Purpose

The report seeks comments on draft updated
passenger transport policies to take effect from 2025. These
include policies on public transport, home-to-school transport and
adult social work transport. Area Committee comments will be shared
with the Infrastructure Services Committee, Education &
Children Services Committee and/or Integration Joint Board for
their consideration when they are asked to approve the
policies.

Content

The Committee noted the information provided
and made the following comments on the proposed updated transport
policies, as detailed in Appendix 2 of the report:
 

a)   
Any additional facilities at Blackdog were welcomed,

b)   
P124 – the first and third sentence – this reads as a
bus shelter being more important than a reliable bus service, which
is not the case,

c)   
P126 – it is suggested that cost is the main reason for lack
of bus travel, but having heard from residents, it’s
suggested that an unreliable service is a larger factor,

d)   
P136 – bus forums – a more area-based approach was
welcomed, rather than shire-wide,

e)   
P140 – Policy 2.4 – it is suggested that this be
retained as there was a commitment to consider local needs and
local providers,

f)     
P144 – second paragraph – we need a public message to
explain that due to finite resources, we need to ensure the
infrastructure we do have is in the correct place,

g)   
Rather than terminate the bus service at Blackdog, it might be
helpful to continue on to Balmedie which has a growing
population,

h)   
It would be helpful to have better City and Shire links and, as
regards Policy 31, as many services cross over the City and Shire
boundary, we need to have better communication between the two for
getting people in and out of the City,

i)     
Policy 23 – are many pupils affected by the 15 minute 2-stage
journey and is 15 minutes too long?

j)     
Policy 42 – The Ready2Go trial has not been as successful as
was hoped, is there likely to be further development of this type
of facility?  Dialled responsive
transport is perhaps required for rural areas.

k)   
How many bikes can be carried on our buses, and are the bike racks
suitable for all types of bikes, we may have a number of families
who would use this facility,

l)     
How many seats do we have for disabled passengers and are they
sufficient?

m) 
Do these policies fit with the NPF4 guidance of what is expected
for our next Local Development Plan, and

n)   
It would have been helpful to have a document which highlights the
changes to the policies, for ease of comparison from the previous
policies.