Most vehicle information signs in York not working

A report published today reveals that most of the variable message signs (VMS) in York are no longer working.

There are a total of 46 signs in the City with 20 located on the Outer Ring Road, 6 on the approaches to the inner ring road plus 21 which indicate car park space availability.

The signs were installed between 1998 and 2003 but have fallen into disuse partly because some of the electrical components are now obsolete.

The Council was criticised in 2013 for allowing the signs to deteriorate and for discontinuing its “on line” car parking space availability monitor.

A meeting taking place next week will consider how to modernise the signs using LED technology.

The cost of £6000 each, means that a total budget of £275,000 would be needed to refurbish all signs. Only £90,000 is available, although it would be possible to reallocate funds from other projects – such as the plan to continue to provide free bus travel for teenagers (replacing it with a half price fare offer) – to get the signs back into service sooner

The current plan is for the car park space availability signs to be renewed over a period of 3 years.

Information signs on the northern by-pass will be “mothballed”. They may be reactivated as and when the A1237 is dualled. Officials claim that satellite technology systems now provide better and more up to date information (although not generally on car parking space availability or “off route” blockages)

NB. The same meeting will consider an objection to a plan to change parking restrictions in Burdyke Avenue

Behind closed doors York Council decision rules out new parking curbs near Gale Lane/Front Street junction

Dozens of traffic and parking decisions affecting whole City taken at secret session

Gale Lane Front Street click to enlarge

The Council has published a report reviewing parking arrangements near the Gale Lane/Front Street junction.

The report follows complaints about obstructions being caused to traffic generally, and bus services in particular, by vehicles parking on the carriageway and adjacent footpaths. Some of the problems were apparently being caused by delivery vans visiting the Gale Farm surgery.

The request for action were turned down at a secret meeting with the reports only being published publicly after decisions had already been taken.

Sadly this continues the practice of preventing residents from making representations, before decisions are taken, started in 2011. Despite public claims from the Council Leadership about their commitment to open government, this practise has still not been changed.

There is really no reason why agendas and reports can’t be published at least a week before a meeting takes place. This would give affected residents an opportunity to write to the Council giving their views, if they chose to.

Changes to traffic arrangements in every ward in the City were considered by the same meeting (and not pre publicised).

Click the links below for details
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University Road safety improvements

A report outlining proposed additional safety enhancements to University Road will go to the Decision Session for the Executive Member for Transport and Planning on 10 September.

The proposals include adding two extra pairs of speed cushions to further help enforce the local 20mph speed limit in the area. The limit was introduced in the first phase to help increase pedestrian safety when crossing the road. It is also proposed that a central crossing point is added to the existing speed table near to the bus stop to make it easier and safer for pedestrians to cross the road.

These amendments follow on from the original scheme of work that was carried out in the autumn of 2014 which saw improvements to bus stops, a 20mph zone introduced and the construction of a shared use pedestrian and cycle path.

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Tiger spotted on Jockey Lane

A report outlining proposed safety improvements for both pedestrians and cyclists using Jockey Lane will go to the Decision Session for the Executive Member for Transport and Planning on 10 September.

The proposals include the installation of York’s first “Tiger” pedestrian and cyclist crossing

Tiger cycle and pedestrian crossing. click to access

The report outlines proposals to widen the existing footway allowing the creation of a missing section of shared use pathway between Forge Close on the south side and the delivery access to Sainsbury’s on the north side.

It is also proposed that either a Toucan crossing or Zebra crossing is installed near to the delivery access of Sainsbury’s and Huntington House. If a Zebra crossing is installed this could then be changed to a Tiger Crossing when new legislation comes in to place. This would allow cyclists to also use the crossing without dismounting and would further help to link the two sections of off-road cycle path. The bus stops in the area will also be relocated away from the crossing to further improve safety.

It is also recommended that if a Zebra crossing is chosen that the saving is used to help fund the resurfacing of Jockey Lane from Kathryn Avenue to New Lane. This is based on a view that the whole road condition needs to be improved and there would be an economy of scale in the surfacing contractor being commissioned to do more work.

