As we have noted over the last 15 months, Hampshire County Council have consulted and then largely not taken much notice of residents views about the changes to bus service funding. From April 1st there are changes to a number of services which will affect users across Hampshire.
Changes to Bus Passes
Over the years, Hampshire County Council have supported disabled residents by funding a number of initiatives. Many of these are slated for withdrawal from Tuesday 1st April:
- The extension of the times Disabled National Concessionary Pass can be used will be withdrawn. Currently disabled bus pass holders can use their pass at any time, on any day of the week for trips starting in (or wholly in) Hampshire. This will be withdrawn and passes will now only be accepted between 0930 and 2300 on a weekday – weekends remain all day in line with the national rules.
The Council reports that this will save them approximately £70,000 a year.
For many pass holders, their disability affects their ability to hold a driving licence, so this will be a cost that they can not avoid in order to get to either work, or hospital appointments. - The Companion Pass, which is issued to Disabled National Concessionary Pass holders who can not independently use bus services will also be withdrawn.
This has allowed pass holders to have a companion also travel with them for free. This is a very small subset of pass holders who had to separately apply for the dispensation. For an example of what qualifies someone for a pass, Southampton City Council have this guide. Companions will now be required to pay for bus travel.
From the paperwork presented at the Council Cabinet meeting, the 5,388 companion passes cost the council around £5,000 and then an approximate £3,000 a year ongoing cost. Their reasoning is that means very few passes are actually used; however from personal observations locally those that do are very much in need of being accompanied. - It should be stressed that this affects the Hampshire County Council disabled bus pass and not those issued by Southampton City Council (who also have Companion Passes and are valid 0900 to 0030) or Portsmouth City Council ( who also have Companion Passes and 24/7 free travel).
Hampshire pass holders have always been subject to the 0930 to 2300 restriction on weekdays in the SCC or PCC areas. - Some restrictions relaxed on buses between 0900 and 0930 for Older Persons National Concessionary Pass holders will be removed. These are where there is an infrequent bus service and allows pass holders to use their pass early on specific “named” services. To be fair, the small number of eligible stops and services means those that I won’t post a swathe of detail:
| Andover | Affects services 7A, 9, 13, 15, 67 and X67 |
| Basingstoke | Affects services 10, 14 and C41 |
| Eastleigh | Affects services 44 and 49 |
| Fareham & Gosport | Affects services 11 and 20 |
| Havant | Affects services D2, 27 and 37 |
| New Forest | Affects services X2, 6, 20, 49, 112, 125 |
| Petersfield | Affects services 94 and the Meon Valley Community bus. |
| Romsey | Affects services X7, 35 and 37 |
| Totton and Hythe | Affects services H1 and T3 |
| Winchester | Affects services 7, 16, 61 and 67 |
- Many of these services will still offer later journeys that will be eligible for pass holders, however there are a few notable services where there is no other alternative and so they will need to pay to use; such as the C41 in Basingstoke and the Meon Valley Community Bus which both only really runa few days a week or month!
Changes to Bus Service Funding
There will also be changes to bus services being funded, which may be delayed to taking effect in September. Now the thing is, I had expected some sort of announcement, or operators starting to send out smoke signals, but in truth I heard nothing.
So I asked Hampshire County Council via their online portal. That is because a few readers forwarded a screenshot of services that are “having funding extended to September” on what looked like HCC branded powerpoint slides.
It should be easy, shouldn’t it…. the people who made the decision to cut funding, should have an idea on what funding they have cut.
Instead, I received this reply:
Thank you for contacting Hampshire County Council regarding the Bus Service.
For further assistance, you can contact the Department for Transport using the following details:
Telephone: 0300 330 3000 (8:30am to 5:00pm)
Online Form: Introduction : Contact Department for Transport
The link on the online form is to place a Freedom of Information request centrally at the Department for Transport. You would think that just a query of “which services have had funding withdrawn now and when is it taking effect?” would be so difficult.
What we do know in principle is that Hampshire County Council decided not to defund supported services that would increase the cost of home-to-school transport. So in your own local areas you probably have a good idea of what they are.
We also know that the Andover Villages Bus service run by Unity Transport is being replaced by a Demand Responsive Provision – these are many of the old CANGO services that Unity operate on a pre-booking only basis.
If I find out in the next 20 working days (because that is how long FOI requests are meant to take) then I will let you know. Unless Hampshire County Council read this and send the police around for a chat about how I am making them look bad, in which case you will find me in the stocks somewhere.
HOWEVER – There is also a new consultation
For the next 4 or 5 weeks, there is an open consultation about Hampshire County Council, along with Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Southampton; becoming a unitary authority complete with a Mayor.
It’s almost like it could have been planned in advance!
- Hampshire County council decimating funding,
- Hampshire County Council saying that they would not commit to bus franchising in Hampshire, because of the rural nature of the county (read back to October 2024 in the Hampshire Chronicle)
- Hampshire County Council lining up for it to be someone else’s problem
Of course, it is not all about public transport in the consultation, but I am sure we can decided on a name better than The Bee Network – Duck House Network anyone? Oh…. that was MP, not Councillor.
The consultation runs until Sunday 13th April and can be found on the GOV UK website. Train service for Fawley anyone?
Unfair on pensioners using the 35 into Romsey-with the only journey into town being betwee 9 and 9.30am.
I presume that these restrictions also apply to the 38 between Petersfield and Alton (which hits us Selborne pensioners both ways) as well as the morning 638 to Alton.
The changes to disabled entitlement and the very limited pre 0930 availability are penny pinching and in my view unnecessary. The amount saved is so small, yet the effect on those who use these services (and I am one) seems unfair. In my case it reduces the availabililty of my ENCTS pass by 25% in the day. I will now pay on the morning journey and use my pass on the way back. Contrast this with those living in say Badger Farm who have a service every 12 minutes!
Why on earth do HCC think that DfT will know which services HCC is planning on cutting?
Words fail me…….