Councillors are to hear of the public transport work carried out in County Durham on behalf of the North East Combined Authority.
In 2014 responsibility for services such as buses, park and ride, community transport and home to school travel were transferred to NECA, with the delivery of them then delegated back to Durham County Council.
The council’s cabinet will next week be asked to approve a report to the combined authority with updates from 2015.
Cllr Neil Foster, the council’s cabinet member for economic regeneration, said: “There have been a number of positives for these essential transport services in 2015, from carrying record numbers on our Park and Ride buses during Lumiere, to seeing an increase in bus services for Stanley.
“Looking ahead we want to continue to build on the proven success of existing programmes that have increased sustainable travel for businesses, schools and local communities.”
Councillors will hear that the council has:
• Delivered public transport, home to school transport, Special Education Needs (SEN) transport and adult social care transport.
• Seen a slight fall in the numbers of bus passengers, probably related to a decline in the numbers of shoppers and lower car fuel costs.
• Transported record numbers using Durham City’s Park and Ride service during Lumiere in November 2015.
• Awarded the contract for the Link2 “dial-a-ride” minibus service to North East Accessible Transport of Jarrow.
• Seen substantial changes to Go North East bus services in Stanley, with the aim of improving punctuality, including a new peak time express service to Newcastle, via Team Valley.
• Actively participated in the North East Smart Ticketing Initiative, moving from a trial of the service on the council’s Cathedral bus to full operation from summer 2015.
• Continued to work with bus companies towards implementing a multi-operator fare system.
• Provided free home to school transport for around 6,500 pupils, and transport for 3,000 pupils under non-statutory concessionary schemes.
• Handled 80,000 calls in its Travel Response Centre, which is the central point of contact for people booking Link2 journeys, and for County Durham Clinical Commissioning Group patients looking to book onto North East Ambulance Service Patient Transport Services.
• Maintained timetable displays at 2,800 bus stops and provided an interactive bus map online.
• Worked with Nexus, Northumberland County Council, Tees Valley Unlimited and bus operators on a new Real Time Passenger Information system, with over 100 displays installed at bus stations and stops.
• Overseen an expansion of Durham’s Local Sustainable Transport Fund Local Motion project from South Durham towards Durham City, with particular focus on Spennymoor, Crook and Willington.
• Continued as the national lead for the LSTF’s Living Streets Walk To project, which has increased walking among all age groups.
The Cabinet meeting takes place at 10am on 15th June at Crook Council Offices in Crook.
