Decision details

The Council currently subsidises the operation of bus service 12 on Monday to Saturday evenings. The service operates to the Chantry (Mallard Way and Cambridge Drive) area of the town and is operated by Ipswich Buses. The current service subsidy agreement with them dates from February 2018.

Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, the evening service was operating with a 30-minute frequency but is currently running hourly as a temporary measure. Covid-19 has resulted in a dramatic drop in the number of passengers across all bus services, which has had a significant impact on the finances of all bus operators.

The Council does not usually provide any inflationary increase in the rate paid for subsidised bus services during the period of any given service subsidy agreement and does not intend to do so now. However, in lieu of an inflationary increase and in order to ensure that it remains viable for the current bus operator to continue operating Service 12 Monday to Saturday evenings, it has been decided to allow them to make the reduction in frequency permanent whilst maintaining the same level of service subsidy.

An alternative option would have been to offer an inflationary increase in the rate paid for the 30-minute frequency, but the budget used to pay for this is fully utilised or allocated.

It has been decided to allow the bus operator to make the reduction in frequency permanent whilst maintaining the same level of service subsidy.

Reason

The Council does not usually provide any inflationary increase in the rate paid for subsidised bus services during the period of any given service subsidy agreement and does not intend to do so now. However, in lieu of an inflationary increase and in order to ensure that it remains viable for the current bus operator to continue operating Service 12 Monday to Saturday evenings, it has been decided to allow them to make the reduction in frequency permanent whilst maintaining the same level of service subsidy.