First Council to outsource client transport awards three year contract extension to Amey

15 Jan 2013

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The company that runs school buses and adult transport services for Buckinghamshire County Council has had its contract extended by three years to 2016.

Amey has been planning and delivering transport for 16,000 school children and 1,200 adults throughout the county since 2008, when Buckinghamshire was the first county in England to outsource delivery of client transport services.

The seven-year contract was originally due to finish in 2013, but has been extended by three years based on the innovations and efficiency savings delivered by Amey, worth £4 million per year.

Peter Hardy, Cabinet Member for Transport at Buckinghamshire County Council says, “Amey has brought a commercial edge to client transport in Buckinghamshire. The efficiencies are not only saving money but delivering a better service which is benefiting end users throughout the county. We are now looking forward to another three years of further innovation and service improvements.”

Over the past four years Amey has used cutting edge technology to re-engineer business processes and find efficiencies. Smart IT has been used to integrate the supply chain, establish an online payment system and introduce RSS feeds for individualised transport information. It has also been used for route optimisation which has reduced service mileage from 1.3 million miles to 1.15 million miles each year, realising a carbon emission reduction of approximately 10 per cent.

A new risk assessment team was set up early in the contract to ensure it meets the needs of everyone it transports in Buckinghamshire. New training partnerships were also established and Amey now delivers nationally accredited training courses in child protection, passenger assistance and positive handling to help develop a skilled and flexible supplier workforce.

Customer satisfaction increased to more than 85 per cent in 2011 and complaints have been reduced by more than 25 per cent reflecting improved service quality, particularly for Special Educational Needs transport services.

In 2010 Amey also established a school meal delivery service which currently supplies more than 4,000 children in 40 rural schools with hot, nutritious meals every day.

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