Agenda item

This report provides the Executive with a review of the bus services in York and the supporting initiatives currently in place and presents recommendations for progressing options in several areas, on the basis of potential savings, efficiencies and improvements in services.

RESOLVED: (i)         That the options presented in the various sections of the report be noted.

                        (ii)        That, in relation to Commercial Bus Services, continued efforts should be made to improve passenger waiting facilities and bus priority measures across the City, with effort focused on commercial routes, and that current investment levels in these areas should be sustained.

                        (iii)       That subsidised services be retained, to run to September 2011, that the lowest tenders be accepted for continuation of existing services, as tabled, but that consideration of the proposals to discontinue subsidised bus services (shown in table 5, paragraph 87) be deferred until the Council’s budget position is clear and alternative travel options have been clarified and, to that end, that Officers be requested to report further on the shared taxi / taxi bus options mentioned in the report.

                        (iv)       That approval be given in principle to undertake a trial utilising a new Dial & Ride vehicle to deliver peak commuter journeys for a rural village.

                        (v)        That the inclusion in the LTP capital programme of one new, fit for purpose minibus, to be used for both Dial & Ride and rural, peak time scheduled services, be agreed.

                        (vi)       That Officers be instructed to investigate the possibility of re-negotiating a new service level agreement with the current provider, York Wheels.

                        (vii)      That approval be given to increase the Dial & Ride fares from £2.50 to £3.50 for a day ticket and from £1.25 to £1.75 for a single ticket and to devolve future fare increases to the Officer in Consultation process.

                        (viii)     That the production of a further Officer report, on the partnership working, cost and potential options involved for the upgrade of Park & Ride one-bus ticket machines to make them ITSO smartcard compatible, be supported.

                        (ix)       That, in the interests of speeding up boarding times both in town and at site, Officers be asked to report further on the options for extending the use of off-bus ticketing facilities.

                        (x)        That, in relation to Concessionary Travel, approval be given to retain the current operating hours for bus pass acceptance and to withdraw any alternative to the bus pass for the over 60s, but to increase the value of tokens to £50 for eligible disabled people.

                        (xi)       That Officers be requested to investigate further and report on the costs and advantages of replacing the anonymous token system with an auditable stored value taxi card system from 2010/11 and on the system for the under 60s disabled, which allows them to purchase additional tokens.

                        (xii)      That, in the light of the above decisions, Officers be instructed to consider ways of optimising the issue of transport tokens including, where economical, home delivery and bulk collection by nursing homes.

                        (xiii)     That Officers be instructed to investigate the options available to the Council for the launch of an ‘all operator’ Yozone 16-19 product and to produce a subsequent report outlining the implications.

                        (xiv)     That Officers be requested to investigate the feasibility of remotely accessing Public Transport Information data within the Metro ‘COSA Trackbuilder, to improve Traveline telephone and internet data quality.

                        (xv)      That approval be given to tender the travel information telephone service and retain the existing local telephone number (01904 551400).

                        (xvi)     That approval be given, with the agreement from bus operators, to purchase a licence for the Real Time Passenger Information ‘Bus Operator Reports’ product and run alongside on-street bus monitoring for one year before fully transferring to this stream of information.

                        (xvii)    That, in respect of air quality, approval be given to raise the minimum standard of engine rating on all tendered local bus services to EURO III from 2011.

REASON:      In order to continue to develop bus travel, in partnership with the bus industry, to ensure that bus patronage in the City continues to rise.

Members considered a report which set out a review of the current bus services operating in York and the supporting initiatives in place and presented recommendations for progressing options in several areas, based upon potential savings, efficiencies and service improvements.

The report had been prepared in response to the items contained in the ‘Policy Prospectus’ for 2008/09 and a motion approved by Full Council in September 2008 to investigate the extension of the YOzone card.  It looked in detail at the following areas and presented key messages and options in respect of each, as summarised below. 

Commercial Bus Services

These high frequency, high quality services were delivered on a commercial basis.  The Council thus had little direct role in their provision but could, in addition to continued work under the existing voluntary partnership, choose to:

• Reduce Council expenditure on bus stop infrastructure
• Introduce a formal Quality Partnership on an identified corridor or route, under the Local Transport Act 2008.

Subsidised / Tendered Bus Services

Spending on these services was forecast to increase to £750k in 2009/10, which was £110k over budget.  The report commissioned from Halcrow on the subsidised bus network had recommended that some services be withdrawn completely, some re-worked into a more regular, simplified timetable and others withdrawn and replaced by demand responsive transport, shared taxi services or taxi buses.  A table of services to be considered for withdrawal was presented in Table 5, in Paragraph 87 of the report. 

Dial and Ride

It was proposed to support the inclusion of three new accessible minibuses for the service in the Capital Progamme for 2009/10.  The current service level agreement was due to expire and Members were asked to decide between:

Option 1 – to re-tender the service using an open EU process and

Option 2 – to instruct Officers to investigate the possibility of re-negotiating a new service level agreement with York Wheels (recommended).

Members were also asked to consider:

• Whether the fares for Dial and Ride (D&R) should be reviewed
• Whether (and what) concessionary rates should apply to D&R
• The potential use of D&R vehicles for peak local bus journeys, in place of home-to-school journeys.

Park and Ride

A decision must be made within the next 18 months on whether to go out to tender for the operation of the new services for the A59 and Wigginton Road or whether to operate them as part of the existing contract.  Approval was sought to produce a further report on the upgrading of on-bus ticket machines and to explore the introduction of off-bus ticketing facilities.

