Tuesday 5th March 2024
I’ve recently caught up with the three latest additions to Britain’s burgeoning DRT landscape.
They’re in West Berkshire, West Sussex and Derbyshire.
West Berkshire’s scheme was launched on 15th January. There’s a rather cute home made video on YouTube explaining the background to it here featuring West Berkshire’s Councillor Denis Gaines, Executive Portfolio Holder for Highways, Housing and Sustainable Travel and Matthew Metcalfe Senior Transport Officer.
The new Community Connect branded operation covers a rural area north west of Newbury which previously had a very limited two-off-peak-journeys-a-weekday bus service 5/5A and a peak hour school journey (5C).
The new arrangements have retained the two peak timetabled journeys (out and back) designated West Berkshire Connect A…
… which now run every weekday rather than just schooldays, and in between these (08:30 to 15:00 and 16:00 to 19:00) the bus can be booked on a DRT basis either on an app or by phone.
Community Connect is being funded by DfT Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) funding awarded to the Council. West Berkshire’s BSIP published in 2022 set out aspirations for five DRT schemes across its area.
Having now got Area C up and running it would seem attention is moving to Area D based on Pangbourne, as the next likely introduction.
I booked a ride on 15th February, a week prior to travelling on Thursday afternoon 22nd February, from the village of Boxford down to Newbury. I asked for a 13:20 pick up as that would be soon after I could reach the village by travelling on Newbury & District’s 4/6 journeys a day route 4 between Newbury and Lambourn which arrives at 13:04.
I tried for a journey from Boxford to Newbury railway station, but as I’ve found with other DRT apps, the database used by the tech companies includes the entire country (sometimes even international) rather than “geofencing” it to the area served by the DRT. So, as you can see, it didn’t like either of my suggested entries for Newbury station and when I entered Rail it gave me a wide range of ridiculous options.
I resorted to fiddling around with an icon on a map to where the station is located and managed to get a ride booked for 13:28 from The Bell, Boxford which would be ideal as it would give me time for a coffee in The Bell while waiting.
However, on arrival I saw The Bell had morphed into a posh looking restaurant …
… so I bided my time sheltering from the deluge of rain in the glass panel missing bus shelter…
… although noticed the app wanted me to move about 100 yards south to another location.
I wandered down and instead of a bus stop, discovered Boxford Parish Council’s notice board …
… minus its notices and then spotted one about Community Connect, and the timetabled journey on the ground.
The departure time had been updated on my app to 13:29 but as no bus had appeared by 13:35 and the app wasn’t updating I gave the call centre a ring, but they too had no information as the bus wasn’t tracking on their system. The gentleman answering said he’d give the driver a ring and call me back.
Before he could do so, Dave appeared and it turned out he wasn’t able to log into the system as he didn’t know the password it was asking to be entered.
Luckily he knew to pick me up and I told him where I was going as the software normally only tells him one thing at a time, so he didn’t know if he had another pick up after he dropped me off.
The vehicle being used on Community Connect is a typical Mercedes Sprinter beloved of DRT operations with the usual internal layout…
… although this one has no tip-up seats along the offside in the wheelchair area, not that they’d be needed.
I understand about half a dozen passengers a day are using the DRT element of Community Connect in between the fixed peak time journeys and almost all are single occupancy, as was my journey.
So, pretty typical for a DRT operation.
As is the third Book-a-Bus branded operation launched by West Sussex County Council at the beginning of the month.
The new 96 Flex serves a rural area north west of Chichester joining the 98 Flex to the north of Petworth (introduced last August) and the longer established route 99 between Chichester and Petworth which gained a 99 Flex in July, all funded by West Sussex’s BSIP funds.
Like the 98 Flex, the new 96 Flex is operated by Community Transport Sussex using one of two new Mercedes minibuses it now has in its fleet for both routes.
I’d booked a ride the day before travelling on 19th February from South Harting (in the north west corner of the area served) across to Singleton (on the eastern boundary). The bus appeared exactly at the time predicted and what a lovely surprise to find Jan behind the driving wheel who I’d met on my 96 Flex adventure last year.
We had a lovely ride over to Singleton including the SatNav being unaware of the width of the cut through track…
… it sent us along…
… luckily we didn’t meet anything coming the other way.
