Number 4 bus returning to old route from Sunday

First York buses have announced a raft of changes to their services which will be implemented on Sunday.

The changes will see the popular number 4 service revert to its old one way “loop” using Gale Lane, Front Street, Green Lane and Tudor Road.

The lack of a two way service on Green Lane and Tudor Road will disappoint some elderly residents who appreciated being able to travel easily to the village for shopping and other purposes.

Local Councillors promised to consult on the option of retaining the longer 2 way route via Acomb Green & Ridgeway which was introduced to accommodate the use of articulated buses. These former park and ride buses, are now being redeployed elsewhere.

We have heard nothing about the results of any consultation with passengers.

Bishopthorpe Road closure set to continue for at least 2 months

Another behind closed doors decision by York Council

With almost breath taking arrogance, the York Council has issued a statement saying that the closure of the southbound lane at Bishopthorpe Road shops will continue for another 2 months.

There has been no debate about other options and a large petition – which asked for the road to be reopened – has been ignored.

No report on the success or otherwise of what the Council describes as a “trial” has been published.

One of the earliest criticisms of the scheme was that the Council had failed to identify how the success or otherwise of the project would actually be judged. It simply referred, rather loftily, to social distancing and government policy.

In reality, the array of bollards has made little difference to social distancing while the contraflow bike lane has introduced another, unwelcome, hazard for cyclists. There has been no consideration of opening up parallel routes (Darborough Street/Cherry Street & St Benedict’s Road) which would at least have provided a much shorter diversion

Bishopthorpe Road lane closure. Petition calls for lane to be reopened.

Nor has the opportunity been taken, during a relatively quiet period, to test an off peak pedestrianisation of the shops area between 10:30am and 4:00pm. Such a scheme would also have aligned with the governments policies while also providing much more room for social distancing. The impacts both economic and on transportation would have provided some real food for thought.

Too late now though, as imminent road works in the Nunnery Lane area are set to cause even bigger traffic congestion problems with the bus services one likely early victim. Works on the nearby South Bank flood alleviation scheme (subject to a planning committee decision next week) will further add to transport woes in the area.

Not content with increasing pollution levels on Scarcroft Road the new diversion via the City centre will add over a mile to some journeys.

The Council says that residents can Email them with their views. The address is Bishrd@york.gov.uk

We doubt that many will bother. Rather the pressure for the Council to adopt an open and inclusive approach to decision making will mount. The Council leadership needs to move out of its bunker mentality and start to re-engage with the local community.

We saw in 2015 what happened when a particularly stubborn administration tried to force the Lendal Bridge closure on an unwilling population.

The same will happen again unless polices and attitudes change and change quickly.

Corona Virus update – 28th March 2020

Aldi queue priorities for NHS & emergency services

Supermarket Aldi has said that nurses, police officers and firefighters will take priority in its queues.

In a statement, it said: “All day, every day, key workers in the NHS, police and fire service will take priority ahead of queues into our stores upon showing a valid ID.

“This is in addition to early access on a Sunday, where they can enter stores 30 minutes prior to opening.

Thank you from everyone at Aldi.”

York Council guidance updated

The latest council guidance can be found on this link.

Regrettably it still does not address the issue of “routine” food shopping, stock positions, “least busy time” advice and the lack of delivery & contactless payment options (other than plans to use volunteers to help the needy – see below)

A national briefing on the position at supermarkets can be found here https://brc.org.uk/news/corporate-affairs/coronavirus-latest-retailer-announcements/

Financial support for residents

The York Council have announced a details of emergency funds totalling £1.25m for residents affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Residents will be able to receive financial help from two funds, depending on their circumstances and how much help they need. The two funds are the:

Emergency hardship fund for residents affected by Covid-19
Council tax COVID-19 hardship fund

More information at at www.york.gov.uk/coronavirus

York Council community response and hubs

“We have invited people in need to contact us via the council’s standard number as well as via covid19help@york.gov.uk Calls are being dealt with by the Customer Centre (now operating 7 days a week). Any requests for help that fall outside of normal service requests are being forwarded to a unit that we have established to respond to individual need. We are dealing with a wide range of requests for help. We are responding according to the nature of the need, for example:

Referring to a voluntary organisation providing a relevant service
Sending a volunteer to do shopping for the individual
Arranging a delivery of food via the foodbank
Arranging delivery of food that we have procured
Arranging follow-up welfare calls using volunteers
Linking the individual into the local Facebook groups

To support this effort we are in daily contact with all the relevant voluntary organisations to understand their needs as well as what they have to offer. We are working particularly closely with the foodbank to focus on food issues to understand demand and adapt our approach accordingly.

