Total Transport North 2015
Ten local councils have come together to stage a conference with the aim of securing the future of public transport in the North of England. The Total Transport North 2015 event is to be held at the National Railway Museum in York on 23 October, in a bid to highlight the issue of funding for local bus services and come up with solutions to keep them running and to improve them. The Under Secretary of State for Transport, Andrew Jones MP, will be the keynote speaker at the conference, which is being chaired by East Riding of Yorkshire Council.
Total Transport involves looking at all residents’ collective needs for transport in order to see how all of the different types of it (bus services, community transport, taxi services, patient transport, etc) can all work together in an integrated way to meet that need. Those involved claim that by working together and smartly, local authorities, bus operators, community transport operators, clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), ambulance trusts and other public bodies can share and joint-commission some of the services and resources to deliver residents cost effective services.
Working alongside East Riding of Yorkshire Council are nine other authorities: North Yorkshire County Council, North Lincolnshire Council, North East Lincolnshire Council, Lincolnshire County Council, Northumberland County Council, Durham County Council, Cheshire East Council, South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive and Transport for Greater Manchester. All ten authorities were successful in bidding for funding from the DfT through its Total Transport Pilot Fund to improve transport links in their areas.
Portfolio Holder for Planning, Highways and Transportation at East Riding of Yorkshire Council, Cllr Andy Burton, said, ‘In this time of austerity, it’s vital that all public bodies work together to secure the future of local public transport. We note the recent report by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) about Total Transport areas, which suggests that local authorities should receive the budget for patient transport and take over the operation of those services. However as a group of councils we passionately believe in working in partnership and have every confidence CCGs and ambulance trusts will support the Total Transport scheme and show we can all work together towards the common goal of cost effective local transport.’