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Public services in York getting worse this year – official

Little attention has been given to a report to tomorrows Cabinet meeting which shows a marked decline in the quality of some public services in York

Graffiti taking longer to remove

It is taking the Council between 2 and 3 days to clean graffiti now – almost double the time taken two years ago

The number of York residents on the housing waiting list has increase from 1344 to 1439 over recent months It is still low compared to historical levels (because many applicants were struck off the list last year by the Council)

Only 62% of tenants are satisfied now with the Council as a landlord. To a degree this reflects the lack of investment in the Council estates across the City (a LibDem regeneration plan was voted down last week by the Labour/Green coalition)

Customer satisfaction with the quality of streets and public places has slipped below 50% as has satisfaction with green spaces.

Only 48% think that the Council is tackling anti social behaviour well.

Fewer residents (12%) are now “volunteering”

The number of people aged over 65 admitted to residential and nursing care homes had risen to 767 (per 100k population) by the end of last year. Numbers are increasing again this year.

By December 27 residents were victims of delayed discharges from hospital. Of these 15 were down to York Council care failings.

Waste going to landfill increasing

The Council is failing its waste management targets. Consequently taxpayers will foot an increased £3.7million landfill tax bill.

Stage carriage bus use in the City is stable. The Council refuses to publish monthly figures indicating the number of buses running on time (was 84% last year according to DoT figures)

Bus User Group seeking new recruits

Bus users are being invited to have their say on how bus services in York are planned and delivered.

City of York Council and local bus operators are encouraging commuters, residents and visitors to join the Bus User Group (BUSUG) on a voluntary basis to be involved in helping to improve bus travel in York.

The group has already helped to make influential decisions shaping a number of changes to the network, including:
• the design of the new all-operator bus timetables, now in use at all bus stops in York
• and, the installation of real time information screens
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Secret decisions on bus shelters and road improvements

Following the move not to allow Cabinet members to take decisions in “private” sessions, the gap has been filled by Council officials who are queuing up make the most use that they can of their “delegated” powers.

Rougier Street

This week, the much delayed project to replace the (admittedly odious) bus shelter on Rougier Street next to Roman House was formally shelved.

Developers had been planning to convert Roman House into flats. There were concerns that a new shelter might be damaged during building works.

It now appears that the flats project has been abandoned and new owners are looking into providing a hotel on the site.

The scheme is being funded by the – time limited – “better bus fund” . This is the same fund that the Council misused to subsidise their ill fated Lendal Bridge adventure.

With little prospect of the development on Rougier Street starting in the near future. it would have been sensible to divert the funds into sub-urban areas where bus stop and information facilities have had little improvement during the last 4 years.

Instead officials decided to mothball the project. (Their decision rather strangely refers to the shelter being located in the Skelton ward !!)

St Leonards

Separately – and not yet formally reported to the Council – we understand that improvements to the Theatre Royal bus stop have also been suspended. Apparently English Heritage were concerned that the works might endanger the adjacent listed buildings.

The improvements to the Theatre frontage include glazing the area between the columns.

It appears however that these glazing panels – rather than filling in the gaps in between the masonry – will actually be recessed further back.

This raises concerns that a litter trap – or worse – is being constructed.

Clifton Moor

Clifton Moor link foot and cycle path click to access

Plans to connect the two sides of the Clifton Moor retail park are being redesigned following the opening of the DFS store.

A new combined cycle/foot path has been approved. The costs will be born by developers and land owners.The design is reproduced right

Burdyke Avenue plan click to enlarge

Burdyke Avenue

Obstructions on Burdyke Avenue have been causing delays to local bus services. The Council plan to install a parking lay-by with associated parking restrictions. Telecoms equipment in the verge means that the project will cost £55,000.

The plan doesn’t provide any additional parking space and an alternative, which would have utilized gardens for parking, does not appear to have been fully explored.

Estate car parking is an increasing issue.

Labour slowed the improvement programme when they took office in 2011. Until then most wards had allocated money for dropped kerbs, lay-bys and off street parking near flats.

The installation of matrix reinforcement on verges was also being developed as a way of protecting them.

