Operators, users of the services, and authorities are asked to submit evidence to help the Government secure the sector’s long-term sustainability
The Transport Committee is launching a new inquiry into the licensing arrangements for community transport minibuses and the broader sustainability of the community transport sector.
The committee described community transport operators as ranging from small community groups with a single vehicle, to large community transport organisations (CTOs), “whose sole purpose is the provision of transport services, often delivered through competitively tendered contracts with local authorities.” The services it named included school, hospital and residential care transport, dial-a-ride services for disabled people, and rural, non-commercially viable community minibuses.
It said: “The outcome of a recent Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) investigation into the licensing arrangements of an individual CTO, and the Department for Transport’s (DfT) response, indicates a new appoach to the longstanding arrangements for the licensing of CTOs and their drivers, with potentially significant effects on the sector.”
The Transport Committee is calling for written evidence from interested stakeholders. This includes users of community transport, CTOs, commercial operators and their representative organisations, local authorities and Traffic Commissioners.
It asked that all responses address one or more of the following terms of reference:
- The effectiveness of the DfT, DVSA and Traffic Commissioners’ guidance to, and regulation of, community transport;
- The effects on commercial operators of the longstanding approach of licensing community transport services via Section 19 and/or 22 permits;
- The safety, security and service quality implications of licensing community transport services via such permits;
- The potential effects in the short and longer term on different types of CTOs and the people who rely on their services, of a move away from permits towards PSV operator and PCV driver certificates and licences; and
- Suggested approaches to the funding, commissioning and licensing of community transport in the short and longer term, to ensure community transport services, particularly for vulnerable and potentially isolated people, can be safely maintained in a sustainable and value-for-money way.
Views can be submitted on the Community Transport inquiry webpage, and the deadline for submissions is Friday, November 3, 2017.
Lilian Greenwood MP, Chair of the Transport Committee, said: “Many people rely on community transport services to access healthcare, education, employment and leisure. These include people with disabilities and people in isolated rural areas, which are poorly served by conventional, commercial services.
“Our inquiry, in response to recent interpretations of the licensing rules, will take a balanced look at the community transport sector, including how to ensure a level playing field for competitively tendered contracts, where appropriate. Ultimately, our concern is that socially valuable community transport services are protected and remain sustainable in the long term.”
Bill Freeman, CEO of the Community Transport Association (CTA), told CBW: “We welcome the inquiry launched by the Transport Committee into the licensing arrangements for community transport minibuses and the broader sustainability of the community transport sector.
“We hope this inquiry gives our sector the opportunity to publically demonstrate the integral role it plays in keeping our communities moving, and brings to light the contributions our members make every day in providing lifelines for the UK’s most vulnerable and isolated citizens. In addition, we hope this inquiry aids the Department for Transport in reaching a settlement which protects the unique work of community transport operators.”
Martin Allen of the Bus & Coach Association (BCA) told CBW: “The BCA will be attending the committee (if we are allowed) and will also submit the evidence required.
“Up to present only one side’s voice has been heard. I have said many times that the commercial industry does not have a problem with the main objectives of community transport – our concern is the millions of pounds that have been taken away from the commercial sector that has starved our industry of investment and training, and the most important issue of road safety.
“I will also voice that local authorities have played a large part to accommodate these organisations, and I intend to voice our opinion regarding the DfT and its officials lacking knowledge in the bus industry, and the lack of transparency and equal treatment.
“We have to remember that these rules were not applied and adopted correctly into UK law. One question will be why, and why have many consultants acting for the sector been able to twist and adopt these rules to suit themselves. There needs to be very serious questions asked regarding the funding they have used to cross-subsidise their activity into commercial operations. Perhaps this is the time to expose what this sector has been doing under the protection of charity.”
Prior to the announcement of the inquiry, Bill Freeman spoke about the recent community transport sector developments on BBC Radio Humberside.
He commented: “The thing our operators are most worried about is the people they serve.
“We have a problem in this country about the quality, availability and affordability of transport for people who don’t have cars and don’t have access to a bus. Their lives will be made more difficult if community transport cannot run its services.
“Some organisations may be able to afford an O-licence and the requirements that come with it, but it is likely to push them away from the work they currently do. The reason we have a permit system in this country is because there are lots of things which bus operators can’t do or won’t do, and if we simply say to all those community transport operators that they need to look and feel like a bus company, it may be a lot more difficult for them to do all that other work.
“Permits are a form of regulation. They have to comply with rules on roadworthiness and maintenance.
“Drivers must also be trained, and the training that we use in community transport shows how we’re a sector which has set high standards for itself. Our MiDAS training is better than the Driver CPC requirement we may be forced to comply with, because it includes an on-road test which drivers can pass or fail if they do not reach the required standard.”
