COMMUNITY & SOCIAL
SERVICES
DIRECTORATE
Passenger
Transport
Services
ROLE
‘To provide a safe and reliable service to
support the responsibilities of the
Community & Social Services Directorate
to the people of Salford’
PRINCIPAL RESPONSIBILTIES OF THE
IN-HOUSE SERVICE
EACH WEEKDAY WE CARRY ON
AVERAGE
•145 Older people to 5 day centres
•192 Adults with learning and/or physical disabilities
to 4 day centres
•46 Children with special educational needs to
schools through 8 contracts with Education & Leisure
Services Directorate
Of these 96 (25%) are wheelchair dependent
500 Hot meals to all areas of the City as part of the
meals-on-wheels service
OTHER WORK OF THE SERVICE
INCLUDES:
•Provision of transport for the visually
impaired
•Services for voluntary disabled groups in
the evening
•Private hire work
•Domiciliary laundry service
•Goods transport across the Directorate
RESOURCES
•28
•20
•72
Passenger carrying vehicles
Goods vehicles
Full and part-time staff
COSTS IN 2000/01
•£1.5m gross cost
offset by £465,000 income
TRANSPORT MANAGER’S
RESPONSIBILITIES
•Staff management and deployment
•Optimising vehicle utilisation
•Ensuring the service attains the highest
possible standards
•Ensuring compliance with Transport and
Health and Safety Legislation
•Undertaking Risk Assessment
•Budget monitoring
•Promoting the service
•Resolving complaints
POSITIVES OF THE IN-HOUSE
SERVICE
•Trained staff who are all positively
vetted
•Awareness of the needs of the
service and it’s users
•Modern, well equipped vehicles
•Ability to respond to unforeseen
demands
PERCEIVED PROBLEMS WITH
THE IN-HOUSE SERVICE
•Cost and operational differentials
compared with our competitors
•Some outdated staff conditions of service
which need to be reviewed
•Little consultation with service
users/carers
•Long lead times to achieve major change
•Poor off-peak vehicle utilisation
•Fleet comprises mainly larger vehicles
which deliver some economies but hinder
flexibility
TAXI HIRE
•There is an increasing use of taxis across
the Directorate to support adult’s and
children’s services.
•These are arranged by Social Services as
part of a client’s care package
•A ‘Select List’ of taxi operators is drawn up
by the Directorate’s Contracts & Reviews
Section is available to Social Workers
TAXI COSTS IN 2000/01
•£124,000
•£160,000
For adults and older people
For looked after children
Compared to 1995/96 of
•£70,000
•£100,000
For adults and older people
For looked after children
PROBLEMS OF THE PRESENT
TAXI HIRE ARRANGEMENTS
•No monitoring processes in place
•No co-ordinated approach
•Difficult to ascertain whether we
get value for money
•Uncertainties about skill and
probity levels of drivers to deal with
more vulnerable service users
KEY AREAS FOR REVIEW
•Do we need eligibility criteria for access to a transport
service?
•How do we improve value for money/competitiveness
and quality?
•What measures are needed to achieve greater
transparency?
•How do we achieve a more flexible, more individually
tailored service?
•What partnership arrangements should be considered
to improve services both to our traditional service
users and to the people of Salford generally
continued
•How is the passenger transport service to
be managed?
-Do we maintain the status quo?
-Do we create a Directorate Transport
Service managing both internally and
externally provided services?
-Do we have a corporate approach by
merging the passenger transport functions
of the Council?