Use of buses in York during the first 6 months of the financial year fell by 5%. It means the number of passenger journeys on ordinary “stage carriage” bus services could fall to below 10 million for the first year since 2002 (when Labour were last in control of the Council).
The slump is partially offset by an increase in Park and Ride passenger numbers which are forecast to top 3 million during the year.
The Council is rapidly losing the confidence of the bus industry in the wake of sustained unconstructive media criticism by some Councillors. Hostility to the ftr – which remains popular with users – and failure to embrace new technology opportunities, such as the debit card payment option, means that York no longer is top of the investment priorities of the bus companies.

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FirstGroup , the UK’s largest bus and rail operator, intends to be the first bus operator outside London to offer customers a ‘touch in, touch out’ contactless fare payment option. The new ticket machines, designed to read contactless debit or credit cards, in addition to “ITSO” smartcards such as concessionary bus passes, will be introduced to buses from the autumn and will initially allow customers with an ITSO smartcard to touch in. Contactless bank cards will be accepted across England from late 2012.
First’s new ticketing system will act much like London’s Oyster Card; customers will simply ‘touch in’ and ‘touch out’ using their debit or credit card, taking less than a second, and avoiding the need to carry the correct change. The system will also allow FirstGroup to offer a range of tickets including capping the daily fare.
But, unlike Oyster, customers won’t need to carry an additional card or worry about pre-payment or topping up. Customers using the contactless cards will simply see the cost of the fare deducted from their bank or credit card balance.
With the continuing rapid advancement of mobile phone technology, FirstGroup has also ensured that its new system has the capability to accept payment via mobile phone.
The news should also be welcomed by the York Council as it has a long standing commitment to introducing a cashless payment option. The new system could also provide a platform for the introduction of “cross ticketing”, avoiding costly back office manual revenue apportionment systems.
The system also allows for the maximum daily fare to be capped, potentially encouraging greater use of public transport.
A similar system has been suggested for introduction at York’s car parks, thus eliminating the need for a driver to “forecast” how long they intend to stay at pre payment sites.
FirstGroup’s UK Bus division carries approximately 2.5 million customers a day in more than 40 major towns and cities. As well as York, the new ticketing technology will be implemented to all of First’s services in England, including Manchester, Bolton, Oldham, Wigan, Stoke, Northampton, Leeds, Halifax, Huddersfield, Bradford, Leicester, Portsmouth, Southampton, Plymouth, Bristol, Ipswich, Norwich, Slough and Bracknell.
The Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport, Norman Baker MP, welcomed the news: “I want to see smart ticketing rolled out across public transport in England as quickly as possible and this announcement from FirstGroup is a positive step towards achieving that.”

The £123 million net budget for public services provided by the York Council is currently funded by Council Taxpayers (60%), central government grant (9%) and Business Rates (31%).
The York Council collects around £88 million in Rates from local businesses and this goes into a national pool. Around £43.2 million is used by central government to subsidise services in less well off areas like Bradford, Hull and Barnsley.
Starting in 2013 York will retain locally generated Business Rates but to will still have to contribute its “surplus” to a central pool. In net terms it will be no worse off than currently is the case.
However, the new rules will allow the City to retain part of any additional income generated by new businesses. This should be to our advantage as we are currently the second fastest growing City in the country.

Passengers may soon be able to travel on York’s buses without the need to fumble around for cash or commit in advance to expensive season tickets.
York’s major bus company are looking to trial the use of charge card enabled terminals which will allow debit card holders to “touch on, touch off” when they use bus services.
The system would allow regular users to be given a discount with daily and weekly ceiling charges introduced to encourage bus use.
The system would also facilitate so called “through ticketing” with no need to purchase a “ticket” for the second leg of an extended journey.
In many ways the new system – which exploits the new technology being rolled out in the latest charge cards and mobile phones – replicates the convenience of the Oyster card system which has been in use in London for some years, although no separate card purchase is necessary.
For operators the new system has the advantage of speeding up boarding times and reducing the amount of cash carried on the buses.
York could become a trial site for the system if the local Council co operates. A similar system is already working in Singapore.
The same technology could also revolutionise payments for car parking. Here drivers would touch their card when arriving and this would – like payments by mobile phone – activate their car registration number on the parking wardens hand held screen. When leaving, motorists would “touch off”.
The advantage of using this system in car parks is that it would be more flexible allowing drivers to stay for as long as they wished and then to pay for the actual time used. It avoids the costly installation of pay on exit barriers and addresses the reliability problems inherent in such mechanical systems.

Bus services
Good Friday (22 April) and the Royal wedding day (29 April)
A Saturday service will operate on routes 14, 20, 21, 22 and 36. A bank holiday service will operate on routes 24 and 26. Park & Ride routes will operate to a weekday holiday schedule. A Sunday service will operate on all other local bus routes.
Easter Sunday (24 April)
A Sunday service will operate on all routes including Park & Ride, with the following exceptions:
• A special timetable will be in operation on route 5 (details available from First York)
• No service on routes 10, 11,12 13A, 20 and 22
Easter Monday (25 April) and Early May Bank Holiday (2 May)
A Sunday service will operate on all local bus services and a normal Monday service will operate on Park & Ride routes.
Council offices
Council offices are closed for bank holidays. York Customer centre is open 8am to 7pm as usual on normal working days.
Waste and recycling collections
All of the household waste recycling centres are open as normal and there are no changes to the refuse, recycling and garden waste collection services over the bank holidays.

The following bus service changes will be taking place this weekend.

A) Wards – Rural West York, Acomb, Dringhouses & Woodthorpe, Micklegate, Holgate, Guildhall

Route 142/143 (York – A59 – Boroughbridge – Ripon, contracted by NYCC and receiving CYC subsidy) will be operated by Harrogate Coach Travel and Eddie Browns.

Route 412/413 (York – Acomb – Knapton – Rufforth – Wetherby, contracted by NYCC and receiving CYC subsidy) is changing operator from Arriva to Eddie Browns and Harrogate Coach Travel.

Route 37 (York – Askham Bar – Woodthorpe – Askham Richard – Catterton – Tadcaster) is changing operator from York Pullman to Utopia Travel.

B) Wards – Wheldrake, Fulford, Fishergate, Guildhall

Route 42 (Selby – Riccall – Cawood – Stillingfleet – Naburn – Fulford Road – York) operated by Arriva will cease to operate on a Sunday.

Route 124 (Naburn – Fulford – Broadway – Fulford Road – York) will be operated on a Sunday (at the same frequency previously operated on the 42) by Transdev York

Route 415 (Selby – A19 – Escrick – Fulford Road – York) will no longer serve the Designer Outlet at peak times – please use Park & Ride service 7. The route will also no longer serve Broadway/Heslington Lane on a Sunday – please use the new 124 (as above).

For timetables, please see (or direct people to): http://www.yorkbus.co.uk for route 124 and http://www.northyorkstravel.info/bus.html for all other services.