In a further leap back into the dark ages, it appears that the convention that the spokespeople for each Group represented on the Council (together with local ward members) are given the opportunity to comment, before delegated decisions are taken, has also now been abandoned.

York Council still refusing to provide bus reliability information

In the latest in a long running saga the Councillor responsible for transport systems in the City (Levene) again, at the last Council meeting, refused to publish bus service reliability figures.

Cllr Levene was asked by LibDem Councillor Ann Reid “In view of the fact that successive Cabinet Members for Transport have told previous Council meetings that they were trying to get more information about bus service reliability in York, could the current Cabinet Member now say – for each of the last 6 months – what reliability was achieved on stage carriage services (quoting commercial and subsidised separately) operating in the City?”

He responded that agreements with local bus company’s pre vented the publication of such information. He would only confirm the statistics that are available on the national DoT website

For 2013/14, 84% of non-frequent buses (fewer than 6 per hour on a given route) ran on time (between 1 minute early and 5 minutes 59 seconds late).
The average excess wait time for frequent buses (6 or more buses per hour on a given route) was 0.6 minutes.

Neither figure is particularly helpful as passengers know that reliability varies form route to route.

It is little short of disgraceful that quality of service information is not made available at least on those services which enjoy a £800,000 a year subsidy from taxpayers.

Nationally the government promoted the introduction of “bus punctuality” partnerships, but the transparency underpinning this initiative never found its way to York

Although most passengers will feel that their most immediate need is to know when the next bus will arrive at a particular stop they are also aware that the “real time” information reverts on many occasions to basic timetable data.

This indicates when the next bus is timetabled to arrive not when it actually will.

It would be so much more honest if the industry – like the train operating companies – published reliability information on the regular basis.

First bus service changes from Sunday 28 September 2014 – full details

Most services affected including numbers 1, 4 , 5/5A, 12, 13/13A and a new 14 service

Bus terminus to be moved from Front Street to reduce traffic congestion. Bus will wait on Acomb Green

First say the changes are being made to improve the reliability and punctuality of services

The 5 service will now terminate at Acomb Green rather than Front Street (to reduce congestion problems)

New timetables are available here.

Details below
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Changes to the 13a Acomb bus service

The Council has announced that the 13A bus service – which provides a link from Tudor Road, Front Street and Green Lane to the City centre via Holly Bank – may be scrapped.

The service was only introduced about 12 months ago and had been criticised by residents in Tudor Road for only providing a one way link to essential services in the Front Street area.

There was no prior consultation with passengers about the threat to end the service.

We understand that, from Monday 29 September, the 13a Acomb to York bus service will be subsidised by the York Council.

Ominously the Council also says

“The council is currently in the process of reviewing its portfolio of subsidised bus services in order to deliver significant savings in this area for 2015/16, which was agreed at the Budget Council in February.

A consultation on all bus services in York will start soon and more details will follow shortly. However, until this review has been finalised, the council will continue to subsidies the 13a until it considers where savings need to be made across the city”.

The move followed a decision by First York to review the operation of the hourly 13a bus service to Acomb due to low usage.

First apparently claim that there are insufficient numbers to run the 13a service on a commercial basis.

The council has agreed to continue financing the operation of this service, at around £1,000 per week from the council’s transport budget. This will provide a 13a service for customers operated by First on behalf of the council.

We think that another operator would be able to provide the service for a much lower subsidy and would expect the Council to advertise the contract quickly and take the opportunity to address the concerns of Tudor Road residents.

From Monday the majority of the 13a service will operate as per the current timetable although the following journeys will no longer be in operation:

7.15am: Acomb – York Station
7.54am: York Station – Acomb
4.57pm: Acomb – York Station
5.36: York Station – Acomb
6pm: Acomb – York Station

Previous 13a journeys between York & Haxby will continue to be operated by First but will be renumbered 13.

For further information on bus service changes and for bus timetables, visit www.itravelyork.info/buses, call 01904 551400 or visit the Bus Information Point in the Travel Centre at York Station.

New look bus stop for the city centre

click to see original drawing

Residents and visitors are set to benefit from a “new look bus interchange“* in the heart of York’s city centre, in and around Exhibition Square.

