“Unmet demand” taxi use survey in York

click to access

click to access

The York Council has confirmed that it is currently assessing whether there is any “unmet demand” for taxis in the City. The results of the survey may lead to additional licenses being issued.

The revelation comes in papers issued for a “scrutiny” committee meeting taking place on 4th June.

The meeting will review progress being made on other issues relating to Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles including a move towards the use of battery powered cars.

The Council is continuing to seek additional taxi ranks in the City and claims it is now displaying a map of existing taxi ranks on its web site.

Lendal Bridge and Coppergate – York Council stopped issuing fine notices at the end of March

Coppergate restrictions still not being enforced

ANPR fine notices issued Click to access

ANPR fine notices issued Click to access

A Freedom of Information response has revealed that the York Council stopped issuing Penalty Charge Notices (PCN) – using its ANPR camera information – on 30th March 2014.

That is a week earlier than they admitted in the media at the time.

The figures cast doubts on the claims being made by Labour Councillors early in April when they said the controversial restrictions were still being enforced.

A few days later, senior Council officials clamed that the number of notices issued had been “scaled back” but declined to say by how much or in what way.

In reality it seems that the camera enforcement was abandoned even before the Lendal Bridge restrictions were formally jettisoned on 12th April.

The situation on Coppergate appears to be different, at least in so far as the restrictions remain in place.

However no PCNs have been issued on Coppergate for over 6 weeks.

Contrary to claims made in the media (that the number of drivers ignoring the restrictions was reducing), the latest figures reveal that during March around 50 motorists a day were still being fined on Coppergate.

Things were little better on Lendal Bridge where 2135 motorists were caught on camera during March alone.

The Lendal Bridge trial closure had been due to conclude at the end of February and the Labour Council leadership was heavily criticised for not suspending camera enforcement until the results of the trial had been assessed.

In total 74,000 transgressions had been identified by the cameras before they were abandoned at the end of March.

Coppergate

Coppergate

The Council is now awaiting the results of its appeal against the Traffic Adjudicators ruling that both sets of restrictions were unlawful. If the Council fails to win, then it could face costs of over £1 million with many drivers likely to seek the return of unlawfully imposed fines.

The Appeal could take several more weeks to be concluded.

An Inquiry into the collapse of the whole project is expected to start in the summer using the Council’s “scrutiny” mechanisms.

Although the camera evidence is no longer being used on Coppergate, the restrictions there could – in theory – be enforced by a uniformed police officer.

Tour de France – York road closures announced

City of York Council is encouraging residents and visitors to plan ahead for the weekend of 5 and 6 July when the world’s largest “free”* sporting event, the Tour de France comes to York.

Cyclists and yellow flowers

Stage two of Le Grand Depart will see riders setting off from York Racecourse at approximately 11am. The peloton will then traverse the city’s historic streets, taking in landmarks such as Clifford’s Tower and the York Minster.

Residents and tourists are advised that the route will be closed from 4.30am on Sunday 6 July until approximately 1.30pm, or as soon as possible after the race has left York. During the time that the roads are closed their will be no access for vehicles to properties either adjacent to or on the race route itself. This will also include streets connected to the route that can not be accessed from elsewhere.

Anyone who is planning to travel on Sunday 6 July will need to ensure that they have parked their vehicle in an area where they can access the remaining open road network.

No vehicles will be allowed to drive on or across the race route after road closures are in place. Residents are also advised to pass this information to anyone intending to visit them during the weekend.

Roads closed along the route include:

Start: York Racecourse

  • Campleshon Road
  • Bishopthorpe Road
  • Bishopgate Street (Skeldergate Bridge)
  • Tower Street
  • Clifford Street
  • Nessgate
  • Spurriergate
  • Coney Street
  • St Helen’s Square
  • Davygate
  • St Sampson Square
  • Church Street
  • Goodramgate
  • Deangate
  • Minster Yard
  • Duncombe Place
  • St Leonards Place
  • Bootham A19
  • Clifton
  • Clifton Green
  • Water End
  • Boroughbrdge Road
  • A59 to Harrogate

The York Council has yet to confirm whether the A1237 northern by pass (western section) will be closed for all the restriction hours and what, if any, road closures will apply on the Saturday.

It also remains unclear whether all of the road works, in the area near the new Park and Ride site at Poppleton, will have been completed.

For further information about the Tour de France in York, please visit www.york.gov.uk/tourdefrance . To get help on travelling around York in advance, or on the day, use the online i-Travel York journey planner at http://www.itravelyork.info/ or follow the Goole Maps link (right)

*York taxpayers are being charged £1.6 million for the event.

Breakthrough in Journey planning in York

click to access Google Maps

click to access Google Maps

Google have added a comprehensive bus timetable to their “Google Maps” web and app sites.

The facility allows users to compare the time it would take to use different forms of transport and the length of the journey.

The site gives access to bus timetables and routes across the whole country.

The site already provides details of local cycle tracks and can provide a recommended optimum walking route as an alternative.

Its advantage over previous systems, is that it allows for integrated journey planning across the whole country.

It is also available on some mobiles.

More here

Is it going to rain? Have a look at the real time radar map of Yorkshire

Residents can now access a radar map showing current weather conditions across the county. Click map for access. http://preview.wunderground.com/wundermap

click to access

click to access

And a reminder that a real time map is also available showing congestion levels, current and planned road works http://roadworks.org/

click to access

click to access

Lendal Bridge – Backing for all party scrutiny of decision

Lendal Bridge signs

York Council’s Labour leader has finally backed Liberal Democrat calls for a cross-party scrutiny review of the Lendal Bridge trial, saying “it is the right thing to do”.

