Minutes of the last meeting between the Council and bus operators reveal how decisions on the service may be taken in the future.
It looks like a 3 tier system of committees will be put in place.
There is no commitment to the meeting being open to the public. What information potential bus passenger will get remains unclear
The plans seem to rest heavily on York being designated as a “Better Bus Area”.
If it were then the coalition government would delegate some funding to a joint committee.
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Responding to a survey carried out by the Liberal Democrats, in the Dringhouses, Woodthorpe and Hob Moor areas, only 8% have said that the trial is a success.
90% want the restrictions to be removed.
A massive 95% say that traffic congestion in the City has got worse over recent months.
The results underpin the findings from other sources.
Over 35,000 penalty notices have been issued since the Lendal Bridge and Coppergate ANPR cameras were installed.
Stand and deliver
Labour adopt traditional approach to transport funding in York
A Facebook page has also been set up by opponents of the restrictions.
The Council leadership continue to maintain an air of lofty indifference to resident’s views prompting new calls for a referendum on the future of the restrictions.
An opportunity to test resident’s views, at a reasonable cost, will come on 22nd May when European Parliament elections are already scheduled to take place.
By then, however, some traders may have been forced to close as City centre shopper numbers continue to fall.
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88% say there is no justification for Labours plans to build on the Green Belt, while 80% remain opposed to a wide area 20 mph speed limit.
Most damming verdict comes from the 93% who believe that public service standards have got worse since Labour took office.
No one who has responded so far believes that standards have got better.
Bus use click to enlarge
Over a million fewer journeys were made by bus last year in York.
This is equivalent to a 10% reduction in “stage carriage” service use. The figures are described as “provisional”.
The Council has yet to respond fully to a Freedom of Information request on bus usage in the City.
Requests for the City to publish bus reliability information are also mired in a legal wrangle.
Although Park and Ride use increased from 4.1 to 4.3 million trips, it did not offset what is the largest single year decline ever recorded in public transport use in the City.
The start of the decline can be traced back to 2011 when the Council confronted the major provider of services in the City (First) in an attempt to get the futuristic ftr taken off York’s roads.
The ftr had been popular with passengers but the dispute led to a period of conflict between the Council and bus operators.
Recent attempts to “hype” a fares reduction through the media proved to be ill judged as many users found that their journey was actually coasting more.
The Council announced at its last meeting that it is scrapping the Quality Bus Partnership which has been a liaison point between bus operators, passenger representatives and the Council.
It will be replaced by another”behind closed doors” discussion group
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NB. Following on from the bad news about reduced footfall in the City, the Council report has also revealed a drop in car park use from 1.62 to 1.52 million.
They are forecasting a net shortfall of £250k (3.5%) from parking income following data from the first six months.
The decline in use followed a decision by the new Labour Council to implement a 36% increase in parking charges.
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
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
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.
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New timetables for First York bus services have been introduced today.
They can be found by clicking here
To ensure customers are fully aware of the proposed timetable changes, First is planning to hold the following three public drop in sessions this week at venues where some of the bigger network changes are taking place:
Haxby – Wednesday 25 September, 2.30pm-5.30pm, Haxby & Wigginton Methodist Church Hall
Acomb – Thursday 26 September – 9am-12noon, Acomb Parish Church Hall
City Centre -Thursday 26 September – 2pm-5pm, City of York Council West Offices
They say, “Further drop in sessions will take place over the next few months as First looks to make further customer-orientated network changes”.
The following internet link will take you to a full list of the service changes. http://www.firstgroup.com/ukbus/york/travel_news/service_updates/?item=9391&conf=0
The offer is likely to be welcomed as the precise working arrangements for the “Acomb bus hub“, and the frequency of the new service on Hamilton Drive, have raised question marks with some users?
The detailed new bus timetables – which will be introduced on Sunday – can now be viewed on the First web site.
However, the Council continues to refuse to release information about bus service reliability in the City.
Ironically a meeting is taking place today which talks about the importance of “journey planning”. It seeks to promote increased bus use but develops acute myopia on the issue of service reliability information.