After that excitement we were soon coming into Singleton and I bid a fond farewell to Jan who was off to take a meal break with no other bookings at that time.
The Mercedes minibus can take wheelchairs through the rear door and is laid out with 14 seats in a 2+1 welfare type interior.
I understand Community Transport Sussex will shortly be using one of the minibuses on a school contract which will obviously help the finances and interestingly copies the arrangement I found in West Berkshire. Perhaps this is a way to minimise the losses of DRT schemes in the future?
The third new DRT operation began in Derbyshire last week. Also funded by the county’s BSIP, it’s branded as Travel Derbyshire OnDemand …
… and covers a very large geographic area from Dronfield down to Alfreton and across from Holymoorside to Cresswell and Shirebrook. I reckon that’s around 170 square miles which are being covered by just two minibuses.
I booked last Wednesday for a ride on Friday and initially had difficulty registering on the app which comes from a new name on the DRT scene to me, OJE Technology using a roadxs.com web presence. As an example, take a look at the registration page (which has to be completed in full before you can book a ride)…
… it’s a small point, but why does it ask for your house number, then phone number, then first line of your address? That defies logic. I’m also not sure the Title, How Would You Describe Your Gender, Preferred Greeting, Date of Birth, and Home address are needed in any event. Other apps don’t ask for them. Users are only taking a bus ride not a bank loan.
However, one benefit of entering your home address is the app defaults to assuming you want a ride from there, and if you override that, assumes you want to be going there. Unlike other apps, there’s no map on which to plot your origin or destination and instead you have to describe it in words.
Anyway, I got a ride booked from Chesterfield station across to Shirebrook with a pick up offered in the window 12:25 to 12:45. But as my train wasn’t arriving until 12:28 I gave the call centre a ring and the helpful woman answering kindly said she would let the driver know to wait for me which was reassuring.
Consequently as the East Midlands Railway Meridian rolled into the station at 12:29 I had no worries about missing my booked journey not least when suddenly two familiar friendly faces called out “Hello Roger” as I passed through the ticket office.
It was Liz Esnouf and Steve Burd, who’d both worked with Stagecoach until 2018 and are now involved with Derbyshire Community Transport where Liz is Managing Director and Steve is Projects Manager.
Derbyshire Community Transport are running the contract for the new Ride Derbyshire OnDemand from its base in Chesterfield.
Liz and Steve had been doing a photo call with North East Derbyshire MP Lee Rowley prior to my booked journey and having seen my name on the schedule/manifest kindly came along with Joseph, the driver, to say hello, which was a nice surprise, all the more so as they kindly joined me on the journey over to Shirebrook enabling us to have a good chat about Travel Debyshire OnDemand as well as “state of the nation” matters.
Derbyshire Community Transport has been expanding over the last few years with its fleet almost doubling in size to 42 since 2020. Two new Mellor minibuses are due to arrive for Ride Derbyshire OnDemand this week but to kick start the route last week two Mercedes 16 seaters from the existing CT fleet were given Ride Derbyshire OnDemand branding. The moquette looked all too familiar too.
Liz is pleased to have gained the Ride Derbyshire contract – funding is initially for two-and-a-half years – as she sees synergy with the market already served by the Community Transport’s other operations.
Joseph had worked for a number of Derbyshire based companies including TM Travel and Hulleys of Baslow and expertly drove us over to Shirebrook in exactly the 15 minutes the app had predicted and I bid a fond farewell to him, Liz and Steve.
It’s noteworthy these three recent journeys I’ve taken on the latest DRT operations have all been with Community Transport operators perhaps reflecting the lower cost base compared to larger commercial orientated bus companies.It’ll be interesting to see if this trend continues during the coming year as more BSIP funded DRT schemes take to the road.
However this won’t change the fundamental financial challenge of attracting enough passengers to justify the service. I saw in Coach and Bus Week last week East Sussex County Council trumpeting its achievement of carrying 10,000 passengers since its Flexibus DRT began last May.
It sounds a lot and worth a celebration, but divide by 42 weeks and again by six days across fifteen buses gives under three passengers per bus per day. Hardly something to trumpet, but such is the cognitive dissonance that surrounds DRT in local authorities.
Roger French
Blogging timetable: 06:00 TThS.
Comments on today’s blog are welcome but please keep them relevant to the blog topic, avoid personal insults and add your name (or an identifier). Thank you.
