Changes to Stonebow bus stops

click for larger map

click for larger map

The Council is implementing changes to bus stop arrangements in the Pavement/Stonebow area.

The park and ride bus stop is being relocated to Stonebow to reduce footpath congestion, while the entrance to Whip-ma-Whop-ma-Gate is being narrowed.

The background report says,

Behind closed doors logo“The proposed alteration of the Whip-ma-Whop- ma-Gate junction will reduce the carriageway width to allow just a single exit lane. Whilst this is considered adequate to deal with traffic flows, and will bring about a number of safety improvements, there is a risk of some criticism over this change”.

No consultation with residents has taken place and he decision was taken “behind closed doors”

First announce new bus fares

From Sunday 29 September the following fares will apply on First buses in York:

• • York FirstWeek reduced to £12.00 (from £16) – a 25% cut and a saving of £4

• • York FirstMonth reduced to £44 (from £53) – a saving of £9 and now monthly (rather than for four weeks)

• • York FirstAnnual reduced to £440 (from £583) – a saving of £143

• • A new minimum single fare of £1 – meaning all York customers have access to a £1 single fare to somewhere in York

• • York FirstDay prices frozen (£3.70)

old bus

First say, “In the summer we talked extensively to our customers and partners in York and have listened to what they have said to us. Value for money was one of the major points raised and with this range of lower and more attractive fares we are giving both new and existing customers the chance to save money when they use First buses on a regular basis.

For those customers who plan ahead there are a range of savings to be made on our week, month and annual tickets. We have also looked at our single ticket structure and have offered some new cheaper fares from just £1 and will publish widely for the first time our simplified single fares structure to encourage new bus users to try the bus.

Our key message, and it came out of the public consultation, is that we should be fair. Some singles are going up but the increases are capped at 20p, while some singles are being reduced by as much as 70p. When people do have increases on singles many will still have an opportunity to pay less by buying a different type of ticket”.

Bus services

Herd of buses

First have confirmed the terminus (timing points) where their new Acomb bus services will lay over.

Service 5/5A will terminate at Front Street, (5 at The Marcia Pub, 5A at the Post Office),

The 4 will terminate at Green Lane.

First have promised to improve the prominence of the timetables for the new services on their web site.

We are expecting an announcement about fare levels tomorrow morning. See this web site for details.

Friday 13th – Looking unlucky for York Council as problems with traffic congestion and un-emptied waste bins grow.

The Council’s web site crashed for a short time as problems with traffic congestion and un-emptied waste bins mount.

Click to update

Click to update

A combination of the Lendal Bridge closure, poor weather and high traffic volumes is causing mounting delays on the northern by pass and the inner ring road.

Further congestion is expected tomorrow as the City hosts the “skyride”.

Meanwhile the backlog in emptying waste bins shows little sign of subsiding. There is talk of working on Saturday to address the backlog but how residents will be made aware of such a decision remains a mystery.

The local media have been strangely reluctant to report the scale of the problem pausing only to remind residents to put their bin out by 0700 hours – pretty much futile if the bins aren’t cleared for over 24 hours.

The Council is now saying “ on Friday 13th September some properties in the following streets did not have their garden waste collected as scheduled:

Poppleton – Streets and all streets off

• Station Road
• Longridge Lane
• Black Dykes Lane
• Main Street
• Ebor Way
• Montague Road
• Millfield Lane
• Beech Grove
• Westfield Close
• Willow Croft
• Hodgeson Lane
• The Green

Clifton – Streets and all streets off• Shipton Road
• Malton Way
• Brompton Road
• Rawcliffe Lane (part)
• Surray Way
• Filingsdale Road
• Eastholme Drive
• Northolme Drive
• Southolme Drive
• Westholme Drive
• Grasmere Grove
• Borrowdale Drive
• Westmore Drive
• Alwyne Drive
• Alwyne Grove
• Westholme Drive
• Potterdale Drive

Rawcliffe – Streets and all streets off• Bowness Drive
• Furness Drive
• Howard Drive
• Troutsdale Avenue
• Stainsdale Close
• St Marks Grove
• Bilsdale Close
• Manor Park Road
• Manor Way
• Rawcliffe Croft
• Eva Avenue
• Manor Lane
• Cobham Way
• Armstrong Way
• Conningham Avenue
• Village Street

We will return to these properties to make collections on Saturday 14th September. Please ensure that your bin is out by 7am as the crews will be returning early in the morning.

