Dial and ride service seeks more passengers in Dringhouses

dial and ride logo

York’s Dial & Ride service has helped thousands of elderly and disabled residents travel from their door to their destination  for over 20-years

Established in the late 1980s, the flexible bus service helps residents who cannot use conventional bus services, or who require extra assistance at either end of their journey, with door-to-door transport to the city centre or major supermarkets.

Dial & Ride is operated by York Wheels, a voluntary sector service.. York Wheels has a team of 32 volunteers who work for the organisation from one to five days a week

Passengers can book in advance by telephoning01904 551441 during office opening times (weekdays from 9am until 12 noon), but a message can be left outside of these times.

To book the Dial & Ride service, residents follow these four simple steps:

 
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More disabled parking spaces in York

City of York Council is increasing the amount of disabled parking spaces in York’s city centre.

Blue badge holders are able to park free of charge anywhere in all council owned car parks, which provide a number of spaces that are wider and set aside specifically for use by blue badge holders only.

Work has now begun on expanding the number of disabled spaces in car parks in the city centre to try to better serve those who have restricted mobility.

The number of disabled spaces has increased in the following areas by:
•· Castle car park- increased from six to 13 spaces
•· Bootham Row car park – increased from two to nine spaces
•· Monk Bar car park- increased from three to seven spaces
•· Piccadilly car park- increased by five – which will see an increase in the number of spaces set aside for use at the shopmobility scheme

Groups and individuals can submit suggestions to be considered by emailing highway.regulation@york.gov.uk

Heslington Road cycle lane to be removed.

click for larger map

click for larger map

A length of no waiting restriction with a limited waiting parking bay on Heslington Road is to be provided in the vicinity of St Lawrence’s Primary School.

The changes follows problems with parents parking in restricted areas near the school.

The Council wishes to encourage them to use a new limited waiting parking bay.

This will mean that the cycle lane will also be removed.

Safer cycling videos

A series of informative videos have been created to promote cycling in a safe and courteous manner around York.

The videos, which are part of the i-Travel York initiative, feature an alien cycling along some of York’s well known cycle tracks, giving tips and advice to cyclists along the way.

The videos encourage cyclists to ride with lights, lock their bike securely and ride on the road and designated cycle paths.

The project is supported by the council’s four-year i-Travel York initiative, made possible by £4.6 million of government funding which the council successfully bid for in 2011.

The videos can be viewed at

http://www.york.ac.uk/admin/estates/transport/cycling/security/meet-the-alien/

Shopper numbers down 10% in City Centre.

285,000 fewer people have visited the Parliament Street area since new traffic restrictions introduced in August.

Shambles empty
The number of visitors to the City has dropped dramatically since the new restrictions were introduced on Coppergate and on Lendal Bridge.

The latest figures have been released by the York Council following a Freedom of Information request

In total, footfall cameras on Parliament Street recorded 2.695 million people between 1st August and the start of the St Nicholas Fayre on 28th November.

The equivalent figure for 2012 was 2.980 million, a fall of 10%.

Figures recovered over the 4 days of the St Nicholas Fayre although the concentration of footfall may have been influenced by the positioning of the market.

The figures are even more disappointing given the relatively good weather that we have experienced so far this autumn.

They confirm that the new restrictions are having a major adverse effect on the economic viability of many retailers in the City centre.

The Council has previously resisted calls for the restrictions to be suspended at least until the busy pre Christmas period is over.

  • The detailed figures are:
  • August 746,340 visitors (780,646 in 2012 – 4%)
  • September 699,042 (798,182 – 12%)
  • October 717,634 (775,144 – 7%)
  • November 532,157 (646,226 -18%) to start of St Nicholas Fayre on 28th November

By contrast, in the first 7 months of the year, visitor numbers had fallen by a total of 5% with the decrease being blamed on a large increase in car parking charges.

A spreadsheet showing individual figures for each day can be found by clicking here.

