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 Unit) 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 – Below is the update that was shared with the Committee members following the meeting:
Update from Passenger Transport
· Wiltshire Council is currently able to fulfil all of its home to school transport contracts.
· During January 2024 we had 169 taxi / private hire providers registered through the Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) with Passenger Transport to operate contracts on its behalf. We undertook an exercise to contact those operators (87) who are licensed with Wiltshire Council, but not registered with our Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS). This resulted in a further 14 providers being on boarded.
QRoutes
What is QRoutes?
· QRoutes is a cost effective, cloud-based tool for planning SEND, mainstream school and adult social care transport. Planners can generate quality results in minutes, meaning provision can be re-optimised as and when requirements change.
· It helps finding the most efficient and cost-effective routes for transportation. Using advanced algorithms and data analysis this software minimizes travel distance, time, and fuel consumption. To determine the best sequence and pick up order, it involves analysing several factors, including distance, traffic, vehicle capacity, given maxim travel time, students’ individual requirements, etc.
· This software provides not only operational planning but also valuable insights. By means of generated solutions or what-if scenarios, strategic decisions can be made based on valuable data presented in PowerBi.
· We have purchased an enhanced version this for a 2 year arrangements at £30k per annum
Benefits of Using QRoutes
· Produces high quality results - better than “human planners”, but taxi co-ordinators can use their expertise to improve results further.
· Transport Team can re-plan provision quickly throughout the year.
· Brings all coordinators up to the same high productivity level.
· Minimalizing the time, the planning team spent manually mapping out routes with Google Maps from hours to minutes thanks to the automation process the platform provides.
· By using QRoutes there is an assurance that we will always get the most effective output.
· The system captures data fed into it and produces information about the network you are providing so that you can see where it is performing well / not so well and take remedial action accordingly
· We have managed to turn off 8 taxi routes across the network with a saving of around £150k per annum
Example of QRoutes potential
· Since January 2024, 2 schools in Salisbury (Salisbury Springfield South and Salisbury Pembroke Park) were merged and the new SAIL School was created on the site of the former Salisbury Police Station. - all students were moved to the new establishment. An additional 20 students were transported from other schools across the county.
· Challenges:
· Limited numbers of taxi operators.
· Limited numbers of available Passenger Assistants
· Short period of time for preparation (since definite names of students were given and school start date).
· High end students’ needs joining this school.
· Goals:
· Transport to be ready from day one.
· Provide Passenger Assistants for each journey.
· Keep number of journeys to the minimum considering students’ individual needs and school’s suggestions.
· Minimizing cost implication to the council.
· Creating journeys as efficient as possible.
Resolved:
That the Committee await and then note the update on behalf of the Passenger Transport Team.