South Yorkshire Transport Users Group
14/10/14
SOUTH YORKSHIRE TRANSPORT USERS GROUP
14 October 2014
PRESENT: / JHoare (Chair)LBooth (Rotherham TUG), JBrightmore (Ramblers - Sheffield Group), IJenkinson (Sheffield TUG), MPayling (Member of the Public), MWilson (Member of the Public) and DWrottesley (Hope Valley Rail User Group)
PSalveson (Passenger Focus)
CCocken (SYPTE), GGarrety (SCR Combined Authority), FJohnson (Stagecoach) and ATimewell (First South Yorkshire)
Apologies for absence were received from NSpetch (Vice-Chair/Rotherham TUG) and MSummers (Bawtry/Doncaster TCs)
<AI1>
1 Apologies for Absence
Apologies were noted as above.
</AI1>
<AI2>
2 Welcome
The Chair welcomed everyone to the October meeting of the South Yorkshire Transport Users Group. He informed the Group that Paul Salveson would be attending later in the meeting to explain the role of the independent passenger watchdog group Passenger Focus.
</AI2>
<AI3>
3 Minutes of the meeting held on 7 July 2014
C Cocken informed the Group that John O’Grady, the Northern Rail representative, who had previously been on a rolling monthly contract, had now been awarded a permanent contract; she would be meeting him in the near future, hopefully to arrange his attendance at the January meeting of the Group. As the local User Groups also wished to meet him it was intended to invite a representative of each group to the January meeting along with a Councillor from each District.
With regard to the Terms of Reference, C Cocken reminded the Group that it had been agreed that in future it would meet on the third Tuesday of the month to fit in with the local User Group meetings.
J Hoare suggested that the word ‘advisory’ be dropped from the title as it was inappropriate; this was agreed.
C Cocken informed the Group that at 5.1, ‘the Chair and Vice-Chair will be appointed every January. These positions will be appointed following a vote by members’ had been added to the Terms of Reference.
With regard to inviting guests to the meeting, D Wrottesley suggested that the Sheffield Chamber of Commerce Transport Committee be invited to attend a future meeting. Action: C Cocken to speak to them.
The minutes of the meeting held on 7 July 2014 were agreed as a correct record.
</AI3>
<AI4>
4 Have Your Say
C Cocken reported that the ‘Have Your Say’ consultation had closed on 8 October; 1570 responses had been received with a good split across the county.
The next two weeks would be spent collating the results which would be made public in early November; C Cocken would circulate the results to the Group in due course.
</AI4>
<AI5>
5 Smartcard
C Cocken informed the Group that 7 and 28-day Travelmaster tickets were now available on Smartcards; day tickets were not available as yet, this facility may be made available during the next phase. Top-ups were now available 33 days before travel whereas previously it had been 3 days.
</AI5>
<AI6>
6 Information at Interchanges
J Hoare informed the Group that during August he had been visiting interchanges to see how good the provision of information was and how well it worked. He suggested that all members of the Group should do the same, acting as ‘mystery travellers’ and report back to C Cocken by the end of the year. The results could then be collated and discussed at the next meeting of the Group.
From his observations the Chair noted:
· There was no information on buses at Sheffield train station.
· At Sheffield Interchange there was only information regarding buses departing for the Interchange and not elsewhere.
· Barnsley Interchange was the worst for information on the screens – they were impossible to see on a sunny day.
· The stands at Barnsley Interchange only displayed information for departures from that stand.
Several members commented on the lack of information available at Sheffield train station and reported that the only information readily available was for East Midlands trains; it was thought an area in the foyer was needed with information on all train operators and bus services.
</AI6>
<AI7>
7 Passenger Focus
The Chair welcomed Paul Salveson from Passenger Focus to the meeting.
P Salveson informed the Group that he had been appointed as a Board member of Passenger Focus in April 2013; he was also a trustee of the Campaign for Better Transport.
He explained that Passenger Focus had grown out of post-war legislation when the 1947 Transport Act had set up a network of regional Transport Users’ Consultative Committees. Originally the remit only covered rail travel but the legislation had evolved and now covered bus, tram and coach travel with the strategic highways network to be added in the near future.
Passenger Focus has offices in London and Manchester and employs 30-35 staff; Ventrica, a private company based in Southend, is employed to log customer complaints to pass on to Passenger Focus staff in Manchester to deal with.
As well as dealing with complaints, Passenger Focus also conducts a National Passenger Survey twice a year; originally only covering rail travel the survey has recently been extended to include bus and tram travel.
