Public sector VAR Northgate Information Solutions claims its new transport partnership with Blackburn with Darwen Council citizens will save the borough £600,000.

The partnership, which links Northgate’s fees to performance, has been designed to transform transport services for citizens, particularly vulnerable adults, people with disabilities and children getting to and from school.

In the first 12 months of the programme citizens and council employees should expect to see benefits such as reducing reliance on taxis for adult day care passengers through improving the routing of existing vehicles – saving taxpayers £236,000.

In addition, the partnership will focus on improving services for children with special educational needs and continued provision of transport to schools, saving £50,000.

Joe Bradley, managing director for citizen services of Northgate Public Services, said: “In challenging economic times for local authorities, our performance partnerships deliver guaranteed outcomes at lower risk, enabling significant savings whilst radically improving services.”

The three-year agreement between Blackburn with Darwen and Northgate aims to deliver savings of around £2.3m by April 2010.

Graham Burgess, chief executive of Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, said:

“We are delighted that our partnership with Northgate has transformed transport services for the benefit of the residents and staff at Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council.

“Through the effective and efficient use of resources, the council has radically improved services and will realise efficiencies across council departments until 2010 and beyond.”