Alternative Service Provision (AP)
Given the rural geography and low population density across the county, traditional timetabled and/or fixed route services may not always be the most effective way of providing passenger transport.
As defined in the Worcestershire Passenger Transport Strategy:
“Worcestershire County Council will endeavour to encourage and/or make available alternative services for people in areas where traditional public transport is not the most appropriate solution.
Such situations include passengers with mobility problems who cannot reach their local bus route, or people who live in remote areas with limited timetabled services.
Alternative services may operate as an additional layer to complement traditional passenger transport.”
The Worcestershire Urban DRT pilot (Bromsgrove on Demand – BOD) has shown promise, suggesting a future for Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) and alternative service models.
Worcestershire is exploring various options for rural areas and flexible evening and weekend services, aiming to better serve users beyond the strategic network.
Community Transport (CT) enables individuals to make essential journeys where there is no local bus service available or one that they can use. In Worcestershire, it provided 155,000 single passenger journeys 2019.
Whilst CT can be used for those who have mental or physical mobility issues and require individual assistance and a bespoke journey, DRT can be used by all members of a community and provides a more flexible and tailored alterative to local bus.
Worcestershire is not proposing that DRT services are considered to be door-to-door transport and would fit somewhere in between services provided by CT and Taxi operators.
Worcestershire has been running a number of Community Bus Services operated by Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) organisations and these provide much needed links but these tend to be focused on individual communities and based on the results of Transport Needs’ Assessment at a parish level.
Worcestershire has been running several Community Bus Services operated by VCS organisations and these provide much needed links, but these tend to be focused on individual communities and based on the results of Transport Needs’ Assessment at a parish level.
The delivery objectives for Alternative Service provision in this iteration of the Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) and subject to funding are: