Integrated Passenger Transport Policy - Worcestershire County ...

This policy has been devised to provide an equitable and pragmatic means of assessing and prioritising local busservices that are subsidised by Worcestershire County Council, as the Local Transport Authority forWorcestershire. Its purpose is to provide sufficient evidence to enable Worcestershire County Council to changethe way it provides such services according to available resources.Each contract is scored on six categories in order to assess the benefit and value of the services provided. Theseare:The actual cost per passenger carriedThe average number of passengers on each journeyThe deprivation index for the areas served by the serviceThe car ownership level of the areas servedThe primary journey purposeThe availability of alternative services for the journeys being madeA score is given for each of these categories based on, for example, the cost per passenger or number ofpassengers carried. In the case of the journey purpose, if the service is mainly for work purposes or essentialshopping then a higher scored is given than for non-essential shopping or leisure activities.The scores for each category are also weighted to give greater importance to the cost per passenger category,followed by deprivation and availability of other services.The weighted scores for each contract are added together to produce the overall Key Performance Indicator.This figure can then be used to rank contracts objectively to determine those which are of most value toWorcestershire taking into account patronage, cost and a measure of importance to the passengers.There are the six categories which together are used to calculate the Worcestershire Performance Indicator.Scores are given to each contract for each of the categories in accordance with the cost, the passengers carriedand the areas served. Certain categories are considered of greater importance than others, as discussed undereach category, and therefore a weighting is applied to each score. This produces an overall balanced total whichenables different contracts to be compared, regardless of their relative size. So, in comparing two contracts, onecarrying fewer passengers may be of greater "value" than another because the passengers are travelling for apurpose which is deemed more 'essential' and the cost per passenger may be less due to operational reasons.