Reports:
Bus subsidy simulation study
Appendix C: Data Request from Bus Operators
1. Introduction
The Commission for Integrated Transport (CfIT) was set up in 1998 following
publication of the Government's White Paper on the Future of Transport.
CfIT's remit includes:
- "Giving advice on how to secure best value from public subsidy for the bus
industry in the longer term"
To this end, CfIT has in the past few years undertaken several studies and research
projects on the bus industry. Presently, CfIT wishes to examine the implication of
one of the suggestions that CfIT's work has produced so far, namely to replace the
current system of Fuel Duty Rebate by a per-passenger based subsidy system. CfIT
has commissioned FaberMaunsell, NERA and ITS to assess the implications of this
suggestion.
The FaberMaunsell/NERA/ITS study consists of two parts:
- in-depth interviews with operators and others; and
- economic modelling of the potential impacts.
The present request relates to the economic modelling part of the study. We are
seeking to obtain data from bus operators in two case study areas that we can use
as input to our detailed model. After the modelling work, a follow-up interview will
take place with operators to discuss and verify the results.
The results of this important study will be used to inform CfIT's advice to the
Department for Transport on how to secure best value from public subsidy for the
bus industry in the longer term.
Any questions regarding this data request should be directed to:
Your assistance in collecting the data is critical to the Study and therefore very
much appreciated.
2. Our request
Our economic model will be route-based and we are therefore looking for data at the
route level.
The routes for which data will be requested will be subject to further discussion with
you and, following these discussions, we will confirm as soon as possible the routes
or route types to which our request would relate.
As soon as this has been agreed (either specific routes or typical examples of route
types depending on confidentiality issues), a new version of the request should be
sent to the operator detailing the exact routes/route types that the request relates to.
We have divided our request into five categories: route information; fares and
service quality information; cost information; overall
patronage/revenue/profitability information; and detailed patronage
information.
3. Route information
- We would wish to obtain a detailed working timetable for the route, showing as
many intermediate timings as possible. If the published timetable for the route
actually includes all these intermediate timings, then this would be sufficient. If
a more detailed "internal" timetable is available, then we would very much be
interested in this.
- If available, we would also require details of the length of the route, and of the
distance between each pair of stops (or between each pair of stops identified in
the working timetable).
- Are any services on the route (or parts of services, such as Sunday or evening
services) operated under a tender contract with the local authority? If so, which
services exactly?
- Is part or all of the route also served by other services or by a competitor? If so,
any available details on these services would be appreciated.
4. Fares and service quality information
We would need the following information on fares on the route:
- Information on the fare structure on the route, including concessionary fares,
travelcard information and any ticket restrictions (e.g. not valid before 9.30). [to
be deleted if this is straightforward or has already been obtained in a different
way]
- The current detailed fare schedule for the route.
- Broad details on fare increases (if any) on the route that have been applied in
the last five years (or any other time period)
We would also wish to obtain detailed insight in the service quality currently provided
on the route. In particular:
- What types of vehicles operate the route? What is their number of seats and
their average age? Do the vehicles have facilities for access by the elderly and
disabled? Are (a proportion of) the vehicles equipped with CCTV?
- What facilities do the stops along the route have? (e.g. shelters, timetable
information, real-time running information). If only a proportion of stops have
certain facilities and data are available on the exact numbers, we would be very
interested in this.
- Is (a part of) the route equipped with bus lanes or traffic light priorities? Any
further details (length of bus lanes, proportion of traffic lights equipped with bus
priority) would be very useful.
- Is (a part of) the route included in a Quality Bus Partnerships? If so, what
investments have been made and who has paid for these investments? Are
any details available on the growth in patronage that has resulted from the
quality improvements?
5. Cost information
We would be interested in as detailed cost data for the route as you would be able to
supply. In particular, we would be interested in the following:
- The number of buses, the number of vehicle hours and the number of vehicle
miles needed to operate the service according to the timetable provided.
- Costs for the route allocated, if possible, to staff costs, fuel costs {if possible
showing fuel duty rebate as a separate item}, depreciation, maintenance, and
overhead. If your accounts use a different cost allocation method then costs
allocated in this different way would still be very useful.
We would like to discuss with you the best time period for which you could supply
cost data, whether that be for a 4 week period, or for a longer period such as annual
data.
6. Overall patronage, revenue and profitability data
We would like to obtain data on a comparable basis on patronage, revenue and
profitability, for either a 4-weekly, annual or other period. Relevant data are:
- Data on patronage on the route, if possible disaggregated by several user
groups (e.g. concessionary fares, travelcards or similar, single fares, etc.)
- Data on revenue on the route, again if possible disaggregated by user groups,
plus revenue from concessionary fares reimbursements, tendered services and
other.
- Data on route profitability before interest and taxes.
- Please provide your standard Route Performance data for the routes being
supplied.
7. Detailed patronage information
Importantly for our model, we would also need data on current patronage in terms of
a matrix of passenger journeys per average weekday between each set of points (or
group of points) along on the route. We envisage that the easiest way for you to
supply these data would be in the form of Wayfarer data, but would wish to discuss
this element of our data request with you in further detail. Data should be supplied
for a period that coincides with the period for which you can supply cost data.
If the most appropriate way into the data is for a member of our team to extract data
from eg four-weekly management reports, we would be happy to do it that way.
Once again many thanks for your assistance.
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