Demand Management

A local authority’s transport expenditure is determined by its policies and the eligibility criteria that flow from them. When directorates are asked to make savings, they often focus on commissioning processes and provision costs. However, it is our experience that reducing the demand for authority-funded travel is a far more effective way to manage overall transport costs.

This might, of course, involve revising policies to restrict services to statutory levels or partially remove provision in some way but by identifying the real travel needs of service users and considering alternative ways to meet them, it is possible to better meet their needs and reduce the cost to an authority. An example is the provision of independent travel training for children with additional needs. Whereas the conventional means of providing home to school transport is to contract a vehicle, driver and passenger assistant, a course of travel training to enable some children to travel independently on public transport can have life-long benefits for the child and lead to a significant saving for the authority.

We work with many local authorities to help manage the demand for and cost of transport services.

If you would like to discuss this with us please contact our office on 01772 204988 or send us an email.