South Yorkshire INTEGRATED Transport Authority

south yorkshire INTEGRATED transport authority

04 NOVEMBER 2010

REPORT OF THE PASSENGER TRANSPORT EXECUTIVE

VISION FOR BUSES IN SOUTH YORKSHIRE

1.PURPOSE OF REPORT

To update on the progress made in the delivery of the Bus Strategy across the county and agree the next steps.

2.RECOMMENDATIONS

That the ITA:

2.1 Note the progress made in Barnsleyunder the existing Statutory Quality Partnership Scheme (Barnsley Town Centre and A61) and approve the recommendation contained within this report that energies be put into the development of a Voluntary Barnsley Bus Agreement subject to clarification on capital budget priorities following the Comprehensive Spending Review.

2.2Note the improvements derived as a result of working up a Quality Contract Case in Doncasterand approve the recommendation contained within this report that energies be put into the Voluntary Agreement option, if however this fails to deliver such a decision will not prevent re-opening the QC option.

2.3Note the progress made with both the Voluntary and Quality Contract options for South Rotherham/Sheffield and approve that SYPTE continues to work on both the Voluntary and Quality Contract options.

3.BACKGROUND INFORMATION

3.1The possible arrangements under which to deliver the Bus Strategy was last reported to the ITA at the 4 March 2010 meeting, when Members were briefed on progress on the 4available Bus Strategy delivery options, namely:

i) Statutory Quality Partnership Schemes - where the Council/SYPTE improve the physical facilities on, or along, the line of a bus route(s) and in turn for using these facilities bus operators must meet certain quality attributes in their services.

ii)Voluntary Agreement - where agreement is reached between operator(s), SYPTE and Council on a package of measures to improve bus satisfaction and patronage.

iii)Quality Contracts - the franchise network option which is put in place, following a tender process, and replaces the existing de-regulated network.

iv)Do nothing.

This paper firstly discusses progress in each District and then recommends next steps. The timing of this report accords with the dates set out in the March 2010 report. This work is being steered by the Bus Strategy Member Working Group and the approach recommended in this paper is the one endorsed at the last meeting held on 29 September 2010.

3.2BARNSLEY BUS STRATEGY WORK

3.2.1Statutory Quality Partnership Scheme (BarnsleyTown Centre and A61)

This Scheme was made at a ceremony at BarnsleyTown Hall on 3 February and implemented on 30 May and is only the third such scheme in the country. The Scheme sets minimum standards on a range of bus standards, including low floor accessibility buses, CCTV, cleanliness and Euro III engine emission standard for (most of) the services operating in the borough. Notable is the fact that this work has resulted in increased investment in the fleet and quality standards by all operators affected. Formal reporting of quality standards is ongoing and will enable bus services in Barnsley to be compared to those elsewhere in the county.

3.2.2Voluntary Barnsley Bus Agreement

A voluntary agreement continues to be discussed between BMBC, SYPTE and Stagecoach designed to deliver the objectives of the anticipated Local Transport Plan 2011-14 and the South Yorkshire Bus Strategy within the BMBC area by agreeing a set of targeted actions that can only be achieved by all parties delivering their commitments. When finalised, the agreement will complement the SQPS potentially covering additional commitments for the bus network, service levels, frequencies, fare changes, stakeholder consultation and programmed investment by BMBC, SYPTE and Stagecoach which were outside the scope of the SQPS. It is not currently planned to negotiate an agreement with smaller operators, unless they wish to of course, given that over 80% of the services in the District are operated by Stagecoach and many smaller operator, services are operated under tender.

3.2.3 Discussion

SYPTE and BMBC wish to see an optimum bus network meeting the travel demands of residents in Barnsley which is stable, sustainable and affordable and operated to high quality standards.

These needs will change in the future as the result of the Local Development Framework - Core Strategy approved by the Council in January 2010 and the City Region Transport Strategy, both of which strengthen the focus on supporting the economy.

SYPTE and BMBC have worked closely with Stagecoach to develop a voluntary agreement which will ensure continued improvement to bus services complementing those areas of quality covered by the SQPS.

Stagecoach have revised and improved their services over the last 4 years designing the current network in consultation with the public sector and local community to ensure social inclusion (based around a maximum walk distance to services). The proposed agreement recognises the optimum network (with a holistic approach taken in respect of the commercial benefit of the network rather than by each service on a stand alone basis) is very close in most communities. Stability will be ensured with changes to the network made no more than once per year which can be agreed with BMBC and SYPTE either for the whole borough or for geographic areas within it. Stagecoach are active in developing their commercial network, and as well as increasing frequency on a number of routes they now operate substantive parts of some formerly tendered services commercially (weekday early to mid evening and Sunday daytimes for example on services 1, 6, 11, 59, 66, 95, 219, 226/229 and 265) and has helped reduce the commitment on the SYPTE budget for tendered services where this has occurred. They can also be seen to respond positively to wider changes (e.g. they introduced an additional service in Darton and Mapplewell as a result of the relocation of the Health Service).

