SC23037 - Passenger Information Portal

In March 2021, the UK Government publish a new National Bus Strategy setting out a framework for bus service recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic and a vision for future bus service improvements across the UK. The national strategy placed a requirement on all Local Transport Authorities to create a Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP). Kent County Council’s (the Council) Bus Service Improvement Plan published in October 2021 set out a vision for how the Authority will try to improve bus services in Kent over the coming years. Initiatives proposed to be delivered sit within eight areas: bus priority; highways initiatives; fares and ticketing; BRT and MaaS; network developments; bus stop infrastructure; public transport information; and air quality.

Kent County Council are now implementing the initiatives agreed with the Department for Transport utilising the funding made available. As part of the Public Transport Information BSIP project area, Kent County Council are looking to procure and deliver a Bus Passenger Information Portal for the public. This is seeking to provide a one-stop-shop for Kent public transport information, including an interactive bus map with pop up timetables, real time bus and rail departure times and multi-modal journey planning functionality. This is seeking to generate increased usage of public and sustainable modes of transport through improved quality of service information.

The Bus Passenger Information Portal would be publicly accessible and free to all users. It would be open for use by the 1,578,500 people who live within the Kent County Council area and those who plan to visit the area from elsewhere. Prior to the pandemic, Kent’s bus services reached on average 179,000 journeys on weekdays, 118,000 on Saturdays and 44,000 on Sundays. While there has been a reduction in patronage since the pandemic, the platform will have a large audience of users, with the ambition being that the tool helps contribute towards the patronage recovery.

It is noted that during the lifetime of the contract under a separate procurement exercise, Kent County Council is planning to install QR codes across all bus stops within the County to provide real-time bus departures. It is the expectation that the QR codes would provide a direct link to the interactive bus map as procured as part of this contract, and that the Map provider will provide unique URL links to each specific stop which will be incorporated within the QR codes at no additional cost.