Jason Salter (Head of Service – Passenger Transport) will give an update on behalf of the Passenger Transport Team at the meeting.
Minutes:
Jason Salter (Head of Service – Passenger Transport) was unable to attend the meeting but it was agreed that he would prepare an update to share with the Committee following the meeting.
Post meeting note – Here is the update that was shared with the Committee members following the meeting:
The passenger Transport unit can fulfil all its statutory duties for home to school transport using a combination of the existing supplier market and its own leased vehicles. Contract prices remain very high and still reflect a stunted marketplace for this type of work. Some areas of the county have more competition than others, most notably the Salisbury area. We are now beginning to use a new piece of artificial intelligence routing software that can rationalise the entire transport network each month and offer operational efficiencies. The results require careful consideration as the nuances of individual pupils’ needs won’t always be picked up. This will hopefully release further vehicles into the marketplace and reduce cost.
A piece of work will now begin to determine the true cost of our fleet operations now that they have been running in some cases for nearly a year. The outcome of that will determine if this something we wish to further build on or rely upon the open market to provide.
Pupil numbers for SEND passengers alone stand at around 1,800 and this number is expected to rise by around 400 over the next 2 – 3 years. There will continue to be an increased requirement for vehicles across the network and it will remain difficult to continue with our statutory obligations.
Cllr Allison Bucknell (as Chairperson of the Taxi Provision Working Group) which last met in May 2022, reported that a number of recommendations were made at that time including the need to look at ways to increase the numbers of drivers with a push to promote taxi driving for Wiltshire Council as a career. There had been a targeted recruitment campaign which had made a difference. There was the ongoing issue of transporting pupils to their education settings in mainstream and SEND settings which would always be a focus.
A Committee Member asked about the new taxi driver applications. Tom Ince (Principal Compliance Officer) reported that they had been swamped with new applications, a large percentage of which were from drivers not based in Wiltshire. This was thought to be because Swindon Borough Council were not currently licensing any new drivers and there had also been a number of applications from those living in Bristol.
A Councillor asked about the taxi fare rates, particularly in the north of the county where residents could also use taxis from Swindon. Tom Ince explained that the Council can only set fares for those drivers/vehicles licensed in the Wiltshire Council area. A benchmarking exercise was carried out last year to compare the fares and tariffs against our neighbouring local authorities and a 10% increase had been added to tariff 1. This exercise would be repeated, and any changes would need to be evidence led.
A Committee Member highlighted that private hire vehicles can agree their own fares with passengers and that the Council only have control on hackney carriage vehicles that pick up within Wiltshire.
The Chairman asked if the taxi licensing fees and charges could be looked at with a view to increasing them?
A Committee Member asked how Wiltshire’s licence application fees compared with Swindon and Bristol. Tom Ince reported that Wiltshire was in the top quartile for fees. There were different payment options available for licences – a one year driver licence was £130 and a three year driver licence was £267, whilst a one year vehicle licence was £227.
The Committee Member asked with the one year licence was there the potential for reputational danger to Wiltshire if licences are granted to those that are not doing a good job out of county. Tom Ince reported that he had received a complaint about a driver in Bristol recently, but with the best practice changes they were now allowed to ask on the driver application form where they will primarily be driving their taxi and they could decide whether or not to issue a licence on that basis if there is no benefit to Wiltshire passengers.
Resolved:
That the Committee await and then note the update on behalf of the Passenger Transport Team.