Student Bus Services

Concepts

• road transport
• derby
• buxton campus
• student bus services
• scope of services
• scope of bus services
• bus service provision
• pandemic value of this unibus service
• potential service operators
• full time students

Location

DERBY

Description

Scope of services This scope of bus services is to undertake a Competitive Dialogue Procedure for the bus service provision for the University of Derby, Derby Campus and Buxton Leek College, Buxton Campus. We are seeking collaboration and partnership with potential service operators to work with the University and support the delivery of its travel and transport planning though sustainable and innovative bus services. Key deliverable outcomes for these bus services include: • Providing safe and efficient bus services that enable travelling to our sites for all • Reducing operating costs wherever possible • Lowering our carbon emissions and supporting the University's environmental policy and sustainable travel plan. The University is keen to explore opportunities for collaborative services that can reduce the operating cost of the bus services and options to explore utilising and partnering with existing commercial services and re-instating passenger fares should be encouraged. Collaborative partnerships which can also assist in delivering sustainable travel with reduced carbon emissions should also be encouraged. The pre-pandemic value of this Unibus service is £624k per year. The University will consider longer term contracts working in partnership where investment may be required to deliver demonstrable objectives. For example, 5 + 5 year terms will be considered where deliverable and strategic transport objectives can be evidenced over that period of time.

Total Quantity or Scope

Providing safe and efficient bus services that enable travelling to our sites for all Reducing operating costs wherever possible Lowering our carbon emissions and supporting the University's environmental policy and sustainable travel plan. Current Service Provision, Derby Campus (Lot 1) The University of Derby currently operates a Unibus service for the Derby Campus providing free to travel buses to its students and staff, enabling them to reach the Derby sites and halls of residences in a more sustainable mode of travel than single occupancy vehicles. The Unibus service consists of 4 main bus routes between Derby locations including University sites, the city centre, bus station and train station. The service is required all year round with reduced holiday and study services at periods when lower activity is anticipated on site. The service faces peak periods of demand during term time and within certain hours of the day, the busiest peak is between 7.30am and 9.30am Monday to Friday. Existing timetables showing stops and destinations can be found in appendix a. The main purpose of the Unibus in Derby is to bring commuting students and staff to the Kedleston Road site from Derby train station, Derby bus station and the halls of residences mostly based towards the city centre in the Bridge Street and Agard Street area. Addresses for all Derby sites and Halls of Residences can be found in appendix b. The Unibus also operates a shuttle bus service to Markeaton Park where 600 students park with a valid parking permit, our Markeaton Street site and our Britannia Mill site. Pre-pandemic, the Unibus service provided 778k single passenger trips per year. 40% of our 18,000 full time students are commuter students 78% of our 1,000 part-time students also commute. … It is important to understand the challenges currently facing this service: High demand during peak periods in the morning, lunchtime and towards the end of the teaching/working day. Full capacity buses from origin stops, Train station, Bus station and Kedleston Road. Buses depart from these full and cannot collect passengers from our halls of residences resulting in poor student experience. High volume of late buses arriving at Kedleston Road in the morning due to full capacity. Students late for morning lectures and staff late for work does not disincentivise either group to drive. The University is aware of the traffic issues facing Derby city centre, this service needs to adopt all methods of innovation and best practice to reduce this negative impact. Upcoming significant Highways England A38 roadworks. The creation of two underpasses and a flyover on the stretch of the A38 between Little Eaton and Kingsway straight through the University quarter commences construction in March 2021, this must be considered and demonstrated in the planning of this service. Current Service Provision, Buxton Campus (Lot 2) Our Buxton campus operates mostly from the Devonshire Road site within Buxton and the Stockwell Road site in Leek. A full list of current routes operated by commercial operators and by the internal transport department can be found in appendix b. Current challenges are that public transport within Buxton and Leek is heavily orientated towards facilitating travel out of the Buxton and Leek towns towards Stockport and Manchester and do not facilitate frequent and flexible travel to our teaching sites. The towns are in remote locations with many of our staff and students attending Buxton and Leek living in remote residential areas thus requiring transport routes that reach out to a wide geographical spread. The existing value of the public transport for our Buxton Campus is £450,000 per year. The University is keen to explore collaborative partnerships again with a singular approach preferred to an operator managing and coordinating this transport provision. Options to drive efficiencies and innovation to reduce operating costs are to be explored. Adding Value The University is keen to explore how the service could be operated with added value, innovation and best practice. The current services are challenged by the peaks of demand and the congestion issues that hamper the services fulfilling this demand. It is important to understand how the services could be delivered with consideration of these challenges. Added value may consider: Marketing and promotion of service Monitoring and reporting against service levels Communication to key stakeholders Use of technology to improve service delivery, reporting and continuous improvement However, the University is keen to receive all ideas and examples of how the sector can provide added value, innovation and best practice to support the service delivery. Technology may consider: Digital or smart technology to keep users informed of service levels Methods for receiving challenges and complaints and responding to them Monitoring and reporting on performance and how this feeds into the contract management The fleet vehicles used Quality of customer experience - modernised, comfort, wi-fi service, USB charging etc Environmental credentials, how do they support the University reduce its carbon emissions Do they promote sustainable travel? Greater accessibility for disabled users Training and high customer service levels of operator staff including drivers - representing the University of Derby Innovation may consider: 'Total transport' - Working in partnership for more connected travel, including multi-ticketing schemes and combined services across operators and/or contracts should be considered for delivering higher customer experience levels via a more efficient and affordable provision. Mobility as a Service (MaaS) to enable wider uptake of modal shift where potential users may traditionally be more out of reach of public transport and have greater resistance to using it. Smarter routing and timetabling to reflect supply and demand of the service. The importance of modal shift is essential to the University, for reducing its carbon emissions, establishing sustainable travel and reducing the demand for on-site car parking. The need for car parking poses a challenge not only to the University but for its neighbouring areas where displacement of parking occurs. The present Unibus service has been hugely successful in doubling its annual passenger trips over recent years, assisted by the move to make the travel free to staff and students when showing their University ID cards. This makes the service more appealing to the passenger and enables the service to operate more quickly. However, innovation in payment methods and ways to operate the service over a wider area are all welcome in an attempt to continue the success of the service. This continued success should be seen by continuing to increase passenger numbers which dropped in 2019 from 840k to 778k. This drop may be a result of the buses being at full capacity which deters travellers. To increase the usage further, an improved method of delivery is necessary, not only to fulfil the demand but to ensure the service is taken seriously by all potential users as a viable alternative to driving. All ideas are invited as to how these challenges can be overcome and how you can bring innovation and best practice to a viable transport solution. Innovation will be flexible throughout the contract.

Renewal Options

5 year extension to current contract due to Investment Required An additional 5 years due to the investment required

CPV Codes

• 60100000 - Road transport services

Indicators

• Bids should cover the whole contract.
• This is a recurring contract.
• Options are available.
• Renewals are available.
• Award on basis of price and quality.

Other Information

To apply for this opportunity you will need to register on our Oracle portal - https://www.derby.ac.uk/services/finance/procurement-suppliers-and-tendering/ and follow the guidance on how to find an respond to the tender at: https://www.derby.ac.uk/services/finance/procurement-suppliers-and-tendering/sup....