Future Opportunity/Early Engagement -Provision of a College Bus Service

Tender description

Royal Holloway University of London`s current college bus service contract is due to expire in September 2017. The current contract is comprised of two routes (Route 1 and Route 2), which in 2015/ 2016 provided approximately 85,000 individual journeys to staff and students in and around campus. Route 1 transports staff and students to and from the Egham mainline train station, main campus and a hall of residence 2 miles away (Kingswood). During term time, there are two single decker buses providing this service on a Monday to Friday basis. The frequency of this service is approximately every half hour. At weekends, the frequency of the service is reduced to roughly every hour and is provided by one single decker bus. Regardless of whether the service is during the week or at weekends, the bus runs until 1am at night, to allow for the last train from London Waterloo to Egham Main Line Train Station. For the duration of the Easter and Christmas Vacation, only the reduced "weekend" service operates. Over the summer vacation, Route 1 does not operate at all. In terms of mileages, on Mondays through to Fridays, the Route 1 service covers approximately 200 miles per day. The Route 1 Weekend Service, covers 75.5 miles per day. The main route also stops at public bus stops en route and has some usage as a public service within the scope of the routes served. Route 2 transports mainly staff between Egham Train Station, Main Campus and an off-site location (Huntersdale) ½ a mile from main campus. Operating from shortly before 8am to shortly after 6pm, the service does 26 loops every day. The service runs every day, Monday to Friday. The service covers approximately 54.71 miles per day and is provided by a minibus. There are specific days during the year when one or both of the two routes shall not be in operation. These days are Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Years Eve, New Years Day and Bank Holidays. University requirements may change or increase over the next few years, as development continues in respect of campus and student residences. The current contract value is approximately £155,000 net per year. The new contract shall be for an initial five years with an option to extend for two 12 month periods to a maximum of 7 years. Further details relating to this opportunity including timescales and where to apply can be found elsewhere within this notice