Taxis may have crucial role in current health crisis

A Council meeting which was to have taken place next week (now cancelled) would have considered the high costs of home to school transport. The council has a budget for this service of #2.78 million although the meeting would have heard that this is overspent by #525,000.

Free transport is provided for pupils who are attending their catchment school, and who live more than 2 miles (primary pupils) or 3 miles (secondary pupils) from home. Most of these pupils use dedicated bus services. Those in receipt of free school meals may also benefit from the use of a bus pass.

Special Educational Needs (SEN) children also get free transport. This includes those with an Education Health Care Plan. Many of these journeys are provided by taxis companies.

Although it remains unclear how many pupils will be continuing to attend their local school (the children of key workers certainly will), it is likely that some free taxi capacity will be available over the coming weeks.  

Hopefully this capacity might be used to ease the burden of those restricted to their own homes as a result of the current corona virus threat.

The delivery of proscriptions and shopping are important services which might usefully be provided by taxi

NB. On a similar level, local supermarkets are now advertising for temporary staff to supplement their shelf stacking and home delivery teams. Possibly good news for some self employed workers who might need a short term job?

Obstacle removed from York – Selby cycle path

A few weeks ago we reported that a part of a tree had fallen onto to he York – Selby cycle path. It was blocking part of the path and posed a potential hazard at night.

The Council told us that they couldn’t do anything about it so today we trimmed it back

Likely that this peaceful route will become popular with “self isolators” undertaking some unaccompanied exercise over the next few weeks.

  • Tree branches impeding cycle track
  • Cut back today and safer now
We’ve also reported broken glass on the cycle path on Tadcaster Road near Tesco. Hopefully the Council will also sweeping detritus from the adjacent area

Action needed on verges and roads

The Council will be publishing its highways resurfacing programme for the next financial year shortly. There is now a major backlog of work in the area. It is not just potholes that need filling. Large areas of carriageway and several footpaths need patching or resurfacing.

The present Council promised to reconstruct all highways in the City, so it will be interesting to see the extent of next years programme.

School Street remains in poor condition.
Verge damage in Dijon Avenue

Problems with verge damage in the Dijon Avenue area have escalated since building work started on the Lowfield site

More on funding for station front transformation

Artist's impression of York Station front

Council leaders have welcomed news that at least £14.5m funding has been secured to transform the front of York station into a fitting gateway to the city.

West Yorkshire Combined Authority has today confirmed that the scheme will be funded from its £317m allocation from the Transforming Cities Fund.

The fund aims to improve journeys by bus, rail, bike and on for up to 1.5 million people, supporting Zero Carbon ambitions while providing a 21st century transport network to create economic growth across the region.

Under the proposals, the redundant Queen Street Bridge would be removed to create the space for the changes, which include:

  • an improved transport interchange with separate arrival points for cars, buses, taxis and cyclists
  • moving the taxi-rank, drop-off points and short stay parking access to create car-free public spaces in Tea Room Square and a new ‘Station Square’
  • revealing hidden parts of the City Wall, the station and York Railway Institute’s buildings to offer a better setting for the city’s heritage
  • improved pedestrian and cycle routes, connecting to the new pedestrian and cycle path over Scarborough Bridge

For more information about York Station front  visit www.york.gov.uk/stationfront

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York Council set to agree £21.282 million transport investment programme

The Councils transport capital programme is being allocated at a meeting taking place next week. The funding covers the 20/21 financial year and as capital expenditure it much be invested in assets which have an extended life expectancy.

Much of the funding comes from central government although the West Yorkshire Transport Fund will contribute over £8 million to dualling the outer ring road and the remodelling of the station forecourt. It is unclear what the future of this funding will be in the light of the announcement earlier in the week that West Yorkshire will get an elected mayor who will have control over strategy transport funding streams.

