'It's just not acceptable' - Walsall council leader responds to planned fare hike on essential Ring and Ride service
Council leaders have said the current cost of running a lifeline transport service for people in the West Midlands is ‘not acceptable’.
Members of the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) Board agreed to transform the Ring and Ride service by introducing fresh contracts, a new targeted operating model and the first fare increases since 2017.
Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) bosses said the changes would help improve services, increase competition amongst operators and make it more sustainable in the face of rising costs and decreasing annual budgets.
At the meeting on Friday (June 13), Walsall Council leader Mike Bird said the cost of £26 per head to run the discretionary service couldn’t continue.
Anne Shaw, executive director of TfWM, said the current facility is run by National Express Accessible Transport.
She told board members the tendering process has helped increase competition from both the UK and Europe expressing interest.
Once the five-year contracts are awarded, they will guarantee the service for a minimum of five years from December 1.
The service has been split into three ‘lots’ – Birmingham and Solihull, Black Country and Coventry – and operators will be allowed to run a maximum of two.
Demand for Ring and Ride services is growing steadily with figures showing 2,487 unique customers have taken a trip in the last six months.
There are more than 12,500 registered users and around 250,000 trips were taken over the last year.
The authority still provides a subsidy of £6.467 million per year to run the service but this is a far cry from 2010/11 when its budget was around £12 million.
Fare income brings in around £250,000 per year and this is reinvested into the service.
The new Ring and Ride fare structure is now:
£2 – Registered user aged 16+ / essential escort carer (up from £1.30)
£1 – Registered user aged 5-15 (up from 65p)
£2 – Adult travelling with registered user (down from £2.40)
£1 – Child travelling with a registered user (up from 65p)
Children under the age of 5 will still travel for free
Councillor Bird said: “I’ve been kicking off about this for the last 10 years. The cost per journey is £26 per head. It’s cheaper to have a taxi firm pick people up.
“So if ‘Mrs Biggins’ goes from Sutton Road into Walsall which is about a 10-minute walk if you can walk, it costs us £52. I’m sorry but that is just not acceptable.
“Why don’t we look at the minibus service we have as local authorities for special needs transport?
“Special needs transport normally operates to take children to school. By 10am or thereabouts they are free to do other work. Likewise in the afternoon. Now why can’t we look at that? It would save millions of pounds in my view.
“I can’t see us continuing to pay £26 per head, per person, per journey.”
Anne Shaw said: “We’ve also considered quite a lot of different options within the target operating model from using taxis to also using SEND and community transport.
“We are continuing to work with local authorities to make sure we can look at the best ways we can blend that provision and come up with more efficiencies.”