Cllr Ian Gillies, Executive Member for Transport and Planning, said: “It is important that we work to link up sections of the existing pedestrian and cycle network to help encourage sustainable and healthy modes of travel. This helps to offer a real alternative to single occupancy car journeys in and around York.”

After consulting with North Yorkshire Police they are in favour of the changes and highlight that Zebra crossing currently have a lower accident rate than Toucan crossings.

To attend the meeting or to find out more information please visit http://democracy.york.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=738&MId=9028&Ver=4

Set back for electric buses in York?

There are calls for electric buses to be removed from York roads until the cause of today’s fire in one of the vehicles has been traced.

The affected vehicles only joined Firsts fleet a short time ago but any incident like this is likely to dent passengers confidence.

York Press:

The fire occurred in the Hungate area. At one point there was a small explosion. Firefighters were initially hindered by high electric currents in the vehicle

The bus driver has been praised for promptly ensuring that his passengers evacuated the vehicle. There were no reported injuries.

School pupils encouraged to become Modeshift STARS

The scheme aims to encourage pupils, parents and staff to travel to and from school using sustainable travel.

The Modeshift STARS scheme is an on-line tool showcasing green travel options that also recognises schools that are working hard not only to encourage parents and staff to travel to school more sustainably but use sustainable transport as part of their curriculum activities.

The aim of the project is to increase the number of people walking and cycling to school, and reducing congestion during the school run making it safer for everyone.

Schools taking part in Modeshift STARS work towards a national award which recognises the continuing efforts a school makes to increase sustainable travel by the whole school community.

Jonathan Green, Head Teacher for Archbishop of York Junior school said: “Modeshift STARS has brought our whole school community together. It is a brilliant scheme that has encourages us to really look positively at how we travel to school and how we take responsibility for our village.”

For more information on Modeshift STARS visit http://www.itravelyork.info/for-schools/travel-planning/stars. For more information on sustainable travel in York visit www.itravelyork.info

More City centre cycle parking required

One of the quickest – and cheapest – ways of reducing traffic congestion in York is to encourage more people to walk or cycle when making short journeys.

The promotion of cycling has been a Council objective for over 15 years. Encouraging more people to cycle has played its part in preventing traffic congestion getting worse in the City (despite what some may claim, journey times have actually changed little over the past decade).

FULL cycle racks in parliament Street

The last government provided the City with £4.6 million and an opportunity to make a major investment in sustainable transport. We think that the Council got its priories wrong when it spent over £1 million on a cycle path in the Clifton Moor area running parallel to the A1237. Several months after it was opened there is precious little evidence that it is being used to any extent.

There is a lesson for the Council in this.

FULL – Davygate cycle racks

People will use a bicycle for certain types of journey but they want off road cycle paths to be safe, to follow the shortest possible route and to end at a popular destination.

A few years ago the Council decided to route a cycle path around the perimeter of Hob Moor. There was a clear “desire line” running from Thanet Road to the railway underpass. It was argued that a cycle path running across the middle of the moor would have disturbed ground nesting birds.

However a few years later and, although the bitmaced path is well used, the desire line continues to attract large numbers of pedestrians as well as some cyclists.

Effectively the wildlife faced a “double whammy”.

If the Council seeks, and is allocated, more sustainable transport funding then it will need to be smarter about how it uses it.

One obvious deficiency is the lack of cycle parking in the City centre.

Empty market stalls

A convenient and secure place to leave a cycle will be a top priority for most cyclists. On days when the weather is fine there are few cycle rack spaces available. Cyclists chain their bikes to a wide variety of bits of street furniture. Inevitably some are vandalised and the wrecked bike often remains for weeks as a testament to neglect while posing a minor threat to passing pedestrians.

Unused area near M & S

To often parked cycles detract for the appearance of our historic streetscape.

There is, however, space available for more parking in many areas including the in the Shambles market area.

Limited use of market area

Demountable cycle barriers (which retract into the footpath when an area is required for a special event) are one option that could be trialled.

Investment of this sort is one of the most economical ways of encouraging people to leave their cars at home.

