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1240/5(2011)
QUESTIONS TO BE ASKED OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC SERVICES COMMITTEE ON TUESDAY 9th DECEMBER 2003 BY SENATOR E.P. VIBERT
Question 1
Would the President inform members –
( a ) how the recently announced cuts to the Connex bus schedules fits into the Bus Strategy approved by the States in 2001, which was intended to improve the quality of service provided to all bus users?
( b ) w h e ther he would agree that as the Committee, due to staff shortages, has not been able to monitor
the much-vaunted Service Level Agreement with Connex together with that company's performance, and, given the service cuts announced recently, that the Bus Strategy has been a total and expensive failure?
Answer
( a ) No cuts have been considered and individual service proposals have neither been refused nor approved,
as no decisions have yet been made. The proposals submitted by the operator are currently out to consultation and will be considered by the Committee on 17th December 2003, along with any representations that have been submitted in writing on the proposals by the end of the consultation period on 11th December 2003.
( b ) I do not agree. Question 2
Would the President confirm that a bus service, that only two years ago was costing the tax payer £140,000, is now costing nearly £1.9 million, and would he inform members of the likely cost of the service for the next year?
Answer
I would respectfully refer the Senator to R.C. 53/2003, the Annual Report, presented to the States today. Figure 3 in this report gives factual and comparative information. The States of Jersey paid Jerseybus £140,000 to continue to operate services 2c, 4, 8 and 19 between October 2001 and September 2002, as well as £460,000 to carry pensioners and HIE cardholders, free of charge. Many other services were axed by Jerseybus whereas the current operator's contract restored all of these axed routes. The Senator is not comparing the same level of bus service when stating these figures.
Subject to any modifications to services approved by the Committee, which may result from the current or any future proposals from the operator, the likely cost of the service in 2003/2004 will be approximately the same as the cost in 2002/2003, uplifted by the indexing formula in the contract.