Nexus is carrying out a public consultation from 6 June to 1 August in order to collect views from a wide variety of stakeholders, in particular users of our services in order to help us understand how people access public transport and what is important to them. This will shape the future of public transport services that Nexus will provide on behalf of the Combined Authority.
This year, Nexus is running an approved budget deficit but in agreeing that services could be protected in this way, the Leadership Board asked that the Tyne and Wear Sub-Committee (TWSC) lead a review of Nexus service provision during 2016, for implementation in 2017/18.
The consultation document describes the public transport services Nexus provides, and those that it doesn’t. It asks you whether you use these services, how important they are.
Nexus is considering making savings across the services covered by the consultation – but there are some areas which are not included. We can’t make changes to the basic element of the English National Concessionary Travel Scheme (the ‘bus pass’ for older and disabled people), covering travel on buses from 9:30am to 11pm on weekdays and all day at weekends. This is because Nexus has a statutory duty to reimburse bus operators for carrying anyone with the bus pass.
Nexus are also not currently considering any plans to cut the Metro timetable, for financial reasons, because Metro receives most of its money from the fares that passengers pay, along with a grant from the Department for Transport and we have not experienced any major reductions in this funding.
Over the summer Nexus will analyse the results and make recommendations to the NECA. There will be a further round of consultation on these recommendations later in the year.