Our response will now be bolstered through the establishment of community hubs. The hubs are part of the city’s co-ordinated response to the COVID-19 emergency. They are not open to the public and are at strategic locations around the city. In the first instance these respond to the government’s requirement to deliver food to the “medically shielded” (we will be provided with a list of who these people are) prior to a national door to door delivery system kicking in. We expect our first delivery of food imminently to our central warehouse. Our hubs will also provide a safety net for this system should any individual be missed. 10 hubs are now ready to pack food into boxes as soon as it is delivered. A further 14 can be opened if required”.

Homeless support

We are aware of the government’s announcement about how council’s should be supporting homeless people. People sleeping rough in the city are among the most vulnerable in the city and it is important for their immediate and long-term health to get them into accommodation. We have accommodation for those who are still outside. From there, we can provide them regularly with food and support for their other needs.The Government has asked us to triage people to different location according to any underlying health issues and we’re working on this. More information on our support we are offering was outlined in our press release from earlier this week.

Business support

The business briefing includes how we’ve worked with Make it York, York BID and the LEPs to make the case for small employer support, and are raising some teething issues with over government-backed loans with the British Business Bank. Now we are asking businesses to tell us what other support their business needs by completing this short survey from Make it York – whether they are a member or not.

Mental wellbeing

Public Health England has tailored Every Mind Matters to provide advice and tips on how to manage anxiety during social distancing and isolation. People can find guidance, advice and tips on how to maintain mental wellbeing while at home or are worried and anxious about the outbreak is the NHS site.

Service changes

Register office

As of Monday 30 March, York Register Office is closed to the public following the Coivd-19 pandemic. Following Government guidance we are now asking people to register a death by telephone. If you have been given a medical certificate of cause of death from a doctor, you will need to deliver this to the Register Office (post through the letter box) or post the certificate to us.

Before delivering or posting please ensure you add the following details, clearly, on the medical certificate of cause of death (MCCD) envelope:

name of the person who will register the death
a contact number and email address for the person who will be registering the death
the name of the funeral director (if known)

Once we have received the MCCD we will call you to arrange the registration. If you have not received a MCCD from the doctor, please call 01904 654477 or email registrar@york.gov.uk. We apologise for any inconveninence.

Changes to public transport

Following the Covid-19 pandemic City of York Council have worked with York’s bus and train operators to ensure key workers and people making essential journeys are still able to get in and around the city.

After the Government announced guidelines stopping all but essential travel the number of people using bus and train services in the city has dropped substantially. In light of this we have worked with operators to remove non-essential services. We are also reminding those who are travelling need to consider social distancing whilst they move around.

Bus services:

Bus operators and the council have looked at bus usage over the past week after restrictions were put in place to assess what trips are required for key workers, essential journeys, and also to gauge demand levels so services can operate within social distancing guidelines. Most services are continuing to run, but on a less frequent timetable. Some services will stop where there are other options for travellers. Specific changes are:

Park and ride services from Askham Bar, Poppleton Bar and Grimston Bar will cease from Sunday. FirstYork will take park and ride tickets on adjacent services on their town network (for example, service 12 for Askham Bar, service 10 from Poppleton Bar and Grimston Bar). The park and ride services from the Designer Outlet, Rawcliffe Bar and Monks Cross will continue to run, although at a half hourly frequency. The car parks at Grimston Bar and Poppleton Bar will be closed, although the car park at Askham Bar will remain open. The Hospital Shuttle Bus from Rawcliffe Bar will continue to run.
“Local” services in York will run at a reduced frequency. Most of First’s network will operate at a half hour frequency, with half-hourly services becoming approximately hourly. Service 13 (Connexions) will run hourly. Service 20 every 2 hours, with frequency reductions also on services 24/25/26. Service 19 will cease to operate, although its stops in Rawcliffe and Clifton will be served by the Hospital Shuttle Bus.
CitySightseeing services will not operate.

