Issue - meetings

The Director of Environment, Transport & Planning to present a report which provides an update on actions taken in response to decisions made by Executive in December 2022 to support local bus services in the short term, and details future plans to stabilise, improve and grow the local bus network.

Resolved:  (i)      That it be noted that:

a) The short-term bus subsidy for services 12, 13 and 412, funded through BSIP, has saved the network extent.

b) As per the Executive’s decision in December 2022, the Director of Transport, Environment & Planning (in consultation with the Executive Leader, the Executive Member for Transport and the Director of Governance and Section 151 Officer or their delegated officers) has delegated power to award the long-term contracts for services 12, 13 and 412 using BSIP funding, and this has now been done.

c) Poppleton Park and Ride will open at the start of the school Easter Holidays on the 1^st of April with support from BSIP funding.

(ii)      That authority be delegated to the Director of Environment, Transport and Planning to vary the park and ride and contract against contractual obligations for the purpose of stabilising the wider bus network.

Reason:     To ensure that the Bus Network in York is stabilised and that the council can work with the statutory Enhanced Bus Partnership to deliver its stated Bus Service Improvement Plans objectives in line with the National Bus Strategy

The Director of Environment, Transport & Planning and the Head of Active & Sustainable Transport presented a report which provided an update on actions taken in response to the Executive’s decision in December 2022 to support local bus services in the short term, and detailed future plans to stabilise, improve and grow the local bus network.

Actions highlighted in the report included: the award of £11.3m of zero emissions bus contracts; the identification, through the Local Plan process, of a series of network enhancements to support new developments in York; an engagement event as part of a study to introduce a city centre shuttle bus; and the conversion of York’s Bus Quality Partnership into an Enhanced Bus Partnership. Details of the Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP), to be funded by the £17.4m allocation from the National Bus strategy, were provided in the report and in Annex A.  It was reported at the meeting that longer-term contracts had now been awarded to replace the subsidised contracts for bus services 412, 12 and 13 under officers’ delegated powers, as set out in the Agenda Supplement. 

In response to Members’ questions and matters raised under Public Participation, officers confirmed that:

·        the cost of consultation was £14k;

·        the city centre shuttle trial was part of the BSIP;

·        discussions were in progress with York Hospital on how best to mitigate traffic issues on Wigginton Road.

The Executive Member for Transport supported the proposals, stressing the significant investment made in vehicles and the network via the BSIP and the improvements that would come about as part of the York Station Frontage, Castle Gateway and York Central projects, while acknowledging the challenges that remained.

Resolved:  (i)      That it be noted that:

a) The short-term bus subsidy for services 12, 13 and 412, funded through BSIP, has saved the network extent.

b) As per the Executive’s decision in December 2022, the Director of Transport, Environment & Planning (in consultation with the Executive Leader, the Executive Member for Transport and the Director of Governance and Section 151 Officer or their delegated officers) has delegated power to award the long-term contracts for services 12, 13 and 412 using BSIP funding, and this has now been done.

c) Poppleton Park and Ride will open at the start of the school Easter Holidays on the 1^st of April with support from BSIP funding.

(ii)      That authority be delegated to the Director of Environment, Transport and Planning to vary the park and ride and contract against contractual obligations for the purpose of stabilising the wider bus network.

Reason:     To ensure that the Bus Network in York is stabilised and that the council can work with the statutory Enhanced Bus Partnership to deliver its stated Bus Service Improvement Plans objectives in line with the National Bus Strategy