On-demand bus service replaced with fixed routes
Dave Charnley/TVCAAn on-demand bus service has been scrapped in favour of two fixed routes after it was branded not good value for money.
Tees Flex has been running across Stockton, Darlington, Hartlepool and East Cleveland since early 2020, with passengers booking a journey through an app before being directed to a pick-up or a drop-off point nearby.
Darlington Borough Council leader Stephen Harker, Labour, said there were times when only one person travelled on it, but Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen, Conservative, backed the service and said it could be improved.
Local authority leaders opted not to extend Tees Flex beyond March 2026.
It will be replaced with two hourly routes - one linking Elwick and Dalton Piercy with Hartlepool Sixth Form and Hartlepool town centre, and another connecting Stillington, Whitton, Carlton, Redmarshall and Great Stainton to North Tees Hospital/Roseworth Tesco and Stockton High Street.
The decision was made by cabinet members of the Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA).
Options included either continuing with Tees Flex at a cost £4.65m over three years or to replace it with fixed services at £440,000 per year.
'Running empty'
Leaders were told costs could be reduced through changes to fares and preventing users from booking a journey when there was "another viable, commercial opportunity".
Houchen said: "In defence of Tees Flex, I think it is a good model, I think it can be better, I think there is significant improvements that can be made and I think officers have put in suggestions as to how that can be done around fares, pre-booking, usage etc etc."
But councillor Pamela Hargreaves, leader of Labour-run Hartlepool Borough Council, said the preferred option for the town would be to "cease" with Tees Flex and go with the fixed routes.
"We could install those two routes, for a total cost of around £1.3m, over the three years, and that still gives over £3m to look at an option for Redcar, or to explore other options," she said.
Harker said the subsidy per journey for Tees Flex was about £19.50.
"I think it's only meeting something like 63% of booking requests, only 36% of the time does the bus have more than one person on," he said.
"And half the time, it's actually running with nobody on it. So it's very difficult to see - to justify how that service can be argued as best value."
Houchen voted for the recommendation to extend Tees Flex, with Middlesbrough, Darlington and Hartlepool council leaders disagreeing.
The alternative option - two fixed routes - was given unanimous support, with Houchen offering his backing as Tees Flex was no longer an option.
More than two hours into the meeting, leaders from Stockton and Redcar had left for other commitments, so only four voting members were present, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
