Taxi-style bus service can’t be replicated in Cambridgeshire due to ‘huge’ cost

An opposition councillor has spoken out about the ‘huge’ cost to taxpayers of running a taxi-style bus that charges customers just £2 a trip after a survey found 94 per cent of users preferred it to regular buses.

Ting, a service that covers rural areas in West Huntingdonshire, costs the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority £425,000 a year to run and has been operating since October 2021.The service is not fixed to a specific route or timetable. Instead, passengers use an app to order the minibus to pick them up from even the most remote locations and travel any one-way ride for just £2.

But Cllr Anna Bailey, Conservative leader of East Cambridgeshire District Council, has warned the Combined Authority that the taxi-style service could never be rolled out to other areas in the county due to the operational costs it incurs and that it is more expensive than any other bus service in the county.

She said: “The cost of running this service compared with any other in the county is absolutely huge. But ultimately, it’s the single most expensive, subsidised bus service at £425,000 a year, operating in an area that already has three scheduled bus services anyway, whereas other areas of the county don’t have anything at all. And if it’s so fantastic, then obviously we should be rolling it out everywhere, but the reality is that the Combined Authority cannot possibly afford it.

“No wonder people like being able to call what is effectively a taxi for just £2 a trip – who wouldn’t? But we can’t use this as an example to bring in for the rest of the county, so it doesn’t make any sense.”

Cllr Bailey has previously pointed out that every single journey taken on Ting in its first year of operation cost £16.20 in public subsidy.

A Combined Authority survey of 296 people who have used Ting found that 94 per cent preferred the taxi-style service to regular bus services. Of the people surveyed, a higher percentage of young people, aged under 20, used Ting compared to regular buses, 20 per cent for Ting compared to just 3 per cent for regular buses.

Some 51 per cent of people aged 21-59 also opted to travel on Ting buses compared to 33 per cent for regular buses. A higher number of people aged over 60, however, chose to travel on regular buses over Ting, at 63 per cent compared to 19 per cent.

The Combined Authority said it would look at ways to make Ting more attractive to older residents.

The survey revealed people used Ting for a variety of reasons, including commuting to work, education, health services, errands, childcare, government or social services and leisure.

Three times as many people opted to use Ting to commute to and from work over conventional buses.

The Combined Authority’s deputy mayor, Labour’s Anna Smith, who is a Cambridge city councillor, said: “These are really encouraging results and point to the success of Ting so far. Services like Ting are an innovative way of ensuring that more people, especially in rural areas, have access to a bus service that gets them where they need to be. I’m thrilled to see so many people using this service for both work and leisure. I am particularly encouraged to see the numbers of young people using the service.

“The results of this survey tie in with the stories that we hear from residents. I have, for instance, recently been told about a young mum, living in a remote village, who couldn’t drive because of a recent surgery, but who was able to get out and about because of Ting.

“I look forward to seeing the next steps for Ting, as we hope to roll it out to more areas as part of our ambitious bus reform programme.”

Peter Nathanail, commercial and operations director at Vectare, which operates Ting on behalf of the Combined Authority, said: “I’m delighted with these survey results, and this shows that there are innovative and effective ways of improving public transport in rural areas. This has positive social, environmental, and economic effects. We’re proud to provide both the technology and vehicles and drivers for Ting in partnership with the Combined Authority.”