Agenda item

Environmental & Technical Services – (C-045-2021-22) - Review of the DRT trial.

1)         The Cabinet agreed to continue the service in its current form and cost, adding a trial of EV vehicles and accepting that better opportunities may arise to deliver a full DRT app-based zonal service elsewhere;

(2)        The Cabinet noted that the Council had delivered an important ‘service of last resort’ in 21/22 for key workers, some regular commuters/users and a rural community otherwise left with almost no bus service; and

(3)        That further funding merited due to extreme challenges posed by Covid-19 conditions – as one third of interest had been from Harlow residents, Harlow’s (and ECC’s) financial support should also be sought in 22/23.

The Portfolio Holder for Environment and Technical Services, Councillor N Avey introduced the report. He noted that the DaRT87 was launched January 2021 as an emergency ‘hybrid’ Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) following the cessation of subsidy by Essex County Council (ECC) of Arriva’s 87 bus service. The Arriva 87 saw a 60%+ drop in passengers during 2020 and was costing EFDC £100k per year in subsidy alongside ECC. A decision was taken to run a twelve-month, low cost DRT trial @£85k, minus returned fare revenue, using Epping Forest Community Transport minibuses.

There were very difficult trading conditions in 2021/22 due to: Lockdowns and slow recovery of bus usage; lack of confidence in buses among concessionary pass holders; major reduction in 5 day per week tube commuting; school/college disruptions; marketing reach. Recovery of fare revenue had been low at 2-3% of costs. Whilst reasonable level of interest was achieved (1000+ views of website leading to 184 online registrations of interest (year to date)), conversion to actual usage had been very low due to prevailing conditions. 

Nevertheless, an important corridor type service had been delivered adopting some aspects of DRT (pre-booked journeys online or by phone, fully contactless fares) and in a lower carbon way than running empty conventional buses. A further year’s funding would enable a chance to prove something closer to financial viability and to justify ECC’s return to supporting journeys in this corridor. This may also unlock ECC funding from any successful ‘Rural DRT’ bid they make to DfT’s ‘Bus Back Better’ programme, given the clear demand from Epping Green residents.   

Councillor Philip noted that Theydon Bois did not have good connectivity in the district contrary to what the report stated. He then asked if there had been any progress on getting a financial contribution from Harlow. He was told that there had been no conclusion as yet from Harlow Council.

Councillor S Kane said that if agreed, this would be an integral part of our carbon zero aspirations and should be strongly supported by our PR department so that as many people get to know about this as possible.

Councillor Chris Pond repeated the question to Councillor Avey he put at the Council meeting about having electric buses services in Loughton in a shopping trial in the Broadway. He was told that the Council had procured a hired vehicle for a month, but this did not prove to be fit for purpose. Then as officers were trying to procure a better vehicle, Omicron hit, so they paused the trial and would revisit the ‘shopper shuttle’ which had good resident feedback.

Councillor Jon Whitehouse noted that these were bad circumstance to launch a bus service and it was worth having a fair trial. The report had no statistics on passenger journeys, it would also be useful to know about the number of registrations of interest and how many were actually using the service. By extending this, were we extending the existing service or looking to make the improvements recommended in the report, such as making the registration process more user friendly and making it closer to a real demand responsive type service. He had received feedback on this that the steps involved in using the services were too many and one of the reasons why it was not getting people from the interested state to becoming users. We should be looking to improve the user experience. He was told that they were looking to do this and that the two stage process may have lost us some users. However, there was an app function and it was possible to track the vehicle using this. However, the percentage of those registering to use it was low, which was perhaps a function of marketing the service along with the unfortunate timing of starting the service.

Councillor Patel asked where we were going to go with this, what was the long term aspirations of this project. Councillor Avey replied that the objective was to have a service across the district and this was a step in that direction, a proof of concept. This may also bring back ECC to the table if we proved this. He agreed that it was important that we got the communication right and let people know about the service.

Decision:

1)         The Cabinet agreed to continue the service in its current form and cost, adding a trial of EV vehicles and accepting that better opportunities may arise to deliver a full DRT app-based zonal service elsewhere;

(2)        The Cabinet noted that the Council had delivered an important ‘service of last resort’ in 21/22 for key workers, some regular commuters/users and a rural community otherwise left with almost no bus service; and

(3)        That further funding merited due to extreme challenges posed by Covid-19 conditions – as one third of interest had been from Harlow residents, Harlow’s (and ECC’s) financial support should also be sought in 22/23.

Other Options for Action:

Shorter Route

Most demand has come between Harlow (SW), Epping Green and Epping. Focusing mainly on this section including the station, would increase efficiency of operation and allow more runs with a semi-set timetable once post-pandemic demand is understood. The sections between Debden and Epping are covered by reasonably frequent buses and the Central Line. Any trips south of Epping could be pre-booked by-demand only. There was little evidence of demand for trips to EF Shopping Park but that is caveated by the fact that elderly and other concessionary bus pass holders have simply not been travelling much in 21/22.

Trial EV minibuses

Viable EV minibuses adapted to the needs of Community Transport operators have become available. Within current cost, we can accommodate up to three months’ trial use to cover different weather conditions and to test real world operation. 100% EV operation could be a good marketing message, but we would need full confidence in performance first.