BusAndTrainUser 
You seem luckier than me in booking a DRT ride. I have twice tried to book in hertfordshire to Allen’s Green but am told that it can’t be booked until they set up a virtual bus stop there. The operator will have to look at the site first. Uno, the operator, used to run the shopper bus service there so would know the area. Imagine not getting a taxi ride until the owner does a dummy run first.
John Crowhurst
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Hi Roger
I live in a rural part of part of Buckinghamshire, how do I find out if a DRT scheme runs in the county , as they all seem to have different names systems etc I have tried the Buckinghamshire council website and it’s 404
Paul Howden
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The only scheme I’m aware of in Buckinghamshire is the PickMeUp in High Wycombe. There’s was funding for one in Aylesbury but that idea seems to have been dropped.
https://www.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/environment/climate-change-and-sustainability/view-the-climate-change-and-air-quality-strategy/climate-change-and-air-quality-progress-report-2022-to-2023/county-wide-transportation/#:~:text='Pick%20Me%20Up'%20Demand%20Responsive%20Transport%20(DRT)%20Service&text=Described%20as%20a%20cross%20between,if%20the%20pilot%20is%20successful.
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It is a good job the buses are not made by Alexander Dennis apparently the DVSA have issued a safety recall on about 2000 of them as they can apparently spontaneously catch fire
Initial investigations suggest the fault may be in the air conditioning and heating system. The alert was issued following a scare on board one of the buses
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Sounds like you have read the scaremongering nonsense in the Daily Mail from yesterday, Bob. (And aren’t you a right ray of sunshine today?)
The DM article goes on to quote:
“According to a recall notice issued by the DVSA affected 105 buses, ‘the low voltage harness connector of the control module may experience fatigue if subjected to excessive mating cycles leading to a localised thermal incident’.
A spokesperson for Alexander Dennis told MailOnline: ‘Following an incident earlier this year, Alexander Dennis, BYD and other relevant parties have identified that there is a potential issue relating to the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system supplied by Hispacold for some BYD–Alexander Dennis electric buses.
‘The investigation is still ongoing and the root cause has not yet been identified. As the safety of our customers’ team members, bus drivers and passengers is of the utmost importance to us, a safety bulletin has been issued to all affected operators with temporary precautionary measures to ensure the highest levels of safety are met.
‘Further updates will be provided to operators on conclusion of the investigation by Alexander Dennis, BYD and impacted suppliers, in consultation with the DVSA, when we expect to provide a permanent fix to resolve the issue.
‘As far as is currently known, the issue does not directly affect core driveline components such as electric motors or traction batteries. Neither is there currently any suggestion that the issue is linked to other bus fires that recently received media attention as these involved different vehicle types and technologies.’
So no need for hyperbolic nonsense.
blue
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On affected vehicles there is a potential issue relating to the Hispacold HVAC system which may result in a fire when a vehicle is left unattended.
How to check if the vehicle is recalled
Switch off the Hipsacold HVAC system when the vehicle is left unattended. A permanent solution is being investigated.
Number of affected vehicles 1758
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So nothing to do with them being EV’s then. Cynical but I wonder if this would have been as newsworthy if it was diesel buses with the fault….
blue
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So, two hopeless, badly-designed, doomed-to-fail-expensively operations and one that worked out pretty well. Hmmmm….
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I do not think there are any saucerful ones. How long they keep going is how much funding they have managed to get. Passenger numbers are always in very low figures per day and costs are very high
If you look at the usage figure they will never even get anywhere near breakeven. The other problem i that if by some miracle they did attract significant numbers you would never be able to book the trip you want
Add into the equation the flawed and difficult to use apps
Most have funding for 2 to 3 years so it is around then they schemes get axed.
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With regard to the registration page for the Derbyshire scheme, I would suggest that the rather ambiguous wording ‘Home number’ refers to a home telephone number (ie landline), rather than the number on the front door of the house.
I would also guess that the requirement for intending users of the scheme to complete a registration form is likely to prove a deterrent to the few who might be considering using it.
Carllo
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The all-too familiar story, but worryingly, in West Sussex particularly, there are already long established timetabled bus services operated by Community Transport organisations such as Amberley & Slindon, CT for Lewes, Handcross, Harting Minibus CIC, Midhurst, coming immediately to mind. Added to some of the rural Compass services, surely there is a danger of abstraction?
