Beverley Bell provides best-practice guidance for operators, though no punctuality and reliability regulation changes are made
Beverley Bell, the Senior Traffic Commissioner for Great Britain, has published a revised guideline for bus operators running local services in England (excluding London) and Wales.
Punctuality and reliability standards will remain unchanged from the existing window of tolerance – one minute early to five minutes late – the document confirms. A punctuality target of 95% remains the standard for registered services.
The Traffic Commissioner for Scotland, Joan Aitken, has confirmed the existing window of tolerance and standards will continue to apply for operators running registered services in Scotland.
Beverley Bell said: “As regulators, it is important that we set realistic, achievable targets for local services, while at the same time providing a robust framework for regulatory action if operators fail to achieve the expected standards.
“I encourage bus operators to examine the document and share it across their businesses, including the examples of what a good operation looks like.”
The guidance includes advice for operators on three key areas – registration of services, monitoring and systems & resources.
Good practice recommendations for registration of services includes ensuring timetables are properly calculated, realistic and achievable and to take advantage of electronic bus services registration whenever possible.
Regarding monitoring, the Senior Traffic Commissioner’s recommendations include publishing punctuality targets and associated compliance, sharing performance data with local traffic authorities and keeping records of any matters affecting the reliability of services.
Looking at systems and resources, the document says good practice is to have a dedicated resource for performance management, consult traffic authorities on any proposals to change routes and timetables and have proper systems to divert resources in the event of driver illness, vehicle breakdown and so on.
A number of other recommendations are included in the document, along with some guidance for local authorities on how to effectively deal with operators to ensure a good operation.
INFO
The full document can be read at https://tinyurl.com/n8n2pja
