Highland Council Register New Bus Routes

[Caleb2010]

I can see that Highland Council have registered a bunch of services centred around Inverness and Nairn starting January too!

Notices and proceedings as follows

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1117131/np_2411_14_November_2022.pdf

 

[Volvodart]

I can see that Highland Council have registered a bunch of services centred around Inverness and Nairn starting January too!

https://www.ross-shirejournal.co.uk...f-council-run-bus-services-on-the-bla-294928/

Highland Council pilot bus scheme for Black Isle welcomed by parents fed up of unreliable service

By Scott Maclennan - [email protected]
Published: 23:39, 28 November 2022 | Updated: 23:41, 28 November 2022

Families on the Black Isle have welcomed news that Highland Council is running a pilot scheme in a bid to develop its own bus service amid growing discontent over reliability.

The local authority has acquired six buses with a further six set to come amid hopes that if successful the trial could end the woes of families across the area.

A project team has been reviewing travel options and following the recent re-tender process for school transport contracts, the decision was made for the council to trial delivering more in-house school transport routes.

That pilot is set to begin in January and will initially cover routes on the Black Isle, rural Inverness-shire, Loch Ness-side and Nairn.

That has come as some relief to parents and children concerned about travel to and from school, as well as work. Matt Hall called the move a “no-brainer” citing issues over safety, lateness and the fact the school service is a public bus.

“The main issue with the bus is that it is frequently late two to three times a week both in the morning and the evening,” he said.


“This results in our children arriving late to school or having to wait to get home, sometimes over an hour. The second issue is that it regularly breaks downs two to three times a month. On one particular occasion last summer the engine caught on fire and the kids had to all evacuate by Learnie. Stagecoach clearly sends their worst quality buses on this route.

“The third issue is that it is a public bus. As a former head of child protection based in England I would suggest this is a huge child protection issue. Are Highland Council really happy saying that they provide transport to and from school and then leave the children to travel with members of the public? It’ll take just one bad child protection incident and they will resolve this – but we absolutely should not wait for that to happen.”


He added: “A council run service would address most of these issues. It would put ownership back in the hands of the council, the buses would be new, I would hope, and it would mean the service is private. It is a complete no-brainer.”

Ingrid Rochford agreed: “We have several concerns regarding the bus service for pupils travelling from Cromarty to Fortrose Academy. Firstly the service is frequently late, either getting the children to school or home again afterwards. Obviously this has a detrimental effect on their education and is disruptive to their first class of the day. Also, they are frequently late getting to after-school activities. We feel this is unfair to Cromarty children.


“Secondly, the service frequently breaks down, I don’t believe this is such a common occurrence with the services provided to other communities by DE coaches. This also raises serious concerns about the children’s safety, where they have to move to replacement services on a 60mph road, or evacuate the bus in an emergency.”

She said: “We feel our children are being discriminated against either by the contractor or Highland Council and it is a matter of time before one of these issues leads to more serious consequences.”

Black Isle councillor Sarah Atkin said: “Councillors on the Black Isle have received numerous complaints from parents about the school bus service from Cromarty. Late arrival of pupils impacts the school on multiple fronts. It is incredibly disruptive. I worry for pupils with anxiety or additional needs for whom certainty in the school day is essential. Parents getting together and saying ‘enough is enough’ is quite understandable.

“We will, of course, see about convening a meeting with them as a group very soon and taking this back to Stagecoach.”

 

[Stan Drews]

https://www.ross-shirejournal.co.uk...f-council-run-bus-services-on-the-bla-294928/

Highland Council pilot bus scheme for Black Isle welcomed by parents fed up of unreliable service

It will be interesting to see how Highland Council get on with driver recruitment, and how their pay rates will compare with the likes of Stagecoach, D&E etc.

 

[Volvodart]

£21,029 - £23,511 p.a. (Pay Award pending)


https://www.myjobscotland.gov.uk/councils/highland-council/jobs/pcv-bus-driver-house-school-community-passenger-transport-project-3018

 

[overthewater]

I say let the council try, and the maybe they will fully understand the problems.

 

[Bletchleyite]

"Are Highland Council really happy saying that they provide transport to and from school and then leave the children to travel with members of the public?"

Wow. Whoever basically just tacitly accused every adult of being a nonce should retract that now.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

Wow. Whoever basically just tacitly accused every adult of being a nonce should retract that now.

You missed the best bit!

As a former head of child protection based in England I would suggest this is a huge child protection issue.

The ex professional would appear to be implying that children should never be allowed near unknown adults (unless supervised presumably). Next it will be sweet shops closing to non-children at school times so that they can be 'protected', the shop owner and staff all having to pass full Disclosure and Barring Service of course. After that you won't be able to walk past a school at coming and going times unless you can prove you are a parent.