Longer distance services are also effected.

Coastliner services are combined with Cityzap and will operate every hour. Service 415 to Selby will operate every hour, services from East Yorkshire have also been reduced. Services 22, 30, 40 and 412 will operate but at reduced frequencies.

Bus users are asked to check operator websites before they travel for the most up to date information. These can be accessed via itravel York website www.itravelyork.info Whilst these temporary changes are in place bus timetable apps and screens will not be displaying the correct information.

Rail services:

Train companies are now offering a reduced service – ensuring key workers are still able to travel as required. Timetables changes will be introduced from Sunday and full details are available via the National Rail Journey Planner and train operating company websites

Car parking:

A reminder that free car parking for key workers and food workers:

Key workers who work in the NHS or are health and social care related services or work in supermarkets and food outlets without parking (this does not include takeaways) will be able to park for free in council car parks to support the fantastic work they are doing during the corona virus pandemic. Our only ask is that they put in the windscreen a letter on their employers headed paper confirming that they are a key worker in one of the services mentioned above.

During the outbreak the council are mindful that people may not be able to move their car whilst they self-isolate some discretion is being shown to people who park legally provided they are not causing an obstruction or wilfully breaking the law. Any urgent enquiries on this can be sent to parking@york.gov.uk where officers will get back to you as soon as possible.

Please note Fossbank and Piccadilly car parks are currently closed.

Healthy child service

In line with government advice, a few changes have been made to our healthy child service offer.

New parents will still be offered a face to face visit from a Health Visitor when they have been discharged by the midwife. Health visitors will call before they visit to ask about symptoms of coronavirus in the household. Health Visitors can support new parents with feeding, help to understand baby’s communication cues and answer questions relating to baby’s health, safety and development.

Health visitors and school nurses can still be contacted by phone and are on hand to provide advice and support. Please do not come to the centres, we will contact you by phone and visit only if it is essential and safe to do so.

The team can support over the phone with behaviour, toileting, sleep, healthy eating, ideas for activities during isolation and lots more.

Young people can contact the school nurses confidentially by text or call on 07833 437363 Monday- Friday 08:30-17:00

Our health visitors and school nurses can be called (Monday to Friday 8.30am -5pm) on:

The Avenues children’s centre 01904 551760
Clifton Children’s centre 01904 552322
Hob Moor children’s centre 01904 555475

York Council consults on Wigginton Road improvements

Plans include rebuilding the junction between Haxby Road, Wigginton Road and Clarence Street and replacing the existing mini-roundabout between Wigginton Road and Fountayne Street with a new junction.

This will help to:

reduce journey times for traffic, particularly buses, on Wigginton Road
improve pavements and crossings – and create larger pedestrian islands at the Haxby Road/ Wigginton Road/ Clarence Street junction
replace the traffic signals at the Haxby Road, Wigginton Road, Clarence Street junction.

To submit feedback on the proposals email buses@york.gov.uk or post responses to Julian Ridge, Better Bus Area Manager, City of York Council, West Offices, York, YO1 6GA – by Sunday 2 September 2018.

Further information about the proposals, including plans, can be found at www.itravelyork.info (apparently) . Or, view the FAQs below.
(more…)

York Council seeks views on new “Clean Air Zone” for York’s city centre

As part of this consultation, a drop-in event is taking place on Monday 23 July between 3- 6pm at West Offices, where officers will be on-hand to answer any questions and provide more information about the proposals.

Unlike other parts of the country where a Clean Air Zone is a mandatory requirement, the council is proactively looking to introduce the new zone.

This will help to reduce the amount of traffic pollutants in York’s city centre, which are mainly caused by diesel vehicles.

