Bus reliability in York – silence continues

The Council continues only to make annual bus reliability figures available for passengers in the city.

bus-stop1

At the last Council meeting Cllr Merrett confirmed that 1 in 5 buses were unreliable

“In the City of York area, 81% of the city’s non-frequent services (5 or fewer services per hour) ran on time (between 59 seconds early and 5 mins 59 secs late) in 2011/12.

In 2012/13, the equivalent figure was 82%”.

However it has subsequently been admitted that this is a single day sample and may bear little resemblance to the service experienced by users on most days of the year.

The Council is still resisting publishing reliability data even at a monthly level.

Such figures would at least give passengers an insight into how services vary from one season to the next.

The lack of information contrasts with the requirements placed on Train Operating Companies who are forced to publish data on a regular basis.

It is likely that this issue will be referred to the new Transport Secretary Baroness Kramer with a request that she intervene and set out a good practice guide.

York Council’s £3.5 million payment to local Universities

The York Council has released details of the payments that it has made to local Universities over the last 4 years.

Click to download full list

Click to download full list

In total, payments of around £3.5 million have been made although the vast majority of this (£3 million) was a grant to York University for the provision of a County Standard swimming pool. The scheme – part of the new “sports village” on Hull Road – was agreed after the Barbican pool closed and was paid for from the proceeds of the sale of the land there.

In total £192,519 has been paid to St Johns University. The largest payments were made to an anti bullying campaign although the University receives significant payments from taxpayers for the “Higher York” organisation.

The University of York fee payments range from £170,000 paid for the York Cares organisation (which managess voluntary projects in the City) to £850 for a speaker at a “women’s development session”.

All Council expenditure is now being closely scrutinised following the decision of the Labour Leadership to remove winter salt bins from key foopath locations in the City.

The bins cost only £50 a time to fill.

NB. At the last Council meeting the Labour Leadership revealed that it will pay £31,000 to York Athletics Club as a sweetener to move out of the Huntington Stadium. It had been intended to provide a replacement athletics facility at the sports village but Labour now propose to fund the refurbishment of the existing University athletics field.

Have your say on York’s new-look bus timetables

Bus users along the Hull Road to Dunnington route in York will notice new-look bus timetables have been installed as part of a two month trial.

Bus timetable 2013

New timetables have been installed at 42 stops along the number 10 route.

Funded through part of the £3.5 million government Better Bus Area Fund, it is intended that following the trial any necessary improvements can be made, and that the timetables will then be rolled out city wide to the whole network during December/January.

The roll out will include every bus stop in the York area receiving a new timetable cases, which will use a single consistent design showing all departures from the stop in time order.

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Citywide childcare survey launches

City of York Council is asking mums, dads, carers and parents-to-be in York what they think about childcare in the city this autumn.

childcare

The council has launched a citywide consultation to find out whether there is enough high quality childcare in York, whether it’s available at the right time, in the right place and at an affordable price.

The results of the survey will be used to help shape childcare provision in the future.

Carers, parents and parents-to-be can take part in the consultation in a number of ways:

• Online at www.yor-ok.org.uk/childcare

• By calling the council’s Family Information Service on 01904 554444

• By collecting a copy of the questionnaire from the reception at West Offices

• By taking part in focus groups run at different locations around York

The consultation will run until the end of December.

For further information please contact York Family Information Service on 01904 554444 or fis@york.gov.uk.

York Local Plan: 14,000 objections to city wide consultation

Green Belt campaign logo

Thousands of residents and businesses along with other organisations have responded to City of York Council‘s extensive city wide consultation which will help shape the development of York’s future Local Plan.

The figures and initial feedback are outlined in a report to be taken to the Local Plan Working Group on Monday 4 November, available to view click here

The papers list petitions received and these include objections to the development of land on Moor Lane opposite Woodthorpe.

Statutory bodies have criticised the proposal to increase the size of the City with English Heritage saying that they would harm the special character of York while Leeds University says that the growth figures are wrong.

The North Yorkshire County Council is critical, while the Highways Agency records concerns about the impact the plan would have on transport systems.

However most of the individual objections are still being analyzed by Council officials.

Even the Council Leadership have acknowledged that the number of objections are the largest ever received in response to a Council proposal.

York City centre shopper decline started in 2012

York City centre "to let"

York City centre “to let”

The calamitous decline in the number of shoppers in the City centre first became apparent in 2012.

In that year, the new Labour administration increased car parking charges by 20p for residents.

Yearly footfall figures click to enlarge

Yearly footfall figures click to enlarge

In 2013 they went up again meaning that residents faced a 36% hike in just 2 years.

We forecast that this could have major implications for City centre traders.

The additional traffic restrictions have simply accelerated the downward spiral with “to let” notice springing up all around the City centre as shops pull out.

In the period up to 2011 the, then LibDem led, Council had frozen parking charges.

It had even reduced them at an innovatory “shoppers car park” at Foss Bank.

Footfall figures reveal that for the first 3 years of the recession (2008 – 2011) the numbers accessing the City centre were remarkably stable.

2012 saw a 6% reduction while this increased to 12% comparing September 2013 with the same month in 2012.

Bus Journeys in York Click to enlarge

Bus Journeys in York Click to enlarge

New traffic restrictions were blamed for the accelerating trend.

Meanwhile the numbers of bus passengers has also fallen away although the Council has so far refused to reveal the 2012 passenger numbers.

As we said yesterday, the Council seems to be frozen into inactivity with no real idea what to do to get itself out of the self created crisis.

Nero showed a greater sense of urgency.