The bus interchange at Exhibition Square is a key location for many bus services for residents, visitors and people living in rural areas to the North of York, handling around 750,000 bus passenger journeys a year.
(more…)

Good news for pensioners using Moor Lane park and ride bus stop

First have confirmed that pensioners with a valid pass joining the Park and Ride bus at the Moor Lane car park stop WILL be entitled to travel free of charge.

At present pensioners with a pass joining Park and Ride services are charged 80p a journey.

Ann Reid says,

“I fought hard to retain this stop to allow residents who live within walking distance to still use the P& R service and avoid driving to the new site but the increased fares might well see increased car use”

Tour de France: First bus service changes and camping advice video for visitors

With millions expected to line the route of the Tour de France this weekend, First is putting in place the final preparations for the local bus and Park&Ride network around York on Sunday 6 July.

Bus stuck during previous TdF race

Due to road closures some routes will also need to be diverted or altered and customers are encouraged to plan well ahead by visiting firstgroup.com/tourdefrance for all the details. Details of changes to routes, stops and services can also be seen around the city centre on notices at bus stops and information displayed on real time screens.

As a result of the route taken by the race, First’s cross-city services will be split and some will be diverted with buses starting and finishing at one of three bus hubs, Fishergate, Hungate & the Station.

First has worked closely with City of York Council to also provide more Park & Ride journeys with services starting from 6am – three and a half hours earlier than on a normal Sunday. In addition, Askham Bar, Grimston Bar and Rawcliffe Bar Park & Ride sites will open from 4am to allow people to arrive early.

Park&Ride sites provide services every 10 minutes with great value fares (returns costing £2.70 from the terminal to the city centre, with up to 2 children travelling free with each adult). More information is available yorkparkandride.co.uk. Due to the route taken by the race the Poppleton Bar Park&Ride will not be operating on Sunday 6th July..

First is also providing extra buses across the York network on existing routes providing more capacity and allowing for slightly longer journeys in some cases to take into account diversions and additional road traffic. Many services will also start earlier on the morning of Sunday 6 July to accommodate the extra demand.

As well as additional driving roles, First staff will be working across the network and behind the scenes to ensure the event is a success. First is also preparing spare buses ready at key locations across Yorkshire to meet any other transport requirements.

Additional late evening services will operate on the Monks Cross Park & Ride on Friday 4th July to cater for the ‘Grand Departy’ concert at Huntington Stadium. The last bus back to the City will depart from Monks Cross Park & Ride site at 11.30pm. Services will run as normal on Saturday 5 July and Monday 7th July.

Customers are encouraged to keep in touch with travel updates over the weekend by using twitter on @YorkTravel

Will Pearson, Business Manager of First in York added: The Tour de France, Grand Depart is a fabulous opportunity to showcase Yorkshire and we’ve worked closely with partners including City of York Council to support our existing bus network and introduce extra services to help transport existing and new customers. There will be some disruption to the bus network but by planning ahead customers can find out what alternatives are available and ensure they enjoy this

Leeman Road closure – bus service diversions

Services 2, 5 and 5A affected

Monday 16 June 2014 – Friday 20 June 2014

Road Works

Area: Leeman Road
Cause: Roadworks
Duration: 5 days

Leeman Road will be closed from Monday 16th June at 0900 to Friday 20th June until 1800

Buses will divert as follows –

Service 2 Rawcliffe Bar Park & Ride Green Line
From Water End bus stop continues along Water End non stop along Poppleton Road, Holgate Road, Blossom Street, Queen Street, Station Road to Station Avenue, then on normal route to Rawcliffe Bar.

Service 5/5A
To Strensall: After Boroughbridge (Malvern Avenue stop), buses will continue non stop along Poppleton Road, Holgate Road, Blossom
Street, Queen Street, Station Road to Station Avenue, then normal route to Strensall.

From Strensall: After Station Road, buses will continue non stop along Station Road, Queen Street, Blossom Street, Holgate Road,
Poppleton Road to Boroughbridge Road (Malvern Avenue stop), then normal route to Acomb.

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