The east sussex co-ordinated rural transport project (escort) was established to test in practice the concept of total co-ordination of the different forms of transport that receive public funding, with joint aims of improving services and reducing expenditure. This report describes the implementation and first year's operation of a pilot scheme introduced under the project, a lift-equipped midibus co-ordinating former conventional bus routes, certain education contracts, and social services transport between lewes and newhaven. A significant effort was needed to set up, market, and refine arrangements, and there were some difficulties in acquiring a suitable vehicle, but the service has operated successfully. Users have received a better quality service, patronage has increased, and the scheme has been popular. Sharing by different client groups has not been a problem at this site. In the first year the service reduced operating costs, but when additional overheads are included it is estimated that overall public expenditure remained broadly unchanged. However, projections for subsequent years suggest that an overall saving should ultimately accrue. Scope for reducing costs has been eroded by various practical factors, including conflicting vehicle size requirements and the special needs of certain clients.(Author/publisher)
Abstract