Concessionary Travel Scheme

Details of current arrangements were contained in Annex A to the report.  Introduction of the ENCTS bus pass in April 2008 had raised the cost of funding bus pass concessions to an estimated £4.2 million in 2008/09 and contributed to a decrease in the take-up of national transport tokens.

Members were asked to decide whether to:

• Retain the current operating hours for bus pass acceptance and
• Withdraw any alternative to the bus pass to the over 60s, but increase the value of tokens for eligible disabled people to £50

Or to

• Restrict token distribution to the over 75s eligible disabled
• Increase the value of tokens to £40 for this year and replace the anonymous token system with an auditable stored value taxi card system from 1010/11
• Simplify the system for under 60s disabled, replacing the purchase of tokens arrangement with the issue of a fixed sum of £75 for the year
• Distribute tokens from The Guildhall and key parish venues, requesting nursing homes to collect their allocations from either of these.

YOzone Card Scheme

Details of current arrangements were contained in Annex A to the report.  Approval was sought to investigate options for the launch of an ‘all operator’ Yozone bus pass for those aged 16-19, following Members’ endorsement of proposals to extend discounted bus travel to include students in further education.

Public Transport Information

Details of current arrangements were contained in Annex B to the report.  It was recommended that the improvements made to publicity literature during 2008 be built upon by continuing to deliver the best printed bus information and publicity within available resources.  The alternative was to provide additional staff resources to achieve better delivery of printed information.  Further recommendations to improve telephone, internet and real time passenger information (RTPI) were outlined in paragraphs 208 to 226 of the report.

Bus Stop Infrastructure

The strategic direction for on-street bus infrastructure was set out in Annex C to the report.  Members were invited to note this information and to support Officers’ efforts to improve and maintain the bus stop infrastructure in York.

Air Quality

Latest figures showed that 47% of the total York bus fleet had reached the EURO III standard for cleanliness of engines, as compared to the LTP2 target for 2011 of 89%.  The minimum standard for tendered services was EURO II.  Officers would continue to monitor the development of hybrid buses and, through the Quality Bus Partnership, encourage bus operators to invest in cleaner vehicles.  However, it was recommended that the minimum standard for all tendered local bus services be raised to EURO III from 2011.

Having noted the comments of the Shadow Executive on this item and the comments made by Cllr Gillies under Public Participation, it was

RESOLVED: (i)         That the options presented in the various sections of the report be noted.

                        (ii)        That, in relation to Commercial Bus Services, continued efforts should be made to improve passenger waiting facilities and bus priority measures across the City, with effort focused on commercial routes, and that current investment levels in these areas should be sustained. ¹

                        (iii)       That subsidised services be retained, to run to September 2011, that the lowest tenders be accepted for continuation of existing services, as tabled, but that consideration of the proposals to discontinue subsidised bus services (shown in table 5, paragraph 87) be deferred until the Council’s budget position is clear and alternative travel options have been clarified and, to that end, that Officers be requested to report further on the shared taxi / taxi bus options mentioned in the report. ²

                        (iv)       That approval be given in principle to undertake a trial utilising a new Dial & Ride vehicle to deliver peak commuter journeys for a rural village. ³

                        (v)        That the inclusion in the LTP capital programme of one new, fit for purpose minibus, to be used for both Dial & Ride and rural, peak time scheduled services, be agreed. ⁴

                        (vi)       That Officers be instructed to investigate the possibility of re-negotiating a new service level agreement with the current provider, York Wheels. ⁵

                        (vii)      That approval be given to increase the Dial & Ride fares from £2.50 to £3.50 for a day ticket and from £1.25 to £1.75 for a single ticket and to devolve future fare increases to the Officer in Consultation process. ⁶

                        (viii)     That the production of a further Officer report, on the partnership working, cost and potential options involved for the upgrade of Park & Ride one-bus ticket machines to make them ITSO smartcard compatible, be supported. ⁷

                        (ix)       That, in the interests of speeding up boarding times both in town and at site, Officers be asked to report further on the options for extending the use of off-bus ticketing facilities. ⁸

                        (x)        That, in relation to Concessionary Travel, approval be given to retain the current operating hours for bus pass acceptance and to withdraw any alternative to the bus pass for the over 60s, but to increase the value of tokens to £50 for eligible disabled people. ⁹

                        (xi)       That Officers be requested to investigate further and report on the costs and advantages of replacing the anonymous token system with an auditable stored value taxi card system from 2010/11 and on the system for the under 60s disabled, which allows them to purchase additional tokens. ¹⁰

                        (xii)      That, in the light of the above decisions, Officers be instructed to consider ways of optimising the issue of transport tokens including, where economical, home delivery and bulk collection by nursing homes. ¹¹

                        (xiii)     That Officers be instructed to investigate the options available to the Council for the launch of an ‘all operator’ Yozone 16-19 product and to produce a subsequent report outlining the implications. ¹²

                        (xiv)     That Officers be requested to investigate the feasibility of remotely accessing Public Transport Information data within the Metro ‘COSA Trackbuilder, to improve Traveline telephone and internet data quality. ¹³

                        (xv)      That approval be given to tender the travel information telephone service and retain the existing local telephone number (01904 551400). ¹⁴

                        (xvi)     That approval be given, with the agreement from bus operators, to purchase a licence for the Real Time Passenger Information ‘Bus Operator Reports’ product and run alongside on-street bus monitoring for one year before fully transferring to this stream of information. ¹⁵

                        (xvii)    That, in respect of air quality, approval be given to raise the minimum standard of engine rating on all tendered local bus services to EURO III from 2011. ¹⁶

REASON:      In order to continue to develop bus travel, in partnership with the bus industry, to ensure that bus patronage in the City continues to rise.