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.

Bus reliability in York – silence continues

The Council continues only to make annual bus reliability figures available for passengers in the city.

At the last Council meeting Cllr Merrett confirmed that 1 in 5 buses were unreliable

“In the City of York area, 81% of the city’s non-frequent services (5 or fewer services per hour) ran on time (between 59 seconds early and 5 mins 59 secs late) in 2011/12.

In 2012/13, the equivalent figure was 82%”.

However it has subsequently been admitted that this is a single day sample and may bear little resemblance to the service experienced by users on most days of the year.

The Council is still resisting publishing reliability data even at a monthly level.

Such figures would at least give passengers an insight into how services vary from one season to the next.

The lack of information contrasts with the requirements placed on Train Operating Companies who are forced to publish data on a regular basis.

It is likely that this issue will be referred to the new Transport Secretary Baroness Kramer with a request that she intervene and set out a good practice guide.

Revised York bus timetables on First web site …… but still no reliability info

The detailed new bus timetables – which will be introduced on Sunday – can now be viewed on the First web site.

However, the Council continues to refuse to release information about bus service reliability in the City.

Ironically a meeting is taking place today which talks about the importance of “journey planning”. It seeks to promote increased bus use but develops acute myopia on the issue of service reliability information.

Uncertainty is the single factor most likely to cause potential bus users to instead opt for the car.

The Council in response to the latest Freedom of Information request, says that it has entered into a confidentiality agreement with the local bus companies.

It receives reliability data but the council claims that it is prevented, by the terms of the agreement, from sharing the information with passengers.

Only an annual reliability figure is published and that on an obscure DPT web site. The latest (2011/12) figures suggest that around 80% of York services run on time.

Incredibly even reliability data on services paid for by the Council taxpayer (around £800,000 is paid out in subsidies each year) is not published.

What has compounded the mistake has been a decision to cease independent checks of service reliability. These would not be covered by the data sharing protocol and could – as happened in the period up to 2011 – be published. Labour stopped the checks shortly after taking office.

The so called data sharing protocol is effectively a restrictive practice. which is to the disadvantage of the taxpayer and bus passenger.

It is likely that – unless more information is offered – that an appeal to the Information Commissioner (and possibly the Ombudsman) may be lodged.

In the mean time the governments Transport Minister is being urged to introduce regulations which require all public transport providers to publish the same quality of service information which rail operators have been forced to do for over a decade.

Over 12 months ago the Minister responsible urged the Council to start providing more quality of service information.