5.6 Demand Responsive Bus Services
As previously mentioned, we have introduced demand responsive bus services to two areas of the County during the course of the first LTP. Experience has proven that completely demand responsive transport is extremely difficult to manage over a relatively dispersed area and expensive to sustain. Hence, we reviewed the operation of the services within a year of their launch and restructured them to be more 'semi-flexible'. This allowed them to deviate from a fixed bus route with timing points that proved to be much more effective. Together, the services now carry at least 700 passengers per week in very rural areas.
With regard to the development of demand responsive services throughout the course of the LTP2, we will work closely with the RTPs to identify where they will be most effective and provide relative value for money (accepting that services of this nature will always require a level of subsidy). It is almost certain that the most appropriate solution will be where a conventional bus in a rural area can deviate from its current route, as opposed to the introduction of a completely new scheme. We will also look at where the 'Dial-A-Ride' concept could be rolled out as well as identifying the role for taxi buses as part of a demand responsive package of measures in rural areas.
