Policy instruments (2) - Transport Policy and Planning in Great Britain - page 218

• Group bus services - non-profit-making organisations can provide a service
using minibuses (normally 9-16 passengers) and volunteer drivers for particular
social and community groups (typically for outings and dial-a-ride services). A
'section 19' minibus permit is required from the local Traffic Commissioner or
other nominated body which attaches conditions as to the vehicle and driver.
However no operator's licence or route registration is required. These services are
not available to the 'general public' but this does not preclude them being made
available to specified categories (e.g. residents of isolated communities who have
no other transport option). In the 2007 Local Transport Bill it is proposed that
section 19 permits are extended to allow vehicles with less than 9 passenger seats
to be used with separate fares charged.
• Community bus services - social and community organisations using minibuses
and volunteer drivers can run local bus services for the general public which
complement existing services or provide one where no other exists. A 'section
22' permit is needed from the local Traffic Commissioner and registration of the
route and journeys is required, but no operator's licence. In response to lobbying
by the CTA over many years the 2007 Local Transport Bill includes amendments
allowing these services to be driven by paid staff and to be operated by vehicles
with more than 16 seats.
The skills and knowledge required to operate successful community transport
(including the ability to identify and sustain appropriate funding) mean that it is
evolving as a professional activity in its own right. Interesting recent developments
include the growth of 'social enterprise' organisations operating in a more business-
like, entrepreneurial manner (LTT 437).
Another is the development of 'brokerage' services, i.e. concerned not with the
operation of transport itself but rather the procurement and co-ordination of services
run by others.
Overall there has been an enormous growth in community transport over the last
30 years. However the situation in rural areas (where community transport fulfils a
more prominent role in catering for general transport needs) remains problematic.
This is partly because of the inherent unpredictability and instability surrounding
organisations dependent on voluntary workers and uncertain sources of funding.
There is also the conundrum that the places where such organisations exist and the
services they provide are not necessarily the ones where they are most needed - there
are likely to be 'gaps' by place, time and purpose which no one has the resources (or
even the locus of interest) to fill.
This situation arises because - taken as a whole - the regulatory framework for
road passenger services has developed in terms of separate modes (bus, DRT, taxi) and
separate operating regimes (commercial, contracted, and non-profit-making). This
framework creates a series of envelopes within which each is permitted or required to
function but what actually materialises in terms of the overall pattern of services in
any area is entirely unpredictable. It is not merely the 'rural transport problem' which
is intractable but the difficulty of contriving an appropriate institutional framework to
address it (Headicar 2004).