Fifty new special needs transport minibuses are joining the council’s fleet as it seeks to improve services and reduce costs
An investment in 50 specialist school minibuses will help cut costs and improve home to school transport for pupils with special educational needs, says Lancashire County Council. The 50 new minibuses bring the council’s total fleet to 208, with half being brought into operation from September and the remainder expected to be delivered in the following months.
The council says the move will reduce its costs for school transport for pupils with special needs and disabilities, and the buses will help to reduce the reliance on the use of single occupancy vehicles as well as helping with a significant increase in the number of passengers needing the service.
Currently, the council’s home to school transport service has 158 minibuses and supports around 5,200 children and 900 vulnerable adults per day. With costs expected to reach over £61million this year, the council hopes that the new vehicles will help it to save money and improve journeys for users, allowing them in many cases to travel in larger groups. Each minibus is specially designed for the purpose and when in service will have a driver and passenger assistant on board.
The contract for manufacture of the 50 new minibuses was awarded to Ford, which supplies the base vehicles, and two specialist conversion companies to supply the finished minibuses.
County Councillor Matthew Salter, cabinet member for Education and Skills, welcomed the new arrivals. He said: “We are committed to securing real improvements in our special educational needs provision, while also ensuring value for money for the people of Lancashire. We plan to significantly increase maintained special school provision through our capital programme, and to improve the home to school transport service thanks to the arrival of the new vehicles.
“There has been significant investment in the SEND service and there are signs of progress across several critical areas for the first time this year, with the number of overdue Education and Health Care Plan (EHCP) assessments beginning to drop. This will ensure an efficient and well run service which meets the needs of the children who use it and place the voices of children and families at the heart of what we do. We will continue to build on the SEND improvement journey, by enabling the needs of vulnerable children to be met without putting local councils under unsustainable pressure.”
County Councillor Warren Goldsworthy, cabinet member for Highways and Transport, added: “We are very pleased to see the arrival of the first batch of new minibuses for our home to school transport service. These bespoke, specialist vehicles will help the County Council to provide more good quality home to school transport for many passengers.
“They will also ensure value for money for the people of Lancashire by allowing us to curb costs of home to school transport as demand continues to grow.”
