New £4m bus plans for York (From York Press)

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New £4m bus plans for York

6:09pm Monday 13th February 2012 in News Photograph of the Author By Mark Stead, Political Reporter

YORK could get its own version of the London Oyster Card and bus stops could be improved, under £4.2 million transport plans unveiled today.

City of York Council is to bid for support from the Department for Transport’s Better Bus Area Fund (BBAF), which is aimed at making bus travel more attractive and reducing delays to services as they pass through narrow city-centre streets.

The authority hopes to secure £2 million from the fund and would match that with its own money from a new Economic Infrastructure Fund.

The council already plans to introduce a paper-based common ticket by the end of spring, allowing passengers to use the same ticket on different bus operators’ services.

If its bid succeeds, it would then look at bringing in “smart-ticketing” where credits can be electronically stored on cards, such as with London’s Oyster scheme.

Under the plans, five “bus interchanges” would be created at Stonebow, Piccadilly, the Theatre Royal, Rougier Street/Station Road and the railway station, with “real-time” electronic information boards and better timetable and map displays. The proposals also include easing the path through the city for services.

A report by the council’s principal transport planner, Andrew Bradley, will go before cabinet member for city strategy Coun Dave Merrett next week.

It says delays in getting across York mean operators have built “slack” into their schedules, but this often leads to services waiting at bus stops for long periods, causing congestion.

The council’s studies have shown some bus stands are taken up by waiting buses for as much as 35 minutes of every hour.

Measures which could be taken include CCTV enforcement of the Coppergate area, a bus lane on Clarence Street and putting a “bus controller” on every service to check punctuality and remove obstructions to services when necessary.

The council may also team up with the West Yorkshire PTE scheme, which is making a separate BBAF bid, to develop on-street ticket facilities.

Coun Merrett, who will be asked to approve York’s application next week, said: “If successful, this bid would see a major step forward in improving York’s local bus services, which we know is a top transport priority for residents.

Smart ticketing, much better bus interchange points and measures to tackle journey hold-ups in the city centre will all help bring York’s local bus services into the 21st century and give residents a real alternative to the car.”

The Press - Comment

Bus card would be a smart move

THERE are many ways in which York is a nicer place to live than London. It’s friendlier, more manageable in size and there is stunning countryside all around.

But in one way at least, London wins hands down. Anyone who has used the capital’s public transport recently must have wished we had a system like the Oyster card here. It is so convenient. Top your card up, and you can hop on and off buses and tube trains at will. It takes away all the hassle.

Well, if a bid by City of York Council to the Department for Transport’s Better Bus Area Fund is successful, York might get its own version of the Oyster card yet.

The council hopes to bid for £2 million which, with match-funding, would be used to improve public transport in the city.

If the bid succeeds, one of the measures the authority would like to introduce, in cooperation with local bus operators, would be a ‘smart’ ticketing service that would allow you to hop from bus to bus, even when services were run by different bus companies.

York would also get five city centre bus ‘interchanges’ – at Stonebow, Piccadilly, Rougier Street, the railway station and the Theatre Royal – each with better waiting areas, clear bus route maps and electronic information. And there would also be a crackdown on motorists using the city centre during the daytime, so roads would be less congested and buses could run on time.

All this is a long way off. But if the bid succeeds, public transport in York could be massively improved.

We’ll be keeping our fingers crossed.

Comments(30)

TERRIER3 says...
6:42pm Mon 13 Feb 12

what a load of pap.....more chance of york becoming englands capital again