The surveys were important and did make a difference, the results were taken into account when franchises were being considered, and therefore the operators took them seriously.
The Group discussed at length the issues surrounding the tenders for the current Northern Rail and TransPennine franchise renewals and how the Group could input their views to Passenger Focus.
The Chair and members of the Group thanked P Salveson for an interesting and informative insight into the role of Passenger Focus.
</AI7>
<AI8>
8 SYPTE Performance Data
C Cocken circulated the latest SYPTE Performance Data; a member of staff from this department wold be invited to the April meeting.
</AI8>
<AI9>
9 Operators Update
F Johnson reported that it was a quiet time at the moment; there would be a small number of service changes at the end of the month along the Sheffield-Chesterfield corridor.
From the beginning of November the X17 route from Sheffield to Matlock would be upgraded to Stagecoach’s Gold standard with new vehicles with free Wi-Fi, dedicated drivers and leather seats.
A Timewell informed the Group that First had introduced 15 new buses (to the same specification as above) in Sheffield on route 51; there had been a couple of teething problems but this was only to be expected with new vehicles.
First were looking at minor timetable changes on route 51 in the middle of the day to improve reliability, and also changes in the Rotherham-Brinsworth route to improve connectivity. There had also been a few staffing issues in Sheffield which had caused reliability issues.
L Booth reported that recently it had taken 45 minutes (rather than the normal 10 minutes) to travel from Rawmarsh to Rotherham due to the traffic travelling to Parkgate; the situation would only get worse as planning permission had been granted for a new supermarket.
A Timewell replied that the operators had asked the landowner to open another access point to ease congestion; discussions were ongoing.
D Wrottesley suggested that where bus stops projected out into the highway, chevrons should be painted opposite to prevent dangerous overtaking manoeuvres and improve bus safety.
</AI9>
<AI10>
10 SYPTE Update
C Cocken informed the Group that from January 2015 timetables on the website would be available in A4 format to allow for printing at home.
</AI10>
<AI11>
11 SCR Combined Authority Transport Committee Update
The Group noted that South Yorkshire had been successful in securing the full £4.811m LSTF that had been bid for. The funding would be used (among other things) on schemes to encourage people to use public transport and to assist people back into employment by providing a number of travel options.
With regard to the introduction of restrictions on the use of Northern Rail’s off-peak tickets, J Hoare commented that the notices informing passengers of the changes were ambiguously worded; there was not enough information on the areas covered by the restrictions or timings – i.e. if a passenger boarded a train at 4.15 for a 30-minute journey, could the off-peak ticket be used as the journey would end in the ‘peak’ period.
Action:- C Cocken to email Northern Rail for clarification.
In response to a question from a member regarding Tram Train C Cocken has forwarded the attached statement: (Update since meeting)
The commencement of Tram/Train passenger services will be later than the Spring 2016 date originally programmed. This is due to delays in the design of the works required to adapt the heavy rail network to accommodate the Tram/Train service.
Network Rail, who are responsible for these works, are presently undertaking a detailed assessment of their delivery programme, and the project partners are committed to working with Network Rail to mitigate the delay as far as possible. (Some of the delay arises from the project’s relationship with other heavy rail investment programmes, such as signaling re-control).
Good progress is being made on other aspects of the project, with vehicles being manufactured and works to the tramway well underway. A revised delivery programme for Tram/Train will be announced when this is confirmed
informed the Group that the delay to the tram/train project was to do with problems with the rolling stock.
With regard to a member of the Transport Committee’s comment that stated changes to the TransPennine Express franchise would mean an additional hourly service between Doncaster and Sheffield, D Wrottesley stated that this would not be the case and outlined a solution which he had communicated to D Young.
I Jenkinson welcomed the introduction of new ticketing methods and queried whether First had any plans to introduce Smart Cards and/or mobile technology.
A Timewell replied there were no final plans at the moment; there was an ongoing debate on the best way forward. Any decision would be a group decision and not just First South Yorkshire.
J Brightmore noted that the Transport Committee had not debated the suggestion that the use of concessionary passes after 11pm should be reinstated.
C Cocken replied that unfortunately there would be no changes to the current concessionary scheme due to budget constraints.
</AI11>
<AI12>
12 Forward Planner
The Group noted the Forward Planner.
</AI12>
<AI13>
13 Date of Next Meeting
The next meeting of the Group will be on Tuesday 20 January 2015 at 10.30am at Rotherham Interchange.
</AI13>
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