How will children learn to travel independently? Or to live independent lives? One day, they will be somewhere and 'a stranger' will say innocently good morning. OMG panic attack.

I'm going to take a guess here but the bus services in question operate in a fairly rural area. The non-children catching the buses will be few in number and the same people day in day out, all probably known to someone else on the bus. We aren't talking about central London here.

 

[PG]

I say let the council try, and the maybe they will fully understand the problems.

Indeed, and the person with their head 'on-the-chopping-board' a.k.a Transport Manager is getting a salary of £2867 p.a more than their drivers. I also wonder if the new buses are owned or leased as they'll depreciate heavily? No doubt that information is available somewhere should anyone be inclined to go digging...
Seems to be a 50/50 split. Despite being called Volvo 8900 buses they look to me like MCV evora B8RLEs. Not a great start if you don't know what you're buying...

Highland Council has taken delivery of six brand new Volvo buses worth almost £473,000 on the open market amid speculation it is taking its first steps into public transport.

Mystery surrounded the six Volvo 8900 buses, largely used for “intercity and commuting” needs, which arrived at the council headquarters earlier this week.

Yesterday, the council was unable to say why it had leased the six vehicles despite a visit by Scottish transport secretary Jenny Gilruth.

But today the local authority announced they are for a “pilot project” to expand its in-house school transport provision.

According to the council, a project team reviewed travel options and, after the recent re-tender process for school transport contracts, the decision was taken for the council to trial delivering more routes itself.

Six buses have been delivered with a further six – to be purchased outright – expected to arrive by mid-November.

The pilot to be launched in January will cover routes across rural Inverness, the Black Isle, Loch-Ness-side and Nairn.

The cash-strapped council will pay for lease and purchase of the buses through the school transport budget and a report is expected at the next economy and infrastructure meeting.

"Are Highland Council really happy saying that they provide transport to and from school and then leave the children to travel with members of the public?"

Wow. Whoever basically just tacitly accused every adult of being a nonce should retract that now.

Well I guess thats one way to not integrate yourself with the locals - and practically guarantee your children a miserable time at school in the process

 

[Stan Drews]

6 brand new Volvo B8s for £473k! Aye, right!!
You wouldn’t even get 3 for that price.

 

[mbonwick]

Despite being called Volvo 8900 buses they look to me like MCV evora B8RLEs. Not a great start if you don't know what you're buying...

Picture on the article is a Mk1 E300.

Could well be one of the ex-Rapson 06/56 plates that Stagecoach put up for disposal last month...as high-capacity variants I'd have thought Highland Council would have been very interested.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I'm going to take a guess here but the bus services in question operate in a fairly rural area. The non-children catching the buses will be few in number and the same people day in day out, all probably known to someone else on the bus. We aren't talking about central London here.

In central London, it's the general public that fears the schoolkids, not the other way round!

 

[RT4038]

I'm going to take a guess here but the bus services in question operate in a fairly rural area. The non-children catching the buses will be few in number and the same people day in day out, all probably known to someone else on the bus. We aren't talking about central London here.

Not having the school children on the public bus will probably mean the end of the public bus, as it won't be viable by itself.

The problem here is the dire reliability of Stagecoach.

It will be interesting to see how Highland Council get on with driver recruitment, and how their pay rates will compare with the likes of Stagecoach, D&E etc.

But a much pleasanter job - regular hours, no weekends

 

[Baxenden Bank]

In central London, it's the general public that fears the schoolkids, not the other way round!

Travelling on a bus with more than a handful of school kids is generally not a pleasant experience I would fully agree.

Not having the school children on the public bus will probably mean the end of the public bus, as it won't be viable by itself.

Indeed. It is unlikely that they will operate parallel services, one for school children and one for others. So Mr Child Protection Expert (if his views are taken note of), as so often happens, spoils things for others despite the arrangements having worked perfectly well for decades. Good for him, I'll assume he drives or travels outside school times and is not going to be impacted by his policies.

Perhaps they could have dual door buses with a partition - front half for passengers (who need to pay the driver), rear half and exclusive use of second door for kids (who would be issued with passes). A bit like those Sutherland Trading and Transport buses I posted a picture of a while back where the rear of the bus was partioned for Royal Mail use and separately accessed.

Staffordshire County Council pursued a similar strategy a good few years ago when tender prices became excessive (in their opinion). They bought a fleet of those American style yellow school buses and directly operated them on closed contracts. I'm not sure whether the operation is still going.

 

[GusB]

The job advert that was linked to in post #4 said:

Requirements
A current PCV Driving Licence.
A PCV Driver’s Certificate of Professional Competence.
Disclosure Scotland PVG (Protection of Vulnerable Groups) membership will be required to allow work with children.

So the child protection element has already been considered.

