Lancashire County Council has reached an agreement with Alchera Data Technologies to use its Alchera Bus solution to support the monitoring and evaluation of the county’s bus network.
They have agreed on a contract that began in September with an initial period of 15 months valued at £85,500 and an option to extend for a further 12 months.
The company said this will support Lancashire’s internal teams in understanding the ongoing performance of the region's bus services, using data to quantify where network improvements should be made and evaluating their in-life performance.
They will be able to identify pinch points on the network that have an impact on the free flow of buses.
The software uses data from the Bus Open Data Service (BODS), in addition to data supplied by bus operators.
Better use of resources
Martin Porter, specialist advisor for intelligent and sustainable mobility at Lancashire County Council, commented: “We’re delighted to announce our partnership with Alchera, which supports Lancashire County Council’s commitment to deliver better services, protect our environment, support economic growth and care for the vulnerable. Improving the region's bus services addresses all of these and Alchera’s software allows us to make better use of our resources.”
Alchera has been working on projects for the council since 2022. They include the delivery programme for the Bus Service Improvement Plan and the use of the council’s Levelling Up Fund.
It said the next phase will involve the monitoring and evaluation of the projects, aiding statutory reporting requirements for the Department for Transport.