Some of the schemes are largely opaque. The Smarter Travel Evolution Programme (STEP) is funded by the National Productivity Investment Fund and aims to implement real- time monitoring and associated infrastructure to allow York to prepare for future transport measures such as connected and autonomous vehicles. The work planned for 2020/21 includes the development of the new transport model for York, and an upgrade of communications equipment across the city. Possibly not a priority for cyclists trying opt negotiate the latest crop of potholes.

The City has yet to hear how much – if any – of the government pothole fund will be allocated t the City. There is also no indication how much Local Transport Pan funding will go towards resurfacing roads and paths.

Including the Councils own resources, nearly £1 million has been located for cycling and pedestrian schemes. £500,000 of this was agreed last July but non has so far been invested. Much of this will be required to repair the neglect of the last 8 years.

The Piccadilly car park will become pay on exit. The programme of modernising traffic signals across the City will continue. Maintenance work will be carried out on Lendal Bridge during the year.

Reprieve for number 3A and 12 bus services in west York

In September the current operator of services 3A and 12, First York, announced that they planned to withdraw service 3A (the 7-day per week evening Askham Bar Park & Ride service) and part of service 12 (specifically the section between Foxwood Lane and Alness Drive) as they were “no longer commercially viable”.

The Council agreed to subsidise the services until the end of the financial year, while seeking tenders for their continuation.

The cost of continuing the services is £24,000 for the 3A and £65,000 for the 12.

The Council is being recommended to use part of a government funded bus service operators grant (worth £150,416 in total) to subside these two services. The Council already allocates over £700,000 a year for bus service subsidies (not including the cost of the free pensioners bus pass, which is funded from central taxation).

The Council is banking on the two services being more popular in the future and therefore requiring a lower subsidy.

It says demand for service 3A may increase when the planned paid overnight parking service at Askham Bar Park & Ride site comes into action in spring 2020 and that demand for service 12 may increase when the LNER Community Stadium (at the other end of the route) opens in 2020.

Improvements in other bus services

Through the “Funding for Local Bus Services 2020-21” scheme, the council has the opportunity to bid for £83.5k one-off funding in order to achieve one or more of the following objectives (which must deliver an increase in services and therefore the 12 and 3A services are not eligible as they currently exist):

  • “to improve current local bus services – for instance increasing evening or weekend frequencies, or supporting additional seasonal services in tourist areas.
  • “to restore lost bus routes where most needed to ensure people have access to public transport services.
  • “to support new bus services, or extensions to current services, to access e.g. new housing, employment opportunities, healthcare facilities etc.”

The funding must be used for the provision of local bus services- i.e. time tabled services open to any member of the public upon payment of a fare.

The funding available in York is £83.5k – equivalent to the operating costs for a single bus for approximately 8 months. It would not therefore have a major impact on service levels.

The City has submitted a bid for “a package of enhancements to routes which support York’s evening economy”

Still problems with cycle network in York

Its not just the burgeoning number of potholes that are causing problems for cyclists. The Council has fallen behind in many areas with its white line refreshment programme.

Clifton Bridge cycle lane almost disappeared
More instances on graffiti reported today. This one near the Ouse riverbank
  • Ouse within its banks today
  • A lot of work done to clear the riverside paths
  • Debris piled near to the Ouse. All paths open

City set to ditch electric sightseeing bus trial

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The Council is being recommended to ditch a trial which has seen City Tour buses converted to run on battery power. Apparently, a trial of “retrofitting” buses to run on electricity, started 5 years ago, has been judged a failure due to reliability problems.

A grant to convert some of the 6 open-top buses used on York’s City Sightseeing tour service from diesel engines to be fully electric was approved in 2013. The buses had been criticised during the last decade  for affecting air quality standards on some of the City’s narrower streets.

A report to a meeting next week says that in York , and other open top tour city’s, the conversion has not achieved high reliability standards. Only 4 buses were converted and many of the services provided by them had to be run by substitute diesel powered buses.

A “Clean Air Zone” has been introduced in the City centre. This means that those buses regularly accessing the City centre must either be electric or must meet the more stringent Euro VI diesel emission standards.

