College or SEND transport routes

1. I would like to request an anonymised spreadsheet of all individual school, college or SEND transport routes awarded via bidding or via contract to Optima Taxis Ltd in the period between January 2024 to December 2025.

To avoid running into the Section 12 limits, and protecting personal data, this data can be simplified to show:

a. A reference number for all routes awarded to Optima Taxis, and a small, general description for each

b. The period that Optima Taxis was awarded each route for

c. The standard rate that the council paid to the company for each route

d. The total number of days/runs billed for each route

2. To add to this, I would like to also request;

a. A list of all active taxi operators or other transport firms approved to bid on school transport under your framework

b. A copy of a performance framework or service specification for these school routes

c. A blank copy of a route order or route schedule that any company and/or their employees must follow

1a-d. See table attached for the information

The information you have requested includes commercially sensitive details, such as pricing and rate information, the disclosure of which would be likely to prejudice the commercial interests of the organisation or its suppliers and is therefore exempt under Section 43(2) of the Freedom of Information Act, we have therefore provided the Estimated Contract Value for each contract. 

In additional Lincolnshire County Council publishes payments to suppliers each month, where the combined value of an invoice is over £500 up until 31st March 2026 and £250 from 1st April 2026.

This information can be found - Lincolnshire County Council Spending | Lincolnshire Open Data

2. a. List attached – Approved operator list

b. Specification attached – Document 3a Specification Education

c.  Blank route sheet information attached.

Should you require the attachments mentioned above please contact customerinformationservice@lincolnshire.gov.uk with the below reference number and these can be provided.