A Council survey on residents and visitors reactions to the traffic restrictions can be found here

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/lendalsurvey

 

More City centre cycle parking

The amount of parking spaces for bikes in the city centre has increased to over 1,000.

cycle racks

Throughout 2013 the council has added space for an extra 150 bikes within the city centre, which has been done by adding new cycle racks and extending some existing racks. This has grown the number of spaces by 18 per-cent compared to the beginning of the year.

The new spaces are located on:

  • · Goodramgate
  • · Piccadilly
  • · King Street
  • · North Street
  • · Nunnery Lane car park
  • · Micklegate
  • · Lendal (outside the Post Office)

The existing racks that have been extended are:

  • · Library Square
  • · Castle Museum
  • · Lendal (outside Zizzi’s)
  • · Esplanade
  • · Castle Car Park

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More problems for York real time traffic information site

Click to visit site

Click to visit site

The much publicised, and very expensive, ITravel web site – launched at the beginning of the year by the York Council – is still plagued by gremlins.

 

It was heavily criticised for not providing the kind of real time traffic congestion camera input which has been widely available elsewhere for over a decade.

The responsible Councillor promised in October that this feature would be available within days.

But now the interactive map has crashed altogether and does not provide any information at all about car parks, road works etc.

It is an embarrassing “fail” for the City in the busy run up to Christmas and may have contributed to the sometimes chaotic traffic scenes which arose during the St Nicholas Fayre period.

Many private cars were seen using Lendal Bridge during restricted hours over the weekend suggesting that some may pay more for their Christmas shopping trip than they were anticipating.

York £83 million transport bid

The government is consulting on a plan to establish a West Yorkshire and York “Super Council”.

The plan could “unlock” a £1 billion transport investment fund for the region as the coalition government pursues a policy of devolution. York might expect to get between £5 and £10 million a year from the devolved transport budget.

The York Council hopes to get £83.5 million in total for major infrastructure from a new “pot”.
Nortern by pass congestion

Of this, £37.6 million would be spent on the northern by pass (not enough for dualling. Would just mean larger roundabouts).

York would be contributing up to £4 million a year into this “pot”. This is additional unbudgeted expenditure and would mean an increase in Council Tax levels and/or the introduction of new/additional charges

The report being considered tomorrow singularly fails to address the financial disadvantages of “pooling” transport income streams. Even the scale of the risk remains unclear.

Under the current proposals, drawn up by Labour Local Authority Leaders, York would not be a full member of the new authority and would not have voting rights.

The key question to be answered therefore is whether the new arrangements will be better for the people of York?

Or are they just a way of underpinning a “high growth” approach to the future of the City? That’s the 25% increase in size during the next 15 years advocated in the Local Plan published by Labour in April.

A West Riding, Labour, dominated super Council would not automatically be any more sensitive to the needs of a City like York than would the present decision taker who is bunkered in Whitehall.

The Authority would be ruled by a Quango. There is no mechanism for giving residents a say in the running of the new “Council”.

With local elections only 16 months away, there is a worrying absence of broad consensus across the political spectrum on whether, and on what terms, participation in the “Super Council” should be pursued.

Views must be sent to the government collaborate@communities.gsi.gov.uk by 2nd January 2014.

Lendal Bridge – Council conduct on line poll

Lendal Bridge closure Nov 2013

Attempts by the council’s leadership to justify the Lendal bridge closure on Radio York today are being greeted with derision by most listeners.

The Council have singularly failed to provide update reports on footfall (shopper numbers), accidents, journey times (all classes of vehicle), air quality and the levels of successful appeals against the fines imposed by the number plate recognition cameras.

However they are now conducting an “on line” survey of resident’s views.

The chances are that few will even know that this is going on so the results will be open to manipulation.

Click here to take the survey (it takes only about 1 minute to complete)

Meanwhile the Liberal Democrats survey – conducted through a house to house delivery to 7000 properties in west York – has attracted a large response. Around 10% of the forms have now been returned and analysed. The percentages are now stable. The latest figures are:

click to enlarge

click to enlarge