As far as kids travelling on regular scheduled services is concerned, it worked for me. Our regular drivers were friendly, but put up with no nonsense and if there were any serious issues with bad behaviour they would be in touch with the school very quickly. This wasn't yesterday, however and "safeguarding" is much more of a thing these days.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

The job advert that was linked to in post #4 said:



So the child protection element has already been considered.

As far as kids travelling on regular scheduled services is concerned, it worked for me. Our regular drivers were friendly, but put up with no nonsense and if there were any serious issues with bad behaviour they would be in touch with the school very quickly. This wasn't yesterday, however and "safeguarding" is much more of a thing these days.

You could argue that a driver recruit being required to have 'Disclosure Scotland PVG (Protection of Vulnerable Groups) membership' does not prevent Highland Council operating a bus service which is open, rather it confirms that the driver is safe with children be the service open or closed. But yes, I can guess where they are heading with that requirement.

 

[peterblue]

From a passenger point of view, I would prefer that schoolchildren have a segregated service as some children can be rather loud and obnoxious at times. However, I appreciate this isn't always possible especially in rural communities.

 

[GusB]

There's a bit more here:

Highland Council launching in-house bus company - Bus & Coach Buyer

The Highland Council is making progress towards launching an in-house bus company on 4 January 2023. The Council has invested in 12 buses, including six double-deckers, to deliver passenger and school transport services at a lower cost than commercial contractors. The other project, which is...

www.busandcoachbuyer.com

The Highland Council is making progress towards launching an in-house bus company on 4 January 2023.

The Council has invested in 12 buses, including six double-deckers, to deliver passenger and school transport services at a lower cost than commercial contractors. The other project, which is also part of the Council’s Business Change programme, is to carry out a review of school transport arrangements, including the procurement of specialist transport management software.

Following a recent re-tender process for school transport contracts, the decision was made in October for the council to trial delivering more in-house school transport routes using buses with ultra-low emission engines. Initially, routes covered will be across rural Inverness, the Black Isle, Loch-Ness-side and Nairn.

The Highland Council already runs in-house school transport and the pilot is expected to expand from this.

A Project team has been established for delivering the in-house services, with three Project Officers and a Bus Operations Supervisor appointed. Interviews for drivers are ongoing. Approval has been granted for lease of ground for an operational centre. The pilot bus services have been registered and approved by the Traffic Commissioner.

Officers intend to submit a bid next spring to Transport Scotland’s Scottish Zero Emission Bus Challenge Fund for the operation of electric buses.

 

[Jordan Adam]

Picture on the article is a Mk1 E300.

Could well be one of the ex-Rapson 06/56 plates that Stagecoach put up for disposal last month...as high-capacity variants I'd have thought Highland Council would have been very interested.

The Enviro300 is RX57GOE. The six Evoras are parked in line to the left of it, they are: BV72KKM, BV72KKN BV72KKO, BV72KKP, BV72KKR & BV72KKS.

 

[PG]

So the child protection element has already been considered.

AFAIU the parent quoted in the article was raising the issue of child protection in respect of the public travelling with school children. The fact that the councils drivers have PVGs isn't, of itself, relevant if the council decide to operate a service that is also open to the public. I'm fairly certain that Stagecoach, the current transport provider, have all their drivers PVG checked anyway.

That said, I sincerely hope we don't get the situation that @Baxenden Bank has alluded to which would deprive people of their bus service.

Edit: forgot to include quote

Picture on the article is a Mk1 E300.

Could well be one of the ex-Rapson 06/56 plates that Stagecoach put up for disposal last month...as high-capacity variants I'd have thought Highland Council would have been very interested.

I guess we'll find out soon enough what the vehicles are. If it does turn out to be 16+ year old vehicles then are they magically going to be more reliable than the current operator while still effectively undercutting them...

 

[mbonwick]

Looks like the double decks are YT09ZCN / YT59RYG / RYH / FYX ex-London Scania Omnicities, sourced from Ensign Bus.

 

[GusB]

Some more information had emerged about these services.

Highland Council’s new in-house bus operation reveals routes - Bus & Coach Buyer

Routes to be operated by the Highland Council’s new in-house bus operation have been revealed. The Highland Council can confirm details of the first of their new in-house bus services which will start early in January. A few public bus services will begin on Wednesday 4 January, with further...

www.busandcoachbuyer.com

The Highland Council can confirm details of the first of their new in-house bus services which will start early in January.

A few public bus services will begin on Wednesday 4 January, with further school services beginning on Monday 9 January.

The services are:

Foyers – Inverness (available to school and public)
Whitebridge – Inverness (school and public)
Fort Augustus – Glen Urquhart High School (school)
Tomich – Strathglass – Dingwall/Inverness (public)
Cawdor – Nairn Academy – Cawdor Primary School (school)
Nairn Town Service (public)
Culbokie – Dingwall Academy (school)
Milton of Leys – Millburn Academy (school)
Members of the public and school pupils are reminded that national concessionary schemes for bus transport will apply to all of these services. This includes the Under 22 free bus travel scheme, allowing pupils who are non-entitled to school transport to use their free Under 22 concession cards on all services.