It is understood that the operators of the services have tried to obtain open topped low emission vehicles but currently none are available either as electrics or with Euro VI standard engines at affordable prices..

It looks like the open top service will cease later this year with conventional layout buses being substituted.

NB. There has been extensive investment in electric buses in the City. York will have one of the UK’s highest proportion of mileage operated by electric buses once the new park and ride electric fleet arrives over the next 3 months

York’s new green fleet plan

 

City of York Council is set to transform it’s fleet of vehicles and become a leader in the fight to reduce the city’s carbon emissions with an ambition to be carbon neutral by 2030.

The council will be taking a report outlining the full details to an Executive meeting on 19 March.

This includes reducing the carbon emissions from the council’s fleet (of 535 vehicles under 3.5 tonnes) by a third.

The fleet is valued at £15.3 million and includes 180 vehicles that are under 3.5 tonnes and 153 which are currently due to be replaced over the next three years. Together they emit a total of 1,763 tonnes of CO2 every year.

Under the new proposals, the council would like to transition to a green /electric fleet over a four year phased period.

This will include:

Year one: securing the infrastructure to enable an electric fleet to operate at council sites. Ordering three electric waste vehicles.

Year two: services that are ready for an electric fleet now can make the change as the infrastructure will now be in place.For those services that require some changes to the way they operate, a third of the vehicles will move to electric.

Years three and four.Those services that need a phased approach will be progressed to a 100% electric as quickly as possible.

The financial implications of moving towards an electric fleet would vary depending on the size and type of vehicle and would need to factor in the infrastructure costs to support the green fleet too at council sites.

In order to achieve this, a fleet replacement programme is proposed which will be considered on an annual basis as part of the annual capital programme. However, as option three is the preferred option – this is estimated to cost in the region of £2.22 million.

The council has already implemented a number of measures to address these challenges including introducing a clean air zone for buses and the transition of the Park & Ride fleet of buses to electric double decker buses will be completed this year.

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Electric vehicle charging strategy for York revealed

 

City of York Council is set to introduce a new electric vehicle (EV) charging strategy which will transform and accelerate EV take up across the city.

A report detailing the proposal will be taken to a public Executive meeting on 19 March for approval.

This follows the authority declaring a climate change emergency in 2019 and approving plans to work towards becoming carbon neutral by 2030.

If approved, the council will introduce Fast EV chargepoints to at least a minimum of five per cent of all its long stay parking bays in council owned car parks by 2023.

This will cost circa £800,000 and will be subject to successful external funding bids and reviewed as part of the development of the Local Transport Plan later this year.

To complement the enhanced fast charger network the council is also developing two Hyper Hub sites which will provide state of the art rapid and ultra-rapid facilities. Subject to securing further external funding, a third site is also being developed.

A part of the proposals will be to ensure it offers an equal opportunity for all users (with on street and off street parking) and to ensure that tariffs are set at a fair rate.

The current tariff of 15 p/kWh, hasn’t been revised since it was set in 2013, so a key element of the strategy is to review the tariff price point.

The council’s proposed tariff approach will take into account increases in electricity and running costs to ensure that the network is financially sustainable. During 2020/2021 it is proposed to increase the tariff to 20 p/kWh for fast chargers and 25 p/kWh for rapid and ultra-rapid chargers. All new rapid and ultra-rapid units will allow bank card payments for the same 25 p/kWh fee.

Regular users will have the option of signing up to a subscription Network where they will pay a monthly fee in return for lower usage tariffs.

Tariffs will be reviewed every year and electricity supplying the chargepoints will be part of the council’s energy contract which purchases renewable energy.

New conditions will also be introduced to ensure that users of EV bays are using them principally to charge their vehicles. Enforcement action could be taken where a vehicle is using a bay and is not plugged into the charging point. Time limits could also be imposed.

Frequently Asked Questions:

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