City Flexibus trial to end a year early
West Yorkshire Combined Authority is expected to end its three-year East Leeds Flexibus trial a year early after the service proved more costly than expected and failed to attract sufficient passengers.
The Flexibus trial was testing a demand-driven bus service, where customers could request a bus through an app rather than the buses following a scheduled route.
A report coming before the authority’s transport committee on Friday recommends stopping the trial, which was due to run until September 2024.
Among the issues it highlights are:
- The six 12-seat electric buses acquired for the trial do not meet their expected 100-mile range, meaning drivers have to return to recharge at the depot midday.
- Adapting the existing AccessBus app to manage bookings, rather than developing a bespoke app, proved problematic.
- Manual interventions to support the app, along with higher than anticipated vehicle maintenance and parts costs, have increased operator First’s costs.
- Low passenger numbers meant fare revenues covered only 12% of the service’s operating costs, which averaged of £16 per passenger per trip.
- The start of a new housing development expected to add funds to the trial programme was delayed.
As a result, the programme has exhausted its external funding, and continuing the scheme would mean the combined authority would have to fund it from its existing transport budget.
The report notes, “In summary, the FlexiBus service is not meeting its cost recovery target and has had limited success in generating journeys which cannot be undertaken on established bus services. New housing has not developed as quickly as envisaged giving both funding and demand issues. Operational challenges have impacted on service delivery and cost escalation is an issue influencing options from this point.”
The combined authority’s internal leadership board agreed to terminate the trial last month, having rejected scaling the service back.