Cycle parking next to historic buildings

It merits the allocation of more resources than ill considered gimmicks like “congestion commissions”.

Join residents and businesses in the BIG York Challenge!

The i-Travel York BIG Challenge started on Monday 1 June and offers prizes to those who clock up the most journeys using different modes of sustainable travel during the six-week period, plus weekly prize draws for taking part.

This can include walking, running, cycling, scooting, skating, bus, train, park & ride, park & pedal, car sharing, electric car, teleconferencing or working from home, so almost everyone should be able to join in.
Some of the city’s largest employers have joined, including York College, The Vangarde Shopping Park and Aviva.

Registering is simple via: www.itravelyork.info/bigchallenge

The BIG Challenge is being run by Sustrans, the national sustainable transport charity, in partnership with i-Travel York.
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Congestion “Commission” was an expensive gimmick

Although there has been no official statement from the new coalition rulers at the York Council, it seems likely that plans to establish a “congestion commission” will be scrapped when it holds its first Executive meeting on 25^th June.

The Council leadership are right to get some of the detritus that it inherited, from the last administration, out of the way quickly.

Similar statements of intent would be welcome on issues such as the future of the Guildhall, the Knights rugby club, Coppergate fines. Oliver House etc.

Coppergate – Time to move on

The “Commission” idea was floated by a discredited administration which was desperately trying to recover from the Lendal Bridge shambles. Rather than face the criticism that is usually attached to taking any decision about transport in the City, Labour hoped to deflect the odium onto third parties. Hence the establishment of a Commission which would no doubt have agonised again about congestion charging and the like.

The debates would have been at a huge cost to taxpayers – £135,000 was quoted.

The Council already has a transport plan. It was agreed in 2011 and offers a balance of initiatives aimed at reducing congestion. It needs updating, not least because the decision to bring a trial cross river access restriction forward from 2025 to 2013 has seriously damaged its credibility.

But any transport strategy has to be affordable. With dualling of the northern by pass still elusively outside the resources of even the “combined authority”, talk of trams, tubes, extra river bridges and river buses would be just that – talk.

A1237 dualling still illusive

Any updated transport plan needs to build on what has been successful over the past decade when congestion levels have remained more or less stable.

There has been some modal shift to cycles and walking. Buses were becoming more popular until Labour made the grand gesture of evicting the ftr without having anything half as attractive to passengers to substitute, while new roundabouts on the A1237 have eased bottlenecks.

Now Labour have played an old – and discredited card – when claiming that “80 people a year” die in York as a result of poor air quality. This was the favourite claim of former transport chief Dave Merrett who – after much pressing – admitted that the figure was simply a local extrapolation of national respiratory death statistics.

No one knows how many local deaths, through respiratory diseases, are caused by the pollutants emitted by vehicles (or industry for that matter) but most would, no doubt, support verifiable actions to address locations where pollution levels are sometimes high (mainly narrow terraced streets like Gillygate).

New electric bus fleet launched last week

So some marks should be awarded to the last Council for beginning the roll out of the type of electric buses first trialled in the City in 2010.

More of this kind of thinking – making the best use of advancing technologies – will take the city forward in a measured and affordable way and with a reasonable chance of carrying the local population with it.

i-Travel York on Acomb doorsteps

More than 6,000 homes in the Acomb and Poppleton areas of York will be able to benefit from free travel advice when a team of i-Travel York travel advisors continues one of the biggest door-to-door exercises undertaken in York.

Over 8,000 homes in the city have already befitted from the personal travel planning scheme throughout 2013/14. During this time nearly 30,000 individual resource items and 6,000 personal travel challenges were issued to residents.

From Tuesday 19 May, i-Travel York advisers will be visiting households, beginning in Poppleton, to encourage even more residents to consider using more sustainable and active modes of transport including walking, cycling, public transport and car sharing.

As part of the exercise, advisers will provide information such as bus and cycle maps, and offer personal ‘challenges’ for individuals to try out a new form of sustainable transport. Participants will also receive incentives such as a free All-York bus taster ticket, a pedometer or a bike health check to help them on their way.
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