Chair of the Economy and Infrastructure Committee, Cllr Ken Gowans, said: “We are set to make savings of around £1.4 million a year by setting up our in-house bus company and it is great to now be able to confirm details of the initial routes our buses will be covering.

“As well as achieving significant savings, we will be able to provide reliable and sustainable routes to communities.

“I’m also pleased to announce that our recruitment campaign for drivers has been successful, and they will be undertaking their induction shortly. We will be closely monitoring how these initial routes operate with a view to being able to expand our in-house services in the future.”

The Council has invested in 12 buses, including six double-deckers, to deliver passenger and school transport services at a lower cost than commercial contractors.

 

[johncrossley]

From a passenger point of view, I would prefer that schoolchildren have a segregated service as some children can be rather loud and obnoxious at times. However, I appreciate this isn't always possible especially in rural communities.

However, the main reason for the existence of special school services is because the regular network doesn't serve the school traffic adequately. In London, kids generally go to school on the normal bus.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

However, the main reason for the existence of special school services is because the regular network doesn't serve the school traffic adequately. In London, kids generally go to school on the normal bus.

That is helped by having an extremely high population density so that travel to/from school is reflected in shorter journeys. Not so readily achievable in the provinces.

 

[markymark2000]

However, the main reason for the existence of special school services is because the regular network doesn't serve the school traffic adequately. In London, kids generally go to school on the normal bus.

In a number of cases, I think Scotland may be included, they have rules which try to split up schools and service. Wales does this by demanding all school and college bus contracts have seatbelts fitted and often the vehicles requested have a higher capacity than can be provided by a normal service bus and as such, these services are split. More so now for Wales because of PSVAR means that the home to school buses do not come under the scope of PSVAR but if they let a single member of the public on or charged any pupil to use the service, they are automatically under the scope of PSVAR.


Wales in fact spends hundreds of thousands, if not millions of pounds, on buses which duplicate entirely over the commercial bus network. If the commercial operators had a look in, they would extend/divert buses 1 or 2 minutes into schools. They would massively Only when they go for franchising will they be bringing school contracts into local service (conveniently, they know the cost savings when it benefits them and their political points but they fail to see the benefits if it means a better commercial bus network. Interesting eh.


Scotland I will say seems similar with schools and service separate. In some instances the school buses become open to the public but even so, the actual services seem to be generally separate and duplicate over the commercial bus network, irrespective of the frequency.

 

[fraser158]

Is there any further news on these new routes (some of which start tomorrow)?

The most recent information I can find is the press release posted by GusB at post #21.

Some more information had emerged about these services.

Highland Council’s new in-house bus operation reveals routes - Bus & Coach Buyer

Routes to be operated by the Highland Council’s new in-house bus operation have been revealed. The Highland Council can confirm details of the first of their new in-house bus services which will start early in January. A few public bus services will begin on Wednesday 4 January, with further...

www.busandcoachbuyer.com

 

[JKP]

My understanding from a contact is that following the introduction in Scotland of free travel for u22 pass holders, many pupils are now using public rather than contracted buses to travel because they do not have lessons at start or end of day or stay late for rugby training etc.

My experience of deep rural bus services in the past that carry fare paying passengers at school times are in fact school pupils who are not attending their designated catchment area school and therefore were required to pay. The number of adults travelling can be often less than a handful.

 

[fraser158]

No timetables available online for those buses yet?

 

[PG]

No timetables available online for those buses yet?

Nothing showing up on Traveline, bar the ferries, even for next week

 

[duncombec]

The timetables appear to be available from the Highland Council website, here: https://www.highland.gov.uk/info/1526/public_and_community_transport/111/public_transport/5/ , albeit in that annoying format some local councils use (including mine) where clicking on the link takes you to a file page, then you have to download the PDF from there... (general moan about why these places can't have them viewable in the browser...)

Note that they are the only timetables Highland Council puts on its website - and it still lists Royal Mail Postbus as an operator... how many years after the last one ceased?!

 

[Jordan Adam]

Pretty much all the new timetables from the 3rd of January for the contract changes in the Highlands are missing from the online data, thus sites such as Traveline and Bustimes.org don't show them, this not only includes Highland Council but also Aaron's Of Wick, George Rapson Travel and unusually D&E Coaches.

In fact the only trace of timetables for Aaron's Of Wick i've been able to find is on their facebook page, while nothing exists at all publically online for the new services in the Tain/Laird area operated by George Rapson Travel. It's almost as if they don't want people to use these services. D&E Coaches do at least have their new timetables on their website.