Purpose

Following the decision taken by the Leader of
the Council on 22 March 2022 to develop a business case for a City
Centre Shuttle Bus (delivered via funding from South Yorkshire
Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA / MCA) and in agreement
therewith), this report aims to outline the further work undertaken
to date to develop the Sheffield Connect service. This report
therefore identifies the development and introduction of new
electric buses to the service identifying routing options, service
operations and tendering arrangements.

Content

That the Executive Director of
City Futures and the Director of Finance and Commercial
Services:
 
1.     
Approve the remaining spend. This consists
of:

 

·      
£1,426,709 for the operation of the Sheffield
Connect city centre bus commissioned through SYMCA.  This includes:

 

Ø 
Option 2b of the city centre bus proposals
consisting of the current SC1 route plus enhanced service frequency
(7/8 mins) (Appendix 1).

Ø 
Option 4b of the city centre bus proposals
consisting of an additional route (SC2 - serving Bridge Street) at
a frequency of three buses per hour (20 mins) (Appendix
2).

Ø 
Accepting the operation length of the service being
156 weeks (three years) until 3rd April 2027. (This is subject to
SYMCA contractual arrangements – SYMCA are committed by DfT
as part of the ZEBRA bid, to use all four electric vehicles in a
city centre shuttle bus service for a minimum of five years. An
option exists to extend the contract by up to two
years).
 

·      
£146,329 ringfenced funding to extend the
contract by 16-weeks to make a total of five-years (April to August
2027) from the start of the diesel service (SCC commitment to SYMCA
in May 2022).

·      
Approximately £220,000 for the cost of
Electricity. This assumes an average of £0.26 per kwh at
5,411kwh per week.