Terence Uden
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The more I read about your experiences of DRT the more I feel that flexible bus services are the better solution for rural transport. The West Sussex Route 99 (not Flex) service shows how rural communities can be served (nominally) with a 2-hourly service while other passengers (between the fixed locations) can still turn up and get on the same bus without booking.
Ironically the Route 99 Flex is, to my mind, a competitor to the main Route 99 and apart from serving Pulborough and Amberley it does not really offer anything that Route 99 does not already provide. To make matters worse Route 99 Flex uses the same type of 30-seat bus that Route 99 uses. Every time that I have used Route 99 Flex I have been its only passenger. I think it would have been far better for the Flex vehicle to have been used to enhance the service on the main Route 99, perhaps somehow serving Pulborough and/or Amberley.
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Another great blog exposing the folly of these ludicrously expensive DRT schemes, surely giving eligible residents a discount taxi card would be more useful and cost effective?
The Derbyshire DRT scheme is ridiculous, a huge validity area and only 2 vehicles. Why on earth are intending passengers allowed to book a journey such as yours from Chesterfield to Shirebrook when there is a parallel hourly bus service running 15 hours a day?
There appears to be nothing stopping anyone using DRT for local journeys in and around Chesterfield/Staveley/Bolsover/Clay Cross instead of using the commercial network of buses which mostly run every 15 minutes, thereby denying potential users in rural areas the ability to book a journey?
It’s bonkers!
Kirk
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To be fair, Kirk, the commercial network has some big connectivity gaps that Stagecoach have no interest in filling.
As an example, I live in an area with a lot of elderly residents. It’s only a 15 minute stroll for someone relatively fit to the local doctor, but if you wanted to go by bus you have to go most of the way in to town on a service that was recently cut to hourly, then way back out again on another. The option that connects well doesn’t have a stop near the surgery, the one that connects badly stops pretty much on the doorstep.
I’d not blame anyone for booking at DRT for that journey.
One thing the blog also answers is why Joseph is no longer posting photos of his time at Hulleys on the Facebook group.
I’m sure I’ll be criticised for saying this, but it shows that DCC haven’t learned from the fiasco around the X17 extension and the Peak Sightseer. When all operators in the area are at best very tight on driver numbers then funding new services only leads to a shortage and existing services having to be cancelled. It seems it is too tempting for councils to spend money they are given without thinking of the consequences. Due to the limited nature of this service it’s not likely to lead to the widespread problems with the changes I mentioned, where reliability of certain services got to bad that passengers deserted them leading to frequencies being cut.
Stephen
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More schemes designed to take older people to the shops.
The 7-7 Monday to Friday schedule, with marginal reductions on Saturday mean that whole swathes of the community will be unlikely to consider these DRT services.
Those who work office hours will be unable to use them, other than perhaps on a Saturday,. Why do these schemes all finish by 7pm? No hospital visiting after work then.
Then there is the lack of consideration of those who work shifts. The largest employer in Shirebrook is Sports Direct where the shift times mean you could travel to or from on DRT but not both.
My preferred greeting is either good morning or good afternoon.
Gareth Cheeseman
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Surprised you were allowed to book a Chesterfield to Shirebrook journey. There is an hourly Stagecoach route 1, 7 days a week, linking the two towns. I thought the idea of DRT was not to replicate existing commercial routes. Though I must admit your 15 minute journey time is quicker than the route 1 which takes 57 minutes.
Mitch in Notts
(I understand the next lot of DRT in Nottinghamshire starts on the 7th April.)
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I wonder if anyone has linked the dots enough to use DRT data to gauge whether a subsidised or even commercial service would be viable?
It frustrates me that with so much data collected these days by our phones and the like that no-one seems to have thought to use that to redraw the network map and connect where people want to go rather than just following main roads in to towns.
Stephen
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One issue I noted with the DCC scheme is that everyone in a group has to book separately. It sounds like that is being addressed eventually, and you can make group bookings via the call centre, but as it stands it’s not great for anyone who has a speech disability who is booking for elderly family members who can’t navigate a smartphone.
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There’s another one coming soon.
29/30/31 Hemel Hempstead to Berkhamsted
Red Eagle
Service withdrawn. HertsLynx in Dacorum will cover the affected villages/area. HertsLynx is a demand responsive transport service. Central Bedfordshire Council are considering a replacement for the Studham area on currently served by service 29.