The ticketing issues which are of concern elsewhere in South Yorkshire are less problematic in Barnsley. This is partly due to Stagecoach providing good network coverage across the whole Barnsley borough and most other operators competing rather than complementing this. As such ticketing interavailability is less of an issue with most journeys able to be made wholly by Stagecoach who offer value for money period tickets across their network especially when compared to other operators (e.g. Barnsley Mega Rider Plus = £11; First Weekly Sheffield = £17.50; First Weekly Doncaster or Rotherham £16.00). Ticketing interavailability with trains is considered difficult due to the nature of the rail franchising agreements.

It is considered that Stagecoach operate high quality services and have invested significantly in modern low floor buses with low emission engines as well as CCTV, and high standards of presentation and cleanliness. This investment is welcomed and commitments for future investment linked to local authority commitments to bus priority on the A61 (delivering Euro IV standards via the SQPS). Over 95% of the fleet operated by Stagecoach in Barnsley is now low floor, with stepped entranced buses only deployed on school services, 75% are Euro III or better, average fleet age is just under 7 years and investment in new buses has averaged 15% per year since Stagecoach acquired the company in 2005.

In Barnsley many of the benefits aspired to by a QC delivery option are already being delivered, or appear possible to be delivered by voluntary agreement between SYPTE, BMBC and Stagecoach, or via use of tenders. A key barrier however is to understand the future capital programme which in turn is tied up with the availability of funding which is being prioritised following the Comprehensive Spending Reviewannouncement. It is also worth reflecting that Barnsley is the only district securing bus patronage growth (concessionary travel +8.2% and non-concessionary travel +2.1%). This also shows through in terms of bus satisfaction where the trend in Barnsley shows a consistent trend of improvement over the last 4 years, at a higher rate of improvement than other parts of the County. This is in marked contrast to the falls in other parts of the County. A partnership will deliver benefits that are unlikely without investment and commitment from all parties which cannot be delivered in isolation. There are some deficiencies in the network including frequency of access to and through the Dearne as well as to Doncaster (X19), in both cases for employment connectivity reasons. Additionally there are improvements needed to local accessibility to employment sites at Dodworth and Grimethorpe. This connectivity will therefore be addressed through a reprioritisation of bus investment (to support access to employment) which will be considered through the proposed review of the Bus Tender Criteria policy, centred on the emerging and new Transport Strategy priorities.

3.2.4Recommendation

In view of the progress being made and ongoing local operator co-operation, it is recommended that energies continue to be put into the development of the Voluntary Barnsley Bus Agreement subject to clarification on capital budget and the Comprehensive Spending Review

3.3DONCASTER BUS STRATEGY WORK

3.3.1Statutory Quality Partnership Scheme (SQPS)

ITA approval was obtained for the Doncaster Frenchgate and Town centre scheme, but delivery was interrupted by the Mayor’s request for a review of existing bus priority measures.The Council has now started the process to implement the revised measures, including allowing private hire vehicles in bus lanes, experimental orders to remove the bus gate on Cleveland Street, removal of redundant bus lanes i.e. those provided but no longer necessary and allowing all traffic to use NorthBridge outbound. These represent a reduction in facilities provided in the SQPS consultation and although there is mitigation from Real Time intelligent traffic signals, the reduction has potential detrimental effects which will necessitate reviewing the proportionality test required under the Transport Act 2000 for Quality Partnership Schemes and in turn will necessitate re-advertising if changes are introduced. The options can be further reviewed once the Council’s proposals have been advertised, consulted upon and a decision taken.

Also caught up in the Council’sproposals is the SQPS option for the A638 which would need to be updated to reflect changes to facilities and priorities, but the benefits of the A638 are anticipated as remaining substantially intact. However the proportion of any improvement sought will be dependent upon a decision on the North Bridge position.

A SQPS would “lock in” quality and vehicle improvements to match the Public Sector investment.

Further work is required to understand how the new powers in the Local Transport Act 2008 for conditions on maximum fares, frequencies and timings can be introduced on the A638 corridor and further consultation would be required, again once the Council’s changes are fully known.

Once these uncertainties are worked through and conditional upon the Council’s support for the two SQPS schemes, it is intended to make progress as soon as is practicable.

