Cabinet received a report of the Managing Director.  The Managing Director explained that following a procurement process the report was recommending to Cabinet to award the contract to Arriva Click.  The contract period would be for four years with the option to extend for two years.  If agreed by Cabinet, the scheme would be live in Watford by the end of March 2020.

The Managing Director continued that there would be a fleet of seven high quality vehicles with Wi-Fi.  The hours of operation would be 6am-10pm Monday to Thursday, 6am-11pm Friday and Saturday and 8am to 9pm on a Sunday.  The pricing would be higher than a fixed bus route but lower than a taxi fare.  It would be a corner to corner service so different to a taxi but more predictable than buses.  Cabinet also had a part B report which gave further detail of the procurement process and finances.  It was recommended that there were concessions for disabled passengers outside of core operating hours.  This would be reviewed by Cabinet after six months.  Cabinet had also received the Data Protection Impact Assessment which had looked at all implications and could be assured that the scheme was compliant.

Cabinet discussed concessions and it was explained that the scale of the HCC existing bus pass concession would not be applicable on these vehicles.  With regards to the size of the vehicles, Cabinet were reassured that they would be able to navigate Watford streets.  The vehicles were diesel powered but this was something which could be worked on with the provider over the contract. 

RESOLVED

That Cabinet:

1.    Awards the contract for the operation of a Demand Responsive Transport scheme in Watford to ArrivaClick (Arriva Kent Thameside Ltd) for a period of 4 years with an option to extend the contract for an additional 2 years.

2.    Notes that it is intended that the Demand Responsive Transport scheme will commence operating from 30 March 2020.