As cycling fever moves up a gear in Yorkshire after the grandest Grand Depart the Tour de France has ever seen, residents and visitors will be able to see all the action from the final two stages on a large screen in St Sampson’s Square this weekend.
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Sparse crowd for Grand Departy
Cllr Crisp faces a grilling at the next Council meeting about her decision to add the “Grand Departy” event to the Tour de France programme.
The event was poorly supported by York residents with only around 1000 of the 10,000 tickets sold.
The event was dogged by inadequate planning with a License application only granted at the last minute.
Now LibDem Councillor Ian Cuthbertson has tabled a question for the next Council meeting (17th July) in the following terms.
“Regarding the “Grand Departy” held at Huntington Stadium on 4th July, how much was spent on this event (broken down by artist fees, charity contributions, equipment hire, stadium costs, traffic management, staffing costs, hospitality etc), how much income was derived (broken down by ticket sales, sponsorship etc), and who took the decision – and when – to add this event to the Tour de France calendar?”
Some leaks from West Offices are putting losses on the event as high as £100,000.
If the figure is correct, then it is likely to lead to calls for the Cabinet member to resign.
1.An amazing – if fleeting – spectacle.
2. France is now officially our second favourite country.
3. New 7 year old boys job ambition – become a NY Police motorcyclist
4. People seen dancing in the street are probably Skoda sales reps
5. Expect big increase in lycra sales. People who have recently finished crash diets should remember that the material will not stretch infinitely.
6. Many York residents believe cyclists can navigate through a 12 inch wide gap. Comes from a long tradition of avoiding cyclists on footpaths.
7. TdF competitors cycled the wrong way down one way streets during pedestrian hours. Another York tradition respected.
8. We were wrong about the “unfinished” landscaping next to the Poppleton Park and Ride site. It was part of a cunning plan to provide a grandstand for spectators.
9. The Councils decision to switch off the parking space availability information on its web site simply added to the air of mystery for visitors in the City.
10. Amongst the best publicity that a region has ever received. Almost certainly good news for the tourist industry. But the time for a final judgement will come in 12 months.
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Sparse crowd for Grand Departy
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Full litter bins and detritus on river banks
Highlights include:
Friday 4 – Sunday 6 July
· York Curiouser explores the city centre through contemporary art interventions in colour, texture and word
· Boulevard St Leonard’s will have themed pavement cafés, French decoration and music. Plus, Maintenant (Now) is a sound installation of 100 sounds of Paris and 100 sounds of York – Now! Both are commissioned by Yorkshire Air Museum and York Theatre Royal. www.yorkshireairmuseum.org/ and http://festival.yorkshire.com/events/boulevard-st-leonard
· 60 stunning 15-feet long mediaeval-style banners created by 50 community groups and hung from the city walls from the Lendal Bridge archway to Bishophill via Micklegate bar
· Sonnet Walks involve a collection of costumed characters performing Shakespeare sonnets and speeches around the city centre. http://www.yorkshakespeareproject.org/
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With millions expected to line the route of the Tour de France this weekend, First is putting in place the final preparations for the local bus and Park&Ride network around York on Sunday 6 July.
Bus stuck during previous TdF race
Due to road closures some routes will also need to be diverted or altered and customers are encouraged to plan well ahead by visiting firstgroup.com/tourdefrance for all the details. Details of changes to routes, stops and services can also be seen around the city centre on notices at bus stops and information displayed on real time screens.
As a result of the route taken by the race, First’s cross-city services will be split and some will be diverted with buses starting and finishing at one of three bus hubs, Fishergate, Hungate & the Station.
First has worked closely with City of York Council to also provide more Park & Ride journeys with services starting from 6am – three and a half hours earlier than on a normal Sunday. In addition, Askham Bar, Grimston Bar and Rawcliffe Bar Park & Ride sites will open from 4am to allow people to arrive early.
Park&Ride sites provide services every 10 minutes with great value fares (returns costing £2.70 from the terminal to the city centre, with up to 2 children travelling free with each adult). More information is available yorkparkandride.co.uk. Due to the route taken by the race the Poppleton Bar Park&Ride will not be operating on Sunday 6th July..
First is also providing extra buses across the York network on existing routes providing more capacity and allowing for slightly longer journeys in some cases to take into account diversions and additional road traffic. Many services will also start earlier on the morning of Sunday 6 July to accommodate the extra demand.
As well as additional driving roles, First staff will be working across the network and behind the scenes to ensure the event is a success. First is also preparing spare buses ready at key locations across Yorkshire to meet any other transport requirements.
