News / Bus contracts to be re-tendered
SHETLAND Islands Council and ZetTrans are to re-tender school and public service bus contracts after prices for the 288 contracts around the isles came in as too high.
The process could result in individual bus routes being reduced or scrapped altogether.
Councillors met behind closed doors on Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss their next steps in re-shaping the isles’ bus network.
As a result current contracts will be extended until the end of the financial year to allow the re-tendering process to take place.
Initially, the council as the school transport operator and ZetTrans, responsible for the public services, had hoped to make efficiency savings by streamlining the complex bus contract set-up.
A new combined school and public service contract is now likely to come into force by 1 April 2014, more than seven months later than initially anticipated.
Head of economic development, Neil Grant, said a number of socio-economic studies would now get under way to deliver the best possible service within council budgets.
In the current financial year the combined budget for the buses is £3.57 million, but Grant said he was not at liberty to diverge how much the SIC hopes to save by re-shaping the contracts.
“The tendering process highlighted a number of key issues about affordability.
“We are now conducting socio-economic assessments of the services to give us a better idea of how to prioritise the services, so that we know better which services we have to retain and which ones we can reduce or take out in order to give us a financially sustainable network,” he said.
The re-tendering process will take place later this year, with councillors making a final decision before the end of the calendar year.
Chairman of the council’s development committee Alastair Cooper added: “It is very important that we get this right. Having an effective and efficient bus service is vital for our economy.
“The council and ZetTrans are working with bus operators to establish a network which meets our needs and which we can afford”.
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