The inspiration behind First and Last Mile was one of its founding Directors Dave Hartley. He was a driver with West Oxfordshire Community Transport and had a dream of running a small scale bus service fully versed in the community where everyone felt equal and valued.
The original idea was for a weekly shopper service roughly on the route of the current 471 with mayby modest growth in time. As I was the Witney Parish Transport Representative I was asked if I could give a little advice...
Initial discussions took place with the County Council and Stagecoach and much to our astonishment both supported the idea of a more expensive service which would connect with the main bus network to enable more people to use other buses and therefore support their survival. The initial shopper service had now grown into a 2 hourly Monday to Friday service Monday to Friday very similar to the current 411 and 418. FLM had said to the County Council where it wanted to see a service set up as a pilot and whether it wanted this in an urban or rural setting. Freeland had been chosen as a venue for a possible Demand Response pilot but had not received government support. FLM offered an alternative approach to solving the rural transport deficit.
FLM was founded in November 2020 during the pandemic and did not start running services until January 2022. It is a long slog establishing a business case and trying to find a model that worked. The start was put back several times until the County Council was ready to launch and even then it was a frantic struggle to be ready on time. Without the support of the County Council First and Last Mile would never have come into being or lasted as long as it did.
To provide a boost in the early days to passenger numbers the County Council asked if we could take 8 children to school. Parents were very sceptical if a bunch of amateur volunteers could manage school transport but were told it was this or nothing. From this initial 8 numbers grew to around 50 and with the prospect of 75 in the Autumn the school service was now commercially viable for someone else.
At the outset nobody imagined that FLM would or could run a school service and all FLM expected was9 that it would carry quite a few commuters and pensioners during the day. The former never materialised as hoped for partly because the school run took up so much time
It was necessary to win over trust and that involved supporting community events and asking and listening to prospective passengers. FLM always welcomed input from its volunteers and drivers and although a Community Interest Company was run much along the lines of a workers cooperative where everyone was part of the whole. This was a different way of working but one guided by the principles which Dave Hartley wished to see in a business of honesty, openness and cooperation.
First and Last Mile faced a difficult birth with a lack of drivers and buses and could maybe should have admitted defeat and an honourable failure. Very few people thought that it was possible to restore a viable bus service to such a rural area. The strain was enormous and 2 of the founding Directors Trevor License and Dave Hartley had to step down on health grounds but Andy Swarbrick stepped up to join Emily Lewis-Edwards and myself and the decision was made to fight on. Together along with unbelievable support from everyone in the organisation the impossible was made possible. FLM survived against all odds and slowly but surely passenger numbers grew.
Whilst FLM has always been confined to a fairly small geographical area the hope was always that other communities would also get their buses back after the wholesale withdrawal of subsidies in 2016. This has happened, mainly provided with subsidy by commercial bus companies but the important point can be made that every village over 500 in Oxfordshire now has some sort of bus service. This may have happened anyway and there are many CT operators who predate us but the fact is FLM took a particularly difficult location and showed the possibilities.
FLM was always keen to innovate and push the boundaries. This did not always succeed but FLM was never afraid to fail. FLM hoped that never again would the villages in the Eynsham area be left isolated.
First and Last Mile always said that it would step away if these services could be run commercially as has happened with the school run. The 411 and 418 were taken over by WOCT because, to quote the County Council
"The submission from West Oxfordshire Community Transport offers the best value for money to the County Council." FLM needed new buses and had to cope with the loss of income from the school run so had needed to ask for an increase in funding which was not forthcoming.
I think Dave Hartley would be proud of what FLM has achieved and satisfied that we have fulfilled our mission to serve the community. People felt lost and abandoned, FLM gave them hope. Now it is for others to move things on as the decision by the County Council to move to competitive tendering effectively barred FLM from continuing. But FLM has shown what is possible and hope that others share the same vision and commitment.
Regards
David Miles