HertsLynx is a pre book service. Book by phone on 01992 555513 on the HertsLynx website or via the HertsLynx app.
From 16.04.24.
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The brass neck of the app provider celebrating a Drt scheme that is costing about £100 per passenger. And the East Sussex Councillor thinking that this farce gives a welcome boost to the county’s economy, the only boost is to the app providers profits. As Rogers experience with the Derbyshire app shows most of them are very poorly designed at best.
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I Rode the 29 30 31 group today and was impressed by the load of 6 coming into Hemel Hempstead on the 29. Some of the passengers were youngsters. The driver has been regularly on the group for 5 years so obviously knew his regulars and waited a couple of times for late arrivals. Will this happen when DRT takes over? Also worth a ride for those in the area is Little Jim’s 532 which also runs between Hemel and Berkhamsted.
John Crowhurst
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Hate to be a pedant, but the WBC 5 service was previously the ‘school’ journey, having operated every weekday for a while, with the 5A operating as a circular via Chaddleworth/Brightwalton and the 5C running to Chieveley/World’s End/Stanmore.
The Pangbourne turning circle, in theory, would allow an hourly service on the 143 – whether it makes sense given there’s a half-hourly train service from Pangbourne is another matter.
If it truly is carrying an average of 6 passengers a day then that’s about as many as used the previous 5A/5C journeys. The last time I used the 5A from Brightwalton, no other passengers joined me on the ride around the lanes, although one travelled from Newbury to Love Lane on the return journey. Covering Boxford on the DRT isn’t the best example, as this already has the 4.
Lewis
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Major changes to Westlink planned after minibus scheme ‘abused’
So people actually used the service and the scheme collapsed under the strain
Major changes to the Westlink minibus service are planned next month to stop commuters from “abusing” the scheme. The dial-a-ride minibuses operate across the Bristol region but some users are booking trips far longer than intended, causing the service serious issues.
But the service, set up by the West of England Combined Authority, has faced several problems including a shortage of drivers. From this April, the transport zones will be made much smaller, to stop passengers from booking long trips, such as to Bristol Airport.
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Hi Roger
Thank you for trying the Travel Derbyshire-on-demand service. I also want to thank you for your really helpful feedback.
Since travelling on the service, we have clarified a lot better what each of the fields means and also, now provide a map of the route for the passengers.
Road XS has been developed with the passenger in mind, and your feedback along with other passengers who have travelled on this service since its recent launch, has helped shape the technology to work better for others with more updates launching soon as we continue to improve the service.
Started in 2016, community transport is at the heart of Road XS.
The technology underpinning the platform can be modified and scaled to meet requirements, as demonstrated already with this DRT launch in Derbyshire.
This is hopefully just the beginning of an exciting journey into DRT as we look to reduce costs for local transport authorities and transport operators, whilst increasing the aggregation of passengers on the services provided.
You can find out more at http://www.roadxs.com
You may also find our ebook an interesting read on the challenges facing community transport providers available here:
https://www.roadxs.com/7-concerning-challenges-facing-community-transport/
Sincere regards,
Olly Kemp
Founder of Road XS
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Well, Olly, you should have no trouble reducing costs if you can’t be bothered to employ anyone in a QA role and are happy to leave the testing of your app to the general public.
Paul B
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There is a detailed report by John Sutton on the TAPAS platform( Transport and Accessibility Policy Alternative Solutions ) about DRT and it’s myriad failings, including very poorly designed Apps with poor functionality. The report supports Roger’s reservations about DRT , and it’s high cost , poor value for money and very low passenger use and productivity.
Are yet Local Authorities and the Dft promote further schemes
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DRT in my view is an expensive mess and it does not even meet the needs of potential passenger
Every DRT has a different complex bug ridden app which is difficult to use. You can never be sure you will be able to book a ride or if you so when you will arrive at your destination and most have limited operating hours
The best thing to do with DRT is to scrap them and provide a proper bus service
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DRT takes people to places they need to get to. It needs some planning of course and doesn’t meet all demands. The same as local bus services are unable to. I do wonder why there is so much unhappiness around when it is quite clear that passengers are travelling and in many cases making journeys they were previously unable to.
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