March 2010
Judicial Review
The Judicial Review requested by Stagecoach and Go-Ahead group companies and
some Travel Concession Authorities against the Secretary of State for Transport
was heard before the Honourable Mr Justice Irwin in the High Courts of Justice
Queen’s Bench Division Administrative Court between 17th and 20th November
2009. The Judicial Review considered the outcome of Appeals lodged by the bus
companies about re-imbursement rates in the 2007/8 financial year and about
the validity of the “no better, no worse” principle. The outcome
could have had very substantial financial implications for the English National
Scheme but, broadly, the Judgment is in favour of the Secretary of State’s
interpretation of the European legislation upon which UK legislation is based.
MCL have been heavily involved in providing technical support to the legal team, led by Solicitors Finers Stephens Innocent (FSI), representing a large number of TCAs as interested parties to the Judicial Review. With FSI, MCL will be holding a series of seminars for local authority officers later in March at which the outcome and future implications of the Judgment will be explained.
MCL will also be taking the opportunity at the Seminars to discuss the forthcoming change in responsibilities for concessionary travel which will take place in 2011.
Youth Card scheme for Essex
The pilot Youth Card scheme in the Colchester area, now branded Bite+ and doubling
as a library card, is due to commence in April 2010. This will offer young people
up to age 19 half fares on all local bus services at any time, bettering and
removing the differences in commercial provision that exist at the moment. Although
the pilot will be limited to young people living in the Colchester area, they
will be able to travel anywhere in and to or from Essex, so that the scheme
is an authentic pilot of what may follow.
Essex County Council will review the impact of the pilot scheme over a six month period, before deciding in September whether the scheme is to be rolled out across the County. In the meantime, MCL are assisting in administering and monitoring the pilot scheme, including surveys which will help the review - measuring the success of the pilot in attracting new users to local bus services in the area.
Survey analysis
Our new software system is now fully in use analysing the results of on-bus
surveys to check the accuracy of journey recording on behalf of client authorities.
The outcome has resulted in some queries being raised with operators, whilst
the overall results have been shared with authorities when requested.
Software to be used to analyse Youth Card journeys
MCL is working on a modification to its highly successful ENCTS software package,
so that it can also be used to analyse journeys made using the growing number
of youth card schemes now in existence.
DfT Bulletins
Several new guidance bulletins have been issued, covering changes to scheme
administration from 2011, to the age of eligibility for ENCTS passes and the
distribution of Special Grant funding. The Government’s new Ticketing
Strategy has also been launched. Links
to all of these can be found on the support page.