Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council
Passenger transport & fleet operations – review and 4 year delivery partnership
In 2012 we conducted a ‘zero-based’ review of all aspects of transport operations for Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council , developing a change plan and financial improvement targets from the delivery of transport services. The key aspects covered in the review included:
- Vehicle fleet; fleet size, procurement, maintenance operations, maintenance facilities, IT systems, productivity and costs.
- Education transport; mainstream and SEN home to school transport provision, in-house and contracted services, route rationalisation and procurement of contracted transport.
- Social care transport; home to day care transport for SC clients, in-house and contracted services, route rationalisation and procurement of contracted transport.
- Staff travel; grey fleet mileage, claims processes and systems, audit processes, cost management and control, management controls and reporting, license and document checking
- Transport Management; management structure for transport services, skillsets and capabilities, processes and systems, financial management and control, creation of an Integrated Transport Unit (ITU).
The review identified a range of improvement options and set target revenue savings of £1.62m per annum to be delivered by a three year change project commencing in October 2012.
From October 2012 our team managed the ongoing change project and at the same time ensured that day-to-day operations run smoothly through a mixture of interim management, coaching and project leadership. The team flexed in both size and composition over the period, to suit the resource and skill demands of the tasks at hand. In the final phases, with most core operations handed over to the internal teams, we offered a ‘lighter touch’ support to ensure the operation was sustainable.
The key outputs of our work have included;
- Reduction in fleet size by 25%, introduction of new IT systems, improvements in maintenance schedules and productivity
- Re-tendering of mainstream and SEN home to school transport using electronic tendering and reverse auctions, providing support throughout to the contractor community.
- Introduction of new policies and checking / control processes for staff travel, along with the initiation of a pool car system
- Creation of a single ITU to manage all aspect of transport operations and the development of a highly performing internal team
The project delivered annual revenue savings of £1.79m per annum and cumulative net savings across the entire project of £4.05M by the completion of work in October 2016.
Project Achievements
- Reduction in fleet size by 25%,
- Annual revenue savings of £1.79m