The council is looking at many ways to improve air quality in the city centre. One of these options is by working with bus operators to apply the proposed Clean Air Zone to local bus services.

The authority knows (through York’s Third Air Quality Action Plan) that local bus services make up three per cent of the traffic but cause 27 per cent of the main pollutants in York.

The survey is available to complete at www.york.gov.uk/consultations. Alternatively ask for a paper copy at West Offices.

To find out more about which bus services could be affected, or for more background on this proposal, visit: http://democracy.york.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=733&MId=10195

Those reading the background reports may be disappointed by the lack of information on pollution trends in the City (Euro 6 standards are already prompting improvements) while auto idling devices are fitted to all new vehicles.
(more…)

York bus services back in the firing line?

New Rougier Street bus shelter

The York Council, as part of a “Clean Air Day”, is claiming that users of 75 cars could be accommodated on one double decker. Maybe so, but if they choose to wait at the new bus shelter on Rougier Street they will find that the real time information about bus services has disappeared.

Failure to roll out the electronic information screens to more stops has been a failing of the Council.

There are none at bus stops on Tadcaster Road which accommodate the, otherwise successful, inter city services.

Busy stops in the Acomb area have never had them.

They may be needed more and more as, following a good year in 2017 with high passenger numbers and record-breaking approval ratings in surveys, the service quality seems to be falling away again. This is mainly down to reliability with some buses being dropped without warning.

Back to the “Clean Air Day” and the Councils frankly disingenuous “on line” survey. The survey purports to ask residents whether they favour the use of lower emission buses on, and within, the inner ring road.

No prizes for the likely answer to that question. Might as well ask if residents would prefer have hemlock added to the water supply!

Generally, air quality in York has improved in recent years with cleaner vehicles making their way onto the streets. York already has some electric buses operating on Park and Ride routes. This will reach 100% shortly following a government grant decision.

The latest Euro 6 specifications substantially reduce emission levels on new diesel buses. However, Euro 6 buses cost £250,000 each meaning that upgrading just the First fleet in York would require investment of £17.5 million.

Having raised the possibility of access for only the least polluting buses by 2020, the Council singularly fails to tell residents how much a forced modernisation programme would cost and who would pay?

One of the questions implies that the change could mean a substantial increase in fares.

Another option for bus companies seeking to pay for the minimum £15,000 per bus cost of modifications to just exhaust systems, would be for them to withdraw services from less well used routes.

The Council can’t fund additional social bus services, so the consequence would be dozens, perhaps hundreds, of more cars on City streets.

Quite the reverse of what the Council hopes to achieve.

The Council needs a well thought through and costed modernisation programme for public transport in the City. Sloganising simply clouds the decision making process.

Changes to traffic arrangements near Hospital on Wigginton Road

A meeting next week will consider plans to reduce bus journey times on Wigginton Road. There is a congestion black-spot near the hospital which may be made worse as more homes are built on land next to Nestle.

Wigginton Road mini roundabout set to be removed

A Council report says,

“Observation, analysis of bus journey time data and modelling all indicate that, since the improvements made at the Clarence Street/ Lord Mayor’s Walk junction, the worst source of unreliability for buses on the corridor is found on the stretch of Wigginton Road between the Crichton Avenue bridge and the Wigginton Road/ Haxby Road/ Clarence Street junction.

The delays are particularly severe at Hospital shift start and end times. At these times it usually takes around 8 minutes (and sometimes much longer) for buses to cover the 1.5 km between Crichton Avenue and the Bootham/ Gillygate junction – an average speed of 7mph”.

The proposals involve:

Remodelling the Wigginton Road/ Haxby Road/ Clarence Street junction (as shown in figure 1) to prioritise Wigginton Road traffic (saving of up to 20 seconds);

Replacing the existing mini-roundabout at the junction between Fountayne Street, Wigginton Road and the Hospital’s northern access road with a conventional give way junction

A council report says, “(saving of up to 10 seconds); and

Working with the bus operators to reduce the amount of time buses wait at the Fountayne Street pair of stops – by making changes to their fares structures and timing points so that vehicles no longer have to wait time at these stops (saving of up to 10 seconds)

Consultation on the plan will take place in the summer with a budget of £250,000 being set aside for implementation later in the year.

