A survey by the Association of Transport Coordinating Officers (ATCO) shows that expenditure by councils outside London on non-conventional public transport – largely community transport – fell by over 10% in 2018, to £40m.
That, says ATCO, is partially due to fears of am “arcane” change to how Section 19 and Section 22 permits may be used.
Findings also show that prices for school and special education needs (SEN) contracts fell for the 12th consecutive year, with SEN contract costs down by 4.7%. An average of 5.8 bids are received per SEN contract, and there is competition for 85% of them.
However, 3.5% of SEN tenders issued received no bids at all. ATCO estimates that £540m is spent per annum on SEN transport by LAs, excluding London and the English metropolitan areas.
The report adds that competition for school transport contracts also increased in 2018. An average of 5.1 bids were received, with competition for 93% of contracts; just 1% of contracts attracted no interest.
Least attractive to operators is the supported local bus market. An average of 3.2 bids were received per contract, with 9.7% of generating only one bid.