Uncertainty is the single factor most likely to cause potential bus users to instead opt for the car.
The Council in response to the latest Freedom of Information request, says that it has entered into a confidentiality agreement with the local bus companies.
It receives reliability data but the council claims that it is prevented, by the terms of the agreement, from sharing the information with passengers.
Only an annual reliability figure is published and that on an obscure DPT web site. The latest (2011/12) figures suggest that around 80% of York services run on time.
Incredibly even reliability data on services paid for by the Council taxpayer (around £800,000 is paid out in subsidies each year) is not published.
What has compounded the mistake has been a decision to cease independent checks of service reliability. These would not be covered by the data sharing protocol and could – as happened in the period up to 2011 – be published. Labour stopped the checks shortly after taking office.
The so called data sharing protocol is effectively a restrictive practice. which is to the disadvantage of the taxpayer and bus passenger.
It is likely that – unless more information is offered – that an appeal to the Information Commissioner (and possibly the Ombudsman) may be lodged.
In the mean time the governments Transport Minister is being urged to introduce regulations which require all public transport providers to publish the same quality of service information which rail operators have been forced to do for over a decade.
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The Council is implementing changes to bus stop arrangements in the Pavement/Stonebow area.
The park and ride bus stop is being relocated to Stonebow to reduce footpath congestion, while the entrance to Whip-ma-Whop-ma-Gate is being narrowed.
The background report says,
“The proposed alteration of the Whip-ma-Whop- ma-Gate junction will reduce the carriageway width to allow just a single exit lane. Whilst this is considered adequate to deal with traffic flows, and will bring about a number of safety improvements, there is a risk of some criticism over this change”.
No consultation with residents has taken place and he decision was taken “behind closed doors”
First have confirmed the terminus (timing points) where their new Acomb bus services will lay over.
Service 5/5A will terminate at Front Street, (5 at The Marcia Pub, 5A at the Post Office),
The 4 will terminate at Green Lane.
First have promised to improve the prominence of the timetables for the new services on their web site.
We are expecting an announcement about fare levels tomorrow morning. See this web site for details.
The Council’s web site crashed for a short time as problems with traffic congestion and un-emptied waste bins mount.
Click to update
A combination of the Lendal Bridge closure, poor weather and high traffic volumes is causing mounting delays on the northern by pass and the inner ring road.
Further congestion is expected tomorrow as the City hosts the “skyride”.
Meanwhile the backlog in emptying waste bins shows little sign of subsiding. There is talk of working on Saturday to address the backlog but how residents will be made aware of such a decision remains a mystery.
The local media have been strangely reluctant to report the scale of the problem pausing only to remind residents to put their bin out by 0700 hours – pretty much futile if the bins aren’t cleared for over 24 hours.
The Council is now saying “ on Friday 13th September some properties in the following streets did not have their garden waste collected as scheduled:
Poppleton – Streets and all streets off
• Station Road
• Longridge Lane
• Black Dykes Lane
• Main Street
• Ebor Way
• Montague Road
• Millfield Lane
• Beech Grove
• Westfield Close
• Willow Croft
• Hodgeson Lane
• The Green
Clifton – Streets and all streets off• Shipton Road
• Malton Way
• Brompton Road
• Rawcliffe Lane (part)
• Surray Way
• Filingsdale Road
• Eastholme Drive
• Northolme Drive
• Southolme Drive
• Westholme Drive
• Grasmere Grove
• Borrowdale Drive
• Westmore Drive
• Alwyne Drive
• Alwyne Grove
• Westholme Drive
• Potterdale Drive
Rawcliffe – Streets and all streets off• Bowness Drive
• Furness Drive
• Howard Drive
• Troutsdale Avenue
• Stainsdale Close
• St Marks Grove
• Bilsdale Close
• Manor Park Road
• Manor Way
• Rawcliffe Croft
• Eva Avenue
• Manor Lane
• Cobham Way
• Armstrong Way
• Conningham Avenue
• Village Street
We will return to these properties to make collections on Saturday 14th September. Please ensure that your bin is out by 7am as the crews will be returning early in the morning.