One major issue is likely to be the effect that the changes would have on the accessibility of the Hospital

Bus servics 3. 4 and 9 return to Railway Station route

According to the First website there are changes to the diversion put in place to avoid the Lendal Gyratory roadworks

From Sat 3rd March

Lendal Gyratory

From Saturday 3rd March, there will be revisions to the diversions for the roadworks on Lendal Gyratory.

This is because the roadworks are moving to the Station Avenue/Leeman Road junction and what was planned to be the most disruptive phase of the roadworks has now finished and did not cause as many issues as anticipated. However, the gyratory will not be able to cope with all services returning to normal.

Services 3, 4 and 9

Will revert to normal running

NB. Apparently 3s and 4s are back to their normal route to serve the Station today (Thursday)

Services 59 and 66

Remain on current diversions

These diversions will remain in operation until further notice but may change again as we assess the extent of the disruption.

Modern bus on number 4 route today

Most modern looking bus in York since underrated ftr scraped.

A modern double deck bus is being used in the City at the moment. It replaces some hybrid models which have been sent to Ireland for modification.

It was operating on the number 4 route earlier today.

The new bus is understood to be a Wright Streetdeck. It has stop/start technology to reduce carbon emissions.

It achieves Euro 6 emissions standards.

All aboard the new Routemaster - it's big, red and made in Britain

Controversial New Routemaster bus in London. Hybrid technology but now overtaken by “all electric” vehicles. Problems with high temperatures on the top deck and now doors stay closed on “jump on fall off” rear platform

The latest Streetdeck model uses some of the technology which was deployed on the London Transport “New Routemaster” a couple of years ago.

Wrights says that “The ride characteristics of the new StreetDeck are excellent thanks to advanced axle and suspension systems.”

“An improved airflow throughout both salons has been achieved, along with reduced solar gain in the upper saloon. Whilst improvements in areas such as cab door lock design, wireless bell pushes and revised hand pole fixings illustrate the attention to detail that has characterised the whole product development programme”.

York set to implement UK’s first Clean Air Zone

Electric buses have been introduced in York

Proposals for York’s first Clean Air Zone, the first in the UK, are due to be considered by the Council’s Executive on the 25^th January.

The Clean Air Zone, or CAZ, will seek to reduce emissions from buses in the City and further tackle poor air quality in York and include a single ultra-low emissions standard for the majority of vehicles operating on local bus services.

Furthermore, within the CAZ are measures to deter drivers who leave their engines idling in the City centre and potential enforcement options to back this.

Plans to fine drivers £20 if they leave their vehicle engines running are likely to be unpopular.

The Liberal Democrats have been continuously working to tackle the issue of poor air quality in York for many years and with Liberal Democrat input, the Clean Air Zone will also seek to recognise and address particulate pollution caused by tyres and break pads – An issue recently raised by the Government’s top environment adviser, Professor Frank Kelly.

To kick-start it’s implementation, a consultation is being requested from Executive, with aims to introduce the CAZ by 2020. Furthermore, the Executive are also to consider the inclusion of an improved single ultra-low emissions standard for the majority of vehicles operating on the City’s local bus services.

Cllr Andrew Waller said:

“In the Clean Air Zone, we will be targeting the most frequent buses coming into the city centre to reduce nitrogen dioxide but also looking at ways to build on the work done to reduce emissions from other vehicles.

This is the first Executive report which recognises the issue of particulate matter caused by tyres and break pads which is increasing in public awareness.

With its inclusion, the Clean Air Zone, if approved, will produce a more comprehensive plan to reduce pollution in the City centre and York can truly lead the fight against poor air quality. It builds on the work done during York’s participation in the first national Clean Air Day, which was held on June 15^th this year and promoted sustainable transport and tackling idling engines.

The Liberal Democrats will continue to monitor the development of a Clean Air Zone for York and champion a better local environment for all.”