The Council has finally agreed to publish its Transport Masterplan covering the York North West development. Residents have until January to c comment on the implications of the 56 page (6 Mb) document which is available from the Council (or by Email from us in PDF format)

The plan rest heavily on the success of the new 10 minute Park and Ride service which will link a new 1250 space car park at Poppleton with the City centre. Planners say, “developments will ensure the provision of high quality, frequent public transport services from each development site that integrate with the current local bus network. Developments will also link the two sites by a direct local bus service”. Bus links to other parts of York would also be at 10 minute frequencies

“Park and rail” is effectively ruled out for the foreseeable future and with it hopes of a rail link from the British Sugar site to the City centre and beyond (the tram/train option) The report says, “rail is unlikely to provide a significant number of local journeys in the short-term, although development of light rail, including stops at the British Sugar / Manor School site (reserved site exists at the White Rose (York)Business Park) and within the York Central development, remains as a long-term aspiration for the corridor”.

Parking provision will be heavily constrained with less than 1 space per dwelling proposed. However “car club” use will be encouraged and provision for electric vehicles is suggested. Planners say, “ York Central should be a ‘terminus’ for private motorised traffic, which should not have through movement to the city centre”.

The proposed options’ for accessing the York Central site are as previously publicised (see earlier story on this web site) However the British Sugar / Manor School primary traffic access routes will include Millfield Lane (limited) and a direct access onto the A59 at either the former Manor School site or the former Civil Service Sports Ground.

The report goes on to say that there needs to be a major transfer of journeys from car to public transport and cycling. Employees will be encouraged to live within walking distance of their places of work (with incentives to do so)

Overall around £60 million of capital works are identified in the report with most of the investment needed on the Outer Ring Road. The figures do not include dualling or grade separation at junctions.

Significantly the cost does not include the necessary improvements to bus services, cycle routes or other junction within the City. Consultants talk of using the new “Community Infrastructure Levy” to pay for the improvements but warn that any such use must not make a development unviable.

And that is the problem. York central at least will be a highly expensive site to develop. Unless and until a business case – including all transport infrastructure costs – can be put together then the project will remain a dream.

No tenders have been received to run a taxi bus service on the Dodsworth Avenue/Bell Farm//Straylands Grove/ Monks Cross loop.
Instead full size buses continue to serve the 13/13A route between 7:30am and 6:30pm on a half hourly frequency at a cost to taxpayers of £48,000 a year.
The average half hourly number of passengers using the service is just 3.
It was the low number of users that prompted the Council at the beginning of the year to seek interest from taxi operators to run the loop. As well as the £41,000 income guarantee, the operator would have kept any fare income.
With many taxis now available with 7 seats – some specially designed to accommodate people with disabilities – it was thought that the contract would have been very attractive. One of the difficulties for taxi companies is the unpredictable nature of their income which can be influenced by everything from the weather to traffic conditions and sporting events.
Most taxi owners also continue – with different drivers – to run vehicles in the evening thus maximising the income from the “asset”. So any guaranteed day time contract use is a bonus.

There are 4 other bus services being subsidised by the Council where the number of passengers per hour is less than 10. These are being run using full sized buses with obvious fuel efficiency penalties. Conversion to taxi bus routes would not only aid the environment but should reduce costs for taxpayers.
No doubt the lack of interest from existing taxi operators in this kind of opportunity will rekindle the calls for deregulation of the number of taxis licences available in the City.
Hopefully taxi owners will now be looking at new low emission vehicles like the Toyota Prius Plus (Alpha) 7 seater hybrid which offer low emission levels and improved fuel economy. Use on services like the 13 would be in everyones interest.

