Rural Transport Grants Scheme guidance

This webpage provides guidance on how to answer the more detailed questions that you will need to answer when you apply for the Rural Transport Grants Scheme.

You don't have to answer the questions exactly how we have suggested - this guidance is only in place to provide you with advice, if needed.

Please give us an overview of what your organisation does, and what local transport services (if any) you currently provide.

If you already deliver transport services within the district or local area, it would help us to know which services they are - and how any new provision funded by this scheme would link up with, or support, your existing provision
If you currently already use or supply an app (for passengers or drivers), it would help us to know how it works - and how it would fit in with, or support, any new provision

Please outline how this service would operate, providing as much detail as possible (including catchment areas for DRT or routes for scheduled/flexible scheduled services, the vehicle fleet, and times/frequency of services.

In your answer, describe the delivery model for your proposed new provision. Explain how it will work - from the perspective of an operator and a passenger.

Please demonstrate why you think this kind of operation is most valuable to the area?

In your answer, include any details you have from local community consultation. If you do not have supporting evidence yet, please detail any research or consultation work that you will carry out to make sure that your proposal has the best - or most likely - chance of passenger uptake.

How will passengers hear about and access your services?

Let us know how you would promote your new services (for example, posters (and where you would display them), online advertising campaigns, updates to any of your existing bus timetables)
Let us know how people would book journeys with you. Will they be able to get on board at designated bus stops and buy a ticket, or will pre-booking be needed? If it's the latter, give details about how you'll provide a phoneline, and an app or other online option

Please outline how your service will meet our accessibility requirements.

In your answer, outline how your vehicles are accessible for wheelchair users, those with other mobility issues, or those with visual or hearing impairments - and outline how your journey booking procedures will be inclusive, too.

Please outline how your service will meet our requirements for any new provisions to be as environmentally sustainable as possible (in terms of low carbon transport).

In your answer, provide details about whether the fleet you propose to use is zero or low carbon. This would include low emission or hybrid vehicles, or vehicles that can or will utilise low carbon fuel (such as HVO or biofuels). Let us know how you will reduce dead mileage.

How will your service connect to other sustainable transport provisions?

In your answer, outline other transport services which your proposed new provision will link up with (for example, by linking passengers to other bus routes or rail services).

Include information about any provisions you may be able to make for bikes on board - or how your new service will enable or encourage multi-modal sustainable journeys.

How will you work with partners to ensure that your new service is complementary to A) community needs, B) the existing passenger transport network and C) the emerging Suffolk Local Transport Plan 4?

Let us know about any local research or consultation you have carried out, or intend to carry out
Let us know how you've identified ways to link up your new provision with other modes of transport
Let us know how what you're offering addresses the proposed priorities outlined in the current Suffolk Local Transport Plan consultation

What will this project deliver in terms of outputs and outcomes?

An example output is a new route which serves X,Y and Z, or a new connection between X,Y and Z
An example outcome is supporting a reduction in social isolation for a community of XX people, which increases community X's access to shops and services

What are the environmental/carbon reduction benefits of your project?

In your answer, detail how your project would contribute to lowering transport related carbon emissions. It would help us to know the potential capacity that your proposed service has in replacing private car journeys.

What benefits will this project bring to the local community and economy?

In your answer, consider the potential benefits of your proposal. Think about how your proposed new provision might:

connect people to work or education opportunities
connect people to local healthcare services
connect people to larger towns with retail and service facilities
support other local transport services, by feeding into them
enable people to access the night-time economy
enable people to access the visitor economy, without a car
reduce social and rural isolation

We will evaluate the delivery and outcomes of the project throughout the life of the funding. What factors do you think should be assessed when measuring success, and how will your organisation demonstrate meeting these factors?

In your answer, please think about the project success monitoring data that you will be able to provide us with. This might be passenger numbers, number of journey bookings, or mileage. If you have the means to understand journey purpose, will you able to calculate (or provide us with data, so we can calculate) potential carbon emissions savings? These would be based on the passengers you deliver to their destination, versus their emissions had they travelled by car.

Including the requirement to keep passenger fares in line with existing local bus services, how will the service become financially sustainable in the longer term/beyond the life of this funding?

In your answer, please let us know of any plans or ideas you have to future-proof your proposed new provision, beyond the initial cash injection that this funding offers. Include information about what your expected onward running costs might be, and whether you have a realistic revenue target to sustain them. If you do not, let us know what your other options might be - are you able to subsidise it from funds you already have, or do you any other external funding opportunities?

How long do you anticipate it will take your organisation to have the new routes/services/operation you are proposing, if you were to be successful in securing funding?

It would help us to know how quickly you might be able to get any new provision (once funded) up and running. Please provide an estimation as a number of months.

Please detail any time constraints your organisation may have in bringing your proposals into operation, and highlight any that may be outside of your own control.

Let us know about any factors involved which may slow your progress. These might be:

driver recruitment
vehicle procurement
licensing/route registering requirements
development, or adaptation, of an online booking system