SOMERSET County Council is to spend more than £590,000 on replacing minibuses and people carriers to transport vulnerable people around the county.

The council maintains a fleet of 68 minibuses and cars under its Transporting Somerset banner.

A total of £590,330 has been allocated from the council’s capital budget to cover the cost of nine minibuses and five 4×4 people carriers, replacing vehicles which have reached the end of their working life.

The council has said the actual cost of the vehicles may be considerably less, and that the newer vehicles would be cheaper to run and maintain.

John Perrett, service manager for Transporting Somerset, said: “These vehicles will provide transport services to vulnerable residents across Somerset.

“The overall cost of these vehicles is less than the capital spending approvals that relate to them.

“Both the maintenance and fuel costs will be lower than the vehicles being replaced.

“We are continuing to expand our work with the in-house fleet by increasing utilisation during off peak periods.”

The vehicles will be used for a variety of purposes – such as ferrying children with special education needs and disabilities (SEND) to and from school, or providing demand-responsive transport in areas where there are few commercially-viable bus services.

Each vehicle will be equipped with “boarding aides” and will be able to carry at least one wheelchair user at a time.

Mr Perrett said it was not currently feasible to replace the outgoing vehicles with electric ones, due to a number of shortcomings with both the vehicles and Somerset’s infrastructure.

He said: “The initial purchase price is much higher than petrol or diesel alternatives, with the additional cost for minibuses being currently between 30 per cent and 100 per cent.

“The range of these vehicles, whilst improving, still remains limited – for minibuses it is around 40 miles, an important consideration in a rural area.

“There is also the availability of charging points, the costs of establishing charging points at depot sites, battery life and replacement costs, and the additional weight of vehicles in relation to the batteries.

“In the past we have always considered that the technology had not yet reached the stage where electric vehicles would represent a practical and cost-effective alternative, and currently we remain of this view.

“However, we are aware of central government’s aim for moving to electric vehicles, and we will continue to review the situation periodically.”