YORK’S transport chiefs are trying again to get a company to take on the running of the city’s Park&Ride network.

City of York Council ran an tendering process for a bus company to run the service from January 2017, but in October revealed not one firm had put in a complaint bid for the work.

The council then struck an interim deal with current operators First York, and now a fresh report shows eight bus companies have been in talks with the council about the deal.

The council’s executive member for transport Cllr Ian Gillies said: “We’ve had really positive talks with bus companies and are confident that the alterations to the Park&Ride specification will help to secure a successful tender, who will work with the authority to continue to provide one of the UK’s most successful Park&Ride services.”

Next week the council’s ruling executive is due to meet to agree a plan for service, and a fresh report has been published for that meeting.

It says: “All of the operators registering interest in the previous (2016) tender were invited to meet with the council to discuss alterations which could be made to the contract specification to improve its attractiveness to the market. Eight operators took up this opportunity.”

York Press:

Transport staff are asking councillors to agree to change the contract specification, so bus companies have more flexibility over bus capacity and what type of buses are used, staffing at park and ride sites, and fares - letting them set a return fare at anything between the current £2.80 and £3.50.

They are also promising not to cut the price of city centre parking, so the park and ride service stays an attractive option for shoppers.

However they want to maintain demands over how frequently the buses run, and make sure that at least two of the routes use ultra low emission vehicles.

Giving bus companies total flexibility over the service - including bus fares, frequency, stopping points, and the type of buses used - would make the deal more attractive and bring in more bids, the report adds, but risks getting a service which is profitable for the bus company but does not help with the council’s ambitions to get more people on to the service, and might leave some areas which rely on the park and ride buses without a service.