I'd say this is a completely different model to the Tees Flex scheme. Unlike Tees Flex, this is running as a community consortium, giving you several community partners with a vested interest in the scheme's success.

I actually think it's a clever move to make the vehicles available for use outside of scheme times to generate additional revenue. Patient transfer services and home to school transport, both mentioned in the report, are of course statutory services. So if local authorities or the NHS trusts are able to use a community operator to fill gaps, it'll probably save them money, whilst also funding the community transport setup.

There's a lot of outstanding questions, and whether it's a success or not obviously remains to be seen, but I feel this could quickly turn into a 'damned if they do, damned if they don't' situation. Despite NECA clearly trying to identify innovative solutions to solve a very real problem.