·       HCC Officers would investigate the reported practice of bus drivers encouraging passengers to not scan passes in order to speed up the boarding of the bus as the scanning of the passes was vital for recording the use of subsidies;

·       In relation to electric buses, officers advised that unless battery technology dramatically improved it would be more likely to see the larger vehicles replaced with hydrogen run technology in the future.  The Chair advised that Members of the Committee would be carrying out a site visit to other Towns in Hertfordshire that already used the EV technology within their fleet (Potters Bar Metro Line).

The Chair thanked Cllr Phil Bibby, Simon Aries and Dan Tancock for attending the meeting and their helpful input.