The Liberal Democrat Group has called for an independent review of the trial by the council’s cross-party scrutiny committee. The Lib Dems say there are still unanswered questions over the trial, which was abandoned last month after a Government Traffic Adjudicator ruled the Labour run council had no power to issue penalty fines. The Lib Dems say it is essential that lessons are learnt so that future attempts at tackling city-centre congestion are more successful.

At last night’s Cabinet meeting the Council Leader, James Alexander, was challenged on the issue by Lib Dem Councillors Ann Reid and Ian Cuthbertson and admitted that it would be right to hold a review if that is what opposition councillors wanted.Before last night, Labour had failed to support a full scrutiny review of the trial and instead announced plans for a ‘commission’ to look at the more general issue of congestion in York.

Cllr Ann Reid, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Transport on City of York Council, commented:

“I am pleased that the Labour leader has finally appeared to back our calls for a full cross-party scrutiny review of the Lendal Bridge trial. He now needs to ensure that his fellow Labour councillors support the move and play a full role in the process.

“We need a proper review in public to get answers to the questions which Labour have ducked so far. These include how the Labour run council implemented a scheme which was ruled ‘unlawful’, why the signage was so poor that 50,000 motorists were fined, and why there no real public consultation before the trial.

“We also need to understand why in the face of overwhelming opposition from residents and local businesses Labour pushed on with the closure beyond its original six months. And why Labour is using taxpayers’ money to fund its legal battle to now justify the botched closure.

“Only by properly reviewing the Lendal Bridge trial and learning what went wrong can the council hope to be more successful in other attempts at tackling congestion.I recognise that there are serious challenges for the future, but it is crucial that we first learn the lessons from this episode.”

A video of last night’s Cabinet meeting can be found here: http://www.york.gov.uk/webcasts Cllr James Alexander made his statement during the ‘Public Participation’ section in response to Cllr Ann Reid.

The Liberal Democrat Group will formally submit the topic for scrutiny review at next week’s Annual Scrutiny Work Planning Event.

Lendal Bridge – more facts emerge

York Council plans for use of fine income click to enlarge

York Council plans for use of fine income click to enlarge

Details of a draft report on the future of the Lendal Bridge traffic restrictions, which was written before the scheme was abandoned, reveal that Labour had intended to continue with the restrictions.

The report was substantially rewritten when it became clear that the Council had been acting unlawfully in fining over 50,000 motorists who had travelled over the bridge during restricted hours. To make that decision, the Council used an arcane interpretation of its own constitution claiming that the Council Leader “could take any decision which would normally be taken by the Cabinet“.

It is clear from the report that key background information was still not available when the Leader took his decision on 8th April.

Although draft reports are often re-written to improve clarity before they are published, there are some glaring differences and omissions from the report being considered by the Cabinet later today (Tuesday).

Reinvigorate York

The original draft claimed that

“de-trafficking of Lendal Bridge and environs also allows buses to be removed from Exhibition Square and makes it easier to deliver the Reinvigorate York scheme there”. In arguing in favour of the restrictions being made permanent the draft report goes on to say,”

The Reinvigorate York schemes proposed for Exhibition Square and Duncombe Place would be limited in scope, reducing the ability to make significant enhancements to the public realm or attract additional footfall to the city centre. Other transport aspirations could also be curtailed, in particular options for, and the operation of, a public transport interchange at the station and the ability to provide journey time and reliability improvements for public transport”.

The final report fails to mention any dependence the “reinvigorate” programme might have on the Lendal Bridge scheme.

Congestion

The final report plays down the effect that the closure has had on traffic congestion.

The original draft admitted, “During the Lendal Bridge trial additional delay and congestion has been experienced at the Water End junction. Analysis of the TrafficMaster data has identified that during the 4pm – 5pm period some journeys can experience significant extra delay”.

The draft implies criticism of the timing of the trial saying that the A59 road works had made congestion worse. The premature timing of the trail was a criticism made by many residents a year ago.

The draft report in admitting major congestion issues at Water End suggests changes to traffic signals at Salisbury Terrace. “Longer term measures are being investigated should the completion of the A59/A1237 road works not resolve the traffic issues in this location. (Cabinet Member briefing note is available and with alteration could be provided as an annex)”.

No annex was provided in the final report.

Visitor Numbers

The draft report said, “Since 2010 there has been a downward trend in footfall in the city centre, approximately 11% reduction in annual total 2010-2013 (as measured in Parliament St)”. The report was annotated to say “What is happening nationally? City centre/out of town?”

No such information is provided in the final report

Also omitted from the final report, but included in the draft, was the comment

“For most of the trial the number of PCNs being issued has remained at a relatively constant level, rather than reduce and plateau as predicted”

Costs

One of the most telling sections of the draft report (and not included in the public version) was an analysis of the increased costs that the trial had accumulated during its 7 month period of operation.

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New bus stop information being rolled out

bus-stop1

Bus users will be able to ‘catch the bus’ from this week using a new-look bus timetable, as part of a city wide makeover to improve bus services and waiting facilities in and around York.

New-look timetables will be installed at all stops throughout the city during this week’s Catch the Bus Week (28 April – 4 May) a national campaign lead by Green Journeys.

Following a successful two-month trial along the Hull Road to Dunnington route (number 10 service) last year the new timetables provide a much more accessible format for bus users, compared to the existing timetables which are currently provided by both the council and individual operators in a variety of different designs, shapes and sizes.

The roll out is funded through part of the £3.5 million government Better Bus Area Fund awarded by the coalition government to York in 2012.

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