Greater Integration of the Management & Procurement of Passenger Transport Services
TAS has a wealth of experience of reviewing the management and procurement of local authority passenger transport services and assisting in implementing change. Each member of the TAS team has substantial experience of working in senior management roles in local authorities.
Traditionally, most local authorities have separate organisations for the various passenger transport services such as education and social services transport, with the result that there has been:
- under utilisation of resources
- duplication of effort
- incompatible service design
- differing service quality standards, and
- poor vehicle specifications
Some local authorities have recently adopted a more co-ordinated approach to the procurement and management of these services, in response to Transport Acts, pressure to improve quality standards and recent reports including Going Places: Taking people to and from education, social services and healthcare’ (Audit Commission, Nov 2001), which stated “Co-operation is one important way of improving efficiency”.
The format of any revised structure will rest on the trade off between the degree of direct departmental control and the benefits of:
- more rational planning, route packaging & better utilisation of in-house vehicles
- more cost effective procurement, economies of scale in the tendering process & greater purchasing power
- improved technical support
- more comprehensive market knowledge
- deployment of cost-saving techniques, such as call-off contracting and resource contracting;
- greater opportunities for vehicle sharing, and operation of fewer duplicated journeys
- better specification and monitoring of standards
- improved technical support
- removal of purchasing ‘hassle’
- reduced responsibility and time spent on transport management.
Central to the success of maximising these benefits is the introduction of suitable software, including scheduling software where appropriate. TAS offers comprehensive support in assessing the need and identifying the most appropriate systems for this.