Swaffham Area Demand Responsive Transport

Norfolk County Council has procured a fully digitised demand responsive transport service, with automatic and optimised route scheduling, for residents south of the market town of Swaffham in west Norfolk, to access services in the town and beyond. The transport service will cover an area of approximately 85 square miles, 7000+ residents and over 20 villages and hamlets, to improve accessibility and connectivity. The service will run from 0700 – 1900, Monday to Saturday. The service will require different booking options and the service provider will need to offer a telephone booking service and accept online bookings via the application in Lot 2. The contract will be awarded for39 months, which is the length of the trial for which we have been allocated DfT funding, with an option to extend up to 8 years. It is expected that the successful bidder will engage with Norfolk County Council and local stakeholders to endeavour to make the service commercially sustainable after the initial period. Additional information: The initial contract will be for 39 months with the option to extend by 57 months. The value given is for the first 39 months.

The Council has awarded a contract for an online application to support the demand response transport service in the Swaffham area. The solution has the functionality to:(1) manage the operation of the service (e.g. managing key stop and road information);(2) allow passengers to plan, book, update and pay for journeys in advance (one-off and regular journeys) and indicate any special requirements (e.g. wheel chair user, specific time requirements); (3) offer a range of ticket options; (4) provide comprehensive information to the passenger on their booking (e.g. pick-up time, delays) via the app and SMS;(5) provide dynamic dispatch and routing to optimise the service based on bookings received and using real-time information on traffic and connecting services;(6) allow the driver to log on/off, access route and passenger information and contact passengers/operations staff.The solution is able to integrate with other information systems (e.g. other bus services and ticket machines of other operators) and have a reporting facility with the ability to download data for analysis in other tools.The main aim of offering this technology is to incentivise people to use the service so it needs to be easy to use. It must be able to run on a range of devices, which potential passengers may have. Additional information: The contract will initially be for 39 months with the option to extend by 57 months. The value is for the first 39 months only and just for the Swaffham service. However, the Council reserves the right to extend the service provision to other vehicles within Norfolk on a pro rata basis. The value given is for the initial term.