TAS helps to deliver enormous Integrated Transport Unit savings
26 October 2006
The Good Practice Paper recently published by the North West Centre of Excellence on Integrated Transport Units identifies the substantial savings made in Leicestershire following a TAS review.
The Paper confirms "In Leicestershire, a review by TAS of the procurement of passenger transport services in the County……suggested that better planning and packaging of transport contracts on [17 SEN] services could save £140,000 per year. ….dedicating just one person to ….reviewing selected other contracts led to further reported savings of £240,000 over two years. Leicestershire County Council subsequently took the decision to implement an ITU in April 2006 and…estimated that the total benefits from improved planning, procurement and regular service reviews would be of the order of £700-900,000 per year."
Similar benefits are being realised in the London Borough of Ealing where TAS is currently retained to identify improvements and help with their implementation using experienced practitioners. The TAS team combines more than 50 years of senior management experience in Local Authority transport procurement and management, and their involvement has identified and realised savings of some £600,000 through this work. Ealing's Assistant Director of Finance - Individuals, Simon George said "As well as achieving these major savings, TAS has enabled us to introduce significant quality improvements to our services."
In the neighbouring London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, TAS has already enabled savings of more than £300,000 to be achieved and Hammersmith and Fulham's Assistant Director Resources, Andy Rennison said "By the time the work TAS is doing is completed, the annual efficiencies we are expecting to achieve through these improved working practices should exceed £750,000 per year"
As a result of the work that TAS has done, the two Boroughs are entering an agreement to share transport expertise, and are exploring opportunities for future collaboration, including the possible development of a joint brokerage scheme.
The opportunity of extending this unique initiative further to include working with Kensington and Chelsea and other Boroughs in the west of London is also being discussed.
Ends
For further information, contact Adrian Grant on adrian.grant@tas-part.co.uk, telephone 01772 204988.
Notes to editors
1. TAS was founded in 1989 and has grown to be the UK's leading specialist public transport consultancy, with a current turnover in excess of £1.5m a year and over 25 full-time staff. Our client base includes the major UK transport groups, Department for Transport, Scottish Executive, Welsh Assembly, Northern Ireland Government, Passenger Transport Executives and local authorities throughout the country.