3.3.2The Quality Contract Option (QC)

The potential Quality Contract (franchise) option has been in development for over four years, primarily delayed as a result of securing amendments to the legislation and the issuing of Statutory Guidance by the DfT. During that time discussions have been going ahead with the operators, who have opposed the QC plans, but have chosen to invest substantially in the Doncaster network, to the extent that the gap between the quality level proposed by the QC scheme and that provided in a commercial environment has been substantially closed. This has weakened elements of the case for introducing a QC at this time in Doncaster.

The key improvements delivered to date are indicated below:-

• All local services now operated by low floor accessible services (overtaking the percentage of low floor buses employed in the 3 other districts);

• Majority of vehicles in Doncaster meet the Euro 3 emission standards and there are no vehicles that do not meet the Euro 2 standards;

• All buses fitted with CCTV;

• Fare increases have been limited to once per year;

• Trials of fares initiatives have been introduced to determine if sufficient passenger growth can be delivered to meet the same revenue position. If successful the potential of more widespread adoption has been agreed (although to date, they are not meeting the operators’ expectations for revenue return);

• Improvements to services to Armthorpe, RobinHoodAirport and on the A638 Quality Bus Corridor; and

• Recent improvement in performance such that Doncaster is the only district where punctuality is above target.

The service improvements introduced have led to an increase in passenger satisfaction as shown by the quarterly wave surveys carried out by SYPTE.

The Doncaster QC scheme has seen substantial development and refinement since the beginning of the project. A detailed network proposal has been developed based largely on the commercial network, with improvements to areas where growth opportunities have been identified. This network was presented to the public through the bus vision consultation earlier this year and the feedback has allowed further refinement to take place, the outcome of this consultation was reported to the ITA at their meeting held on the 1 April 2010. The key gap between what has been offered voluntarily and the QC scheme relates to the role of cross-town services which SYPTE believe will provide better links to employment, but operators are concerned will import greater risk to service performance and punctuality.

In parallel with SYPTE’s work on the Quality Contract option, the main operator First has also been meeting the Mayor and voluntarily agreed a number of actions on top of the bus investment introduced in August 2010. This includes:-

• Reduced fare trials (Clay Lane #76 and West Bessacarr #58)
• Improved bus penetration to the town centre
• Faster services to Thorne

The details have yet to be finalised.

3.3.3Discussion

The positive response by the operators during the time that the QC option has been under consideration has significantly reduced the step change in ‘bus offer’ from the level envisaged at the outset and therefore weakened the case for a QC. An assessment of the progress to date is set out in Appendix 1. The only gap where significant progress has not been made is in cross-town services.

A Quality Contract is a more structured approach and whilst it will deliver the entire bus vision this comes at a greater level of risk, most significantly the financial risk to the ITA but also because the option is as yet untested and because operators are known to be in opposition to this option. A summary of the most significant risks attached to both Voluntary and Quality Contract options is attached at Appendix 2.

As part of the QC scheme the ITA will have to commit to a performance and resource level in the public interest case which can only be reduced with recourse to the Quality Contract Board. A reduction in bus priority measures and the impact upon performance/increased resource this might bring will import unknown risk to the ITA.

On balance the view of officers is that the benefit gap between the improvements a QC might offer and the Voluntary proposals on the table has closed significantly, in contrast the scale of risk to the ITA in the aforementioned areas has increased. Balancing the risk/reward this suggests that energies should be put into the Voluntary option, including closer examination of the gap between both options and how by negotiation this gap can be closed and the expected benefits locked in. However if these negotiations fail to come up to fruition, subject to being updated, the QC work is robust enough to be continued to full application.

3.3.4Recommendation

It is recommended that energies are put into the Voluntary Agreement option in Doncaster, if however this fails to deliver such a decision will not prevent re-opening the QC option.

3.4ROTHERHAM/SHEFFIELD

3.4.1North Sheffield SQPS

The country’s first SQPS was introduced in North Sheffield in November 2007. This has seen further investment in new and cascaded vehicles by both First and Stagecoach, these are Euro IV and V standard which is above the SQPS standard of Euro III. Patronage is still 1% above January 2007 and we have seen a small 0.5% rise over the year to January 2010, in contrast to a modest fall in other areas apart from Barnsley.

3.4.2Ecclesall Road SQPS

Work continues on proposal to introduce an SQPS on the Ecclesall Road corridor in partnership with Sheffield City Council and linked to the highway improvement scheme being progressed. The bus standards continue to be negotiated it is intended to use the Local Transport Act 2008 powers to agree frequencies, timings, service coordination, registration restrictions and maximum fares.

3.4.3Voluntary Agreement Option

Extended bilateral discussions have and continue to be held with the two main bus operators to explore their alternative ideas to a Quality Contract. A key benefit of these alternatives proposals is that they will make an earlier impact on street and therefore for the customer. Additional work is needed to develop the details further especially the multi-operator elements, in summary:-