Additional late evening services will operate on the Monks Cross Park & Ride on Friday 4th July to cater for the ‘Grand Departy’ concert at Huntington Stadium. The last bus back to the City will depart from Monks Cross Park & Ride site at 11.30pm. Services will run as normal on Saturday 5 July and Monday 7th July.
Customers are encouraged to keep in touch with travel updates over the weekend by using twitter on @YorkTravel
Will Pearson, Business Manager of First in York added: The Tour de France, Grand Depart is a fabulous opportunity to showcase Yorkshire and we’ve worked closely with partners including City of York Council to support our existing bus network and introduce extra services to help transport existing and new customers. There will be some disruption to the bus network but by planning ahead customers can find out what alternatives are available and ensure they enjoy this
The York Council has abandoned any hope of getting the Poppleton Bar Park and Ride site finished before the Tour de France riders pass the site on Sunday morning.
Poppleton Bar park and ride site
They are currently desperately planting yellow flowers on the nearby roundabout no doubt to mollify the sponsors who are probably seething at the delays. The work is adding to the high congestion levels on the A1237.
The Council is likely to be asked to publish the minutes of any contract progress meetings that responsible Cabinet members (Merrett and more recently Levene) have held since February when it became clear that the original target completion date of 1st April would not be met.
Elsewhere the Council says that sales of Grand Departy tickets for Fridays concert are “brisk”. However they have reduced the number available from 10,000 to 5000 and now say that you can turn up and pay on the day. There has been no comment from the Cabinet member (Crisp) who is responsible for this particular flop.
Otherwise York residents have been advised to brace themselves for 3 hours of fame and turmoil on Sunday morning.
The timetable of events suggests that the cyclists will leave the racecourse at 11:00am.
The Spectator Hubs are situated at Huntington Stadium, Rowntree Park and the Designer Outlet and all are free and unticketed. Tickets for a fourth Hub at York Racecourse were issued earlier this year and were snapped up within hours. The Hubs will open at 8am (7am at the Racecourse) until approximately 7.30pm and all will have catering, entertainment, a Sports Activation Zone to explore York’s cycling and other sporting opportunities as well as large viewing screens for the sporting action.
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#York Tour de France Free Tickets Being Sold on E-Bay http://t.co/iqW2qg3Da1 #tdf2014
— Minster FM (@minsterfm) June 30, 2014
The Park and Ride service was opened prematurely by the Council 3 weeks ago although essential signage, traffic signals, parking bays, landscaping and improvements to the A1237/A59 junction had not been completed.
Not surprisingly, despite the novelty of being able to ride on the City’s first electric buses, user numbers have been very low.
Most bus services are running empty.
By Saturday evening carriageway surfacing had been completed near the roundabout but lane restrictions remain in place as work to access footpaths and the cycle path has yet to be finished.
The Park and Ride site itself resembles the set of Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
It will present a poor backdrop for the TV pictures of the Tour de France riders who are scheduled to pass the site next Sunday morning.
TV coverage is scheduled to be beamed world wide and was one of the main reasons given by the Council for its £1.6 million investment in the event.
The Council has failed to provide any explanation for the latest delays nor for its decision to open the Park and Ride facility before work was completed.
The failure is the latest in a sting of misadventures which saw that Council forced to abandon plans to turn Monk Stray into a camping site and which has seen very low ticket sales for their highly expensive Grand Departee concert being held at Huntington Stadium on Friday.
They have, however, now added the popular local band HUGE to the concert programme no doubt ensuring that the Council’s propaganda machine will be able to refer to a huge attendance at the event!
The school project, organised by the council’s sport and active leisure team, has a theme of ‘Tour de France: What path will you take?’ and will see 110 white canvas banners decorated by school children.
The banners will be returned to the school that made them after the event as a memento of the day. The schools taking part are Badger Hill Primary School, Carr Infant School, Dringhouses Primary School, Elvington CE Primary School, Fishergate Primary School, Headlands Primary School, Heworth Primary School, Hob Moor Community Primary School, Huntington Primary School, Knavesmire Primary School, New Earswick Primary School, Osbaldwick Primary School, Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Roman Catholic Primary, Ralph Butterfield Primary School, Robert Wilkinson Primary School, Rufforth Primary School, St Aelred’s Roman Catholic Primary School, St Lawrence’s Church of England Primary School, Tang Hall Primary School, Westfield Primary Community School, Wigginton Primary School and Woodthorpe Primary School.
The Sport Activation Zone at York Racecourse Spectator Hub is open to everyone who has a ticket. They will be able to find out more about cycling, sport and health opportunities in the city. Visitors will be able to try different sports, pick up healthy living information and enter free, fun activity challenges.