Agenda item

The Transportation Advisory Group noted the questions and answers on transport matters that had been submitted in advance of the meeting and included with the agenda pack.

Further to question 1, Councillor Thorp asked how a better bus service could be provided for Whiston.  It only had one bus an hour, a single decker vehicle,  that came from Harthill.  Parts of Whiston did not have a service at all.

Nathan Broadhead, advised that, unfortunately for the Whiston/Aston area, First Group had made the commercial decision to remove all services from that corridor.  The MCA was now spending £23M on bus services whereas it used to spend £7M before Covid and was doing what it could with the resources available.  A tender had been put out which was won by Stagecoach and tried to cover everyone with the limited resources available.  Stagecoach unfortunately because of how services had to interwork meant that it operated a single decker from Rawmarsh.  It was an area underserved. 

The best solution was looking at Bus Reform.  Bus Reform did not have the answer to everything but if a decision was taken to remove franchising then that would put it more in the local authority decision but did not automatically mean that it would remedy the situation.  If the franchising decision was not to go that way, the MCA would continue to work with operators. 

Councillor Sutton asked if consideration could be given to a direct bus route from Maltby to the hospital due to the number of staff who lived in the area and residents who had to attend hospital appointments.

Nathan advised that it was the commercial bus operator’s decision to remove the service due to the small patronage numbers.  The MCA could not fund that service when there were 10 people a day.  In terms of staff, meetings had taken place with the hospital on a number of occasions.  Staff came from a number of directions and there was nowhere natural for a park and ride service.  Also the finishing times of staff meant that it was very difficult to provide a bus service for the varying times.  Currently the MCA could not afford to provide another standalone service from Maltby and it was not financially viable for First Group.

Paul Hopkinson, First Group, confirmed that the numbers were as low as 10 passengers a day that the service had been carrying.

Councillor Adair asked if the bus service was running smoothly at the current time.

Nathan Broadhead reported that there had been some challenges and some major investment by Rotherham in terms of works around Sheffield Road, Broom Valley and Wickersley as well as bridge repair works around the ring road.  They had all had some impact on bus services. Christmas was now  approaching with the associated traffic around Meadowhall and Parkgate which caused challenges.

TM Travel had had a number of problems i.e. struggling with parts for vehicles and retaining drivers.  The situation was improving but not at the level where it should be. 

Work would continue with the operators and local authorities.