We will probably never know whether York’s new park and ride sites would have got the go ahead without the substantial subsidy that local taxpayers have now been asked to make into the project. The Wigginton Road site has been shelved but Poppleton and Askham Bar are still in the running for government funding.
Around £6 million will now come from local sources with about half of that likely to be borrowed. That means an annual cost – for principal and interest payments – of about £270,000 a year with this potentially being offset by the surplus fares income, of between £50,000 & £250,000, which may be generated from the Askham Bar and Poppleton Park sites combined.
A lot will depend on the specification for the new bus fleet which will serve these sites. The original intention was to seek ultra low emission vehicles (probably plug in hybrids) but this may not now be possible.
The A59 corridor was also to have been used to trial a bus contract which would have seen greater integration between the Park and Ride and normal bus services in the area.
Residents in Moor Lane will be wondering what the future of the existing park and ride car park will be when the site moves to Sim Hills. Originally it was assumed that Tesco would buy the site as an extension to their car park. The figures assumed by the new Council suggest that some development on the site is a possibility (subject to planning consent).
So still a lot of questions to be answered when the project gets its formal “go ahead” by central government at the end of the year.

The Council in 2004 invested in the route of the number 4 ftr bus service. It provided off street parking space with the intention of allowing public transport a “clear run” and therefore reducing journey times. This was similar in concept to what has to be done when a tram system is introduced. The carriageways on the route were also resurfaced to ensure a level ride and to avoid road works delays in future years.
Of the £1.5 million cost, only a small proportion was spent on changing the radius of some corners, an investment which was the advantage of all articulated vehicles.
The council spent nothing at all on the ftr vehicles themselves which were fully funded by First York.
The comfort and speed of the ftr service has been praised by users. The conductors are a popular and unique feature of the number 4 route, albeit they offer a facility which raises the costs of the service.
Non ftr users do criticise the bulk of the vehicle and its clumsiness in the narrower streets of the City.
While the last Liberal Democrat administration had plans to introduce low emission buses into the City, Labour talk only of scrapping the ftr. No one knows what could replace it or how such a change would be paid for? They would be wise to change their approach as the City needs more not less investment in public transport – and in the current climate funding is unlikely to come from the government.
Similarly their plan to effectively “franchise” all bus services in the City using a “contract” system would cost hundreds of thousands of pounds to set up and perhaps millions to implement. It woudl be high risk, and potentially ruinous, strategy against a background of bus use in the City still growing at 1% year on year.
The Councils time and resources would be better directed towards the promotion of low emission transport and easier payment options similar to the Oyster card system currently in use in London.

With council-funded micro grants helping 1,114 small businesses to adapt through the pandemic, the council is proposing to invest £100k to support the safe return of business-led events and festivals.

An independent evaluation of the micro grants’ impact shows that, since their introduction in March 2020, 294 businesses were saved from closure and that 635 businesses were helped to diversify or adapt their products and services.

The micro grants totalled £1.14m and supported small, micro and one-person York businesses – including self-employed people – affected by COVID-19 restrictions but not eligible for the existing Government grants. Alongside the grants, they were also given a year’s membership of the Federation of Small Businesses (FBS).

This scheme has helped protect many local jobs and support businesses to become more resilient. The scheme also inspired the Government’s own programme of Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG).

The additional expected ARG funding is set to be partly used to safely reintroduce many of the city’s regular events and festivals. Events before and after Christmas, such as the Food and Drink Festival, Ice Trail, Jorvik Viking Festival and York Design Week usually rely on sponsorship and commercial support, much of which is depleted. To support the delivery of these local business-led events across the city, the Council’s Executive will discuss allocating £100k from the ARG funding later next week.

Of the small and micro businesses which received the council’s micro grant, 30% of them were interviewed to find out about the grants’ impact. Of those interviewed:

• 35% used the grant to invest in equipment, technology or materials
• 25% used it to digitalise the business
• 17% used it for marketing
• 294 business said they’d been at risk of closing but the grant had helped them avoid that
• 57% respondents said the business provides the main household income
• 10% mentioned the positive impact the grants had had on their wellbeing
• 57% had adapted or diversified their business
• 42% had put some or all of their business online.