Road (Pavement) closed between Stonebow and Coppergate from Sunday

From Sunday 15 September the connecting road between Stonebow and Coppergate, will be closed for four weeks, to enable Northern Gas Networks to carry out important upgrades in the area.

Pavement will be closed to all vehicular traffic until 13 October 2013, which will mean that bus routes serving Stonebow will also be diverted and revised timetables will be in place.

Bus routes that are not diverted may still experience delays so passengers are advised to allow extra time for their journey.

At the same time bus stops at Stonebow with be upgraded as part of the £3.5 million Better Bus Area Fund, awarded by the Department of Transport in 2012.

Please check http://www.itravelyork.info/ for details of the bus diversions.

For further information, please contact BusInfo on 01904 551400 or visit the Bus Point located in the Travel Centre at York Rail Station.

Road closures for tomorrow’s (Saturday) Sky Ride York

On September 14 Sky Ride York will take to the historic streets of York. Due to the size and scale of the event there will be some temporary traffic and transport changes to ensure the safety of everyone taking part.

click for more details

click for more details

Residents and visitors are urged to make use of the city’s extensive Park and Ride network on the day, particularly by using the Park and Pedal facilities at the Designer Outlet, Grimston Bar, Rawcliffe Bar and Monks Cross.

If people are unsure on which route to take to join the Sky Ride there are two Sky Ride social rides leading into the city centre setting off from Rawcliffe Bar Park and Ride and The York Sport Village (behind Grimston Bar P&R) at 9am and 9.30am respectively. These rides will be lead by trained Sky Ride local ride leaders. For more info on the rides go to: http://www.goskyride.com/Search/
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Lendal Bridge – the unanswered questions

The Council claim to have published on their web site a complete list of answers given to question raised during their “twitter” Q & A session last week.

Problem is – they haven’t!

Amongst those still not answered are:

New speed warning sign on Tadcaster Road on the blink

A new vehicle activated speed warning sign has been installed on Tadcaster Road near its junction with Mayfield Grove.

New VAS on Tadcaster Road

New VAS on Tadcaster Road

Several dozen of the signs have been in use in York for the last 5 years. They are triggered when an approaching vehicle is detected to be over the 30 mph speed limit.

They are a warning to drivers. No details are retained by a camera.

However the new device on Tadcaster Road was today flashing a 30 mph warning message to virtually all approaching vehicles irrespective of their speed.

Those apparently exceeding the speed limit included service buses.

Local LibDem Councillor Ann Reid has raised concerns about Tadcaster Road which does have a poor speed and accident record. The Council is right to try to address these issues.

However, the new VAS was installed without any consultation and needs to be properly calibrated if it is to have any credibility.

NB. Over the last 5 months the Police camera van has caught over 200 motorists on Tadcaster Road breaking the speed limit.

Suddenly we are awash with “All York” bus ticket sales information

The Council has issued a statement saying that 12,000 “All York” teenagers’ bus tickets were sold during August.

For 12 months the Council and bus companies resisted providing any information on sales figures.

When eventually they were forced to publish them, it was revealed that sales of the taxpayer subsidised “All York” tickets were only 25% of forecast levels.

The young persons travel tickets were designed to provide cheaper fares for teenagers during the schools holidays.

children-summer-bus-tickets

The £1-30 a day tickets were a worthy project in principle which bus companies should have been happy to fund. The extra revenue, won by filling empty seats, would have more than covered their costs

However, the York Council chose to offer a 20p per journey taxpayers subsidy.

So that’s around £2,400 taxpayers have had to fork out in just 1 month for a scheme that has netted bus companies around £15,000.

One bus operator is claiming that the August sales represent a 500% increase over the previous year. Given that there wasn’t an ”All York” teenagers ticket available last year then that seems to be a spurious claim.

If the announcement heralds a more open approach by the Council to the provision of information about local bus services then that is to be welcomed.

We look forward to seeing details of service reliability published on a regular basis.