Rural Stirling taxi services fail to attract tender as fresh solution examined
Demand Responsive Taxis aren't working out for more than half of the allocated rural areas say councillors.
DRT is a system that operates in areas where there are no regular bus routes. It works like a taxi service and costs around the same as a bus fare.
DRT is for anyone who wants to travel in rural parts of the Stirling Council area, regardless of age, disability, whether they're a resident or a visitor.
If you use DRT, you might share transport with other travellers who are making the same or a similar journey.
Of eight DRT areas only three have a service operating.
Currently the only DRT schemes Stirling Council is able to provide a service for are Killin & Strathfillan, Croftamie & Drymen, and also Fintry.
At a recent full meeting of Stirling Council, Trossachs and Teith Conservative councillor Martin Earl asked for an explanation of the issues.
Convener of environment, transport and net zero, Labour councillor Jen Preston, said: 'The number of commercial operators that undertake DRT has reduced since Covid, and despite retendering the service on a number of occasions we have been unable to attract new service providers.'
While thanking the convener for her answer, Cllr Earl said: 'We kind of all knew that didn't we.
'I think the point being that this is now a good few years after Covid so I'd really like to understand what actions we are doing proactively to address this and actually bring some service back to these areas because it's vital.
'People rely on it and we've got five out of the eight areas, some of the biggest areas actually for DRT, which haven't had a service for some time, so I would welcome any comments the convener has on what we're doing to address that.'
Cllr Preston replied: 'Yes, I think we're all aware by this point that relying on the private sector to deliver this through taxi companies is not working so we're looking at other options to do that.
'Officers are proactively working on ideas. We currently have the sustainable mobility strategy out for consulation which should feed us back more information about where people want to go and how they want to travel. They're going to get some more information from officers once that's done, at the end of July probably.
'But yes, we're all in agreement that we need to be doing something different on this because the current system is not delivering for people.'
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