The Highland Council's In-house Bus Company Project Launches On 4 January With 12 Buses
1st December 2022
Members of The Highland Council's Redesign Board were given a progress report on plans for the Council to launch its in-house bus company on 4 January 2023.
The Council has invested in 12 buses, including 6 double deckers to deliver passenger and school transport services at a lower cost than commercial contractors. The other project, which is also part of the Council's Business Change programme, is to carry out a review of school transport arrangements, including the procurement of specialist transport management software.
Chair of the Council’s Economy and Infrastructure Committee, Councillor Ken Gowans said: "Our ambitious in-house bus company will mitigate some of the significant cost increases following the recent re-tendering of passenger and school transport contracts. It will also allow us the flexibility for an improved and more inclusive service.
"The new service will be supported by specialist transport management software. This will not only help us streamline the expansion of our bus services, but it will ensure every possible efficiency saving is made.
“It was good to get the update today to confirm real progress is being made and I for one cannot wait to see the new buses out on the routes in January."
The Redesign Board heard that a Project team has been established with three Project Officers and a Bus Operations Supervisor appointed. Interviews for Drivers are ongoing. Approval has been granted for lease of ground for an operational centre. The pilot bus services have been registered and approved by the Traffic Commissioner.
The update today also highlighted that although there was not enough time for the use of electric buses to be fully explored, officers intend to submit a bid next spring to Transport Scotland’s Scottish Zero Emission Bus Challenge Fund.
Related Businesses
Related Articles
As intimated in Highland Council's budget plan, a new senior management structure is to be implemented following approval by Council 14th March. It reconfigures the senior management team into two layers, rather than three and brings Highland Council into line with other benchmarked authorities.
Today, Morrison Construction introduced some of their local apprentices who are working on the UK Governments' Levelling Up Funded refurbishment project at the Northern Meeting Park in Inverness. All these apprentices have been recruited from the Highland area.
The by-election to elect a councillor to represent Ward 19 - Inverness South on The Highland Council has been won by Duncan Cameron McDonald - Independent who was one of the eight candidates who contested the vacancy. Voters in the ward went to the poll yesterday (Thursday 11 April) and the by-election count was held this morning in The Highland Council Headquarters in Inverness.
The Technology Placement Programme offers funding to businesses in the Highland Council area to cover up to 70% of the cost of employing a student or graduate. The Technology Placement Programme offers funding to businesses in the Highland Council area to cover up to 70% of the cost of employing a student or graduate.
Following the success of its Business Digital Grant scheme launched last year, The Highland Council is delighted to announce further funding. This is to help Highland companies access digital support alongside other business growth support.
The Highland Council is delighted to confirm a highly successful second year for Public Service Obligation (PSO) flights between Wick and Aberdeen. The period from April 2023 to March 2024 has seen a substantial increase in passenger numbers, with several months seeing over 1,000 passengers using the service, and overall the service has seen year on year growth of 25%.
Members of Highland Council, who met on Thursday 14 March 2024, approved a corporate Digital Ambition, which has been designed to deliver significant organisational change across Council services, recognising the current priorities within the organisation. The Strategy, which is embedded within the wider Council Delivery Plan, has been developed to focus attention and resources on areas of change which will deliver the greatest benefit to the Council.
The Council remains committed to supporting mentoring in our schools, including the support that is currently delivered through the MCR Pathways programme. Highland Council is currently undertaking a review of Employability Support provided by a number of different council services and how these relate to the work carried out by external partners and in our schools.
Highland Council members have considered and agreed a revised draft Highland Outcome Improvement Plan. The partnership plan has been reviewed and updated by the Community Planning Partnership.
Members at today's (14 March 2024) meeting of The Highland Council agreed the local authority's new draft Community Wealth Building Strategy. They were also asked to note that a period of public engagement on the draft will now begin, with a final strategy returning to full Council for consideration in September.
