Amid all the stories of doom and gloom, it's easy to forget that not every cut means a reduction in service. Take Oxfordshire County Council, for example. The authority is cutting its bus subsidy budget by £900,000 for the coming financial year, but predicts "very little impact" to services.
The council's revised procurement process has seen "more competitive bids for subsidised services overall". They are not the only ones. The Association of Transport Co-ordinating Officers latest annual survey of bus contract prices showed that in 2010 the industry had its first significant fall in contract prices for 13 years.
There's an argument to be had about the extent to which efficiencies can limit the impact of the cuts in funding for local government. But it's clear that, in some areas at least, both the way that the client arranges procurement, and the way that operators provide services in response, could be overhauled in order to make the available money go further.
Separate procurement of transport in different departments can be merged. Rigid contracts that prevent innovation by providers can be loosened. Productivity can be increased - as the Local Government Association has acknowledged with its programme to improve it.
It is a matter of urgency that these things are done now, given rising costs, and given falling budgets. That is not to say that the reductions in funding can be pain-free across the country, given the size of councils' budget black holes, and given that where efficiencies have already been made, the scope for further savings will be less.
But residents will not forgive councils or contractors that simply throw their hands in the air and say that there's nothing that they can do, because there is.
The Efficiency Network is the next step in Local Transport Today's campaign to bring our extensive network of professionals the essential business intelligence required to deliver more with less.
