FOR your readers’ benefit, may I clarify the county council’s position on its proposed changes to funding for supported passenger transport schemes in Hampshire.

Firstly, it is important to stress that the county council is not proposing, and has never proposed, “taking away bus passes”.

As stated in the consultation information pack, the proposals relating to the national concessionary travel scheme (bus passes) are about removing some discretionary enhancements funded by the county council, including, for example, no longer providing taxi vouchers as an alternative to a Disabled Person’s Bus Pass and removing the 25 per cent fare discount concessionary pass holders currently receive on Dial a Ride and Call & Go services.

READ MORE: Reactions to Hampshire County Council potentially taking away OAP bus passes and bus shortages

Any proposed changes to back-office arrangements would have no impact on service users but would enable supported passenger transport services to operate more efficiently, thereby reducing the costs incurred to the County Council.

Any operational changes to current County Council funded public bus and community transport services, such as Dial-a-Ride, Call & Go, and Taxishare services, might involve:

• adjusting the number of times per day that a supported bus or community transport service operates;

• altering the number of days per week that a bus or community transport service operates on supported routes; and

• changing the days of the week a public bus or community transport service

operates;

• seeking to replace some local bus services with alternative provision such as a taxishare service.

No decisions have yet been made. Our consultation on the proposed changes has recently closed and the results are currently being analysed before any final decision is considered in the autumn.

Cllr Edward Heron,

Executive Lead Member for Transport and Environment Strategy,

The Castle,

Winchester

 

A message from the editor

Thank you for reading this article - we appreciate your support.

Subscribing means you have unrestricted access to the latest news and reader rewards - all with an advertising-light website.

Don't take my word for it – subscribe here to see for yourself.

Looking to advertise an event? Then check out our free events guide.

Want to keep up with the latest news and join in the debate? You can find and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.