£4.2m bid for better bus services in York (From York Press)
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£4.2m bid for better bus services in York
9:30am Wednesday 22nd February 2012 in News
TRANSPORT chiefs in York have rubber-stamped the city’s bid for Government money towards a £4.2 million scheme aimed at improving bus services.
City of York Council will look at introducing a “smart ticketing” scheme where credits can be electronically stored on cards, as with London’s Oyster Card scheme, if it secures financial support from the Department for Transport’s Better Bus Area Fund (BBAF).
The £2.1 million the council is seeking, which would be matched with its own injection of money from a proposed Economic Infrastructure Fund, would also go towards creating five bus “interchanges” at Stonebow, Piccadilly, the Theatre Royal, Rougier Street/Station Road and the railway station, together with real-time electronic information boards and improved timetable and map displays.
Measures to cut down on delays to services while passing through the city could include CCTV-led traffic enforcement in the Coppergate area, a Clarence Street bus lane and the appointment of a “bus controller”, who would monitor punctuality and have the power to remove obstructions to buses.
The council is already planning to bring in a paper-based cross-ticketing system, allowing passengers to use the same ticket on services run by different bus firms, by the end of spring.
Coun Dave Merrett, cabinet member for city strategy, yesterday agreed to the submission of York’s bid and confirmed the council will also team up with a separate BBAF bid by West Yorkshire Passenger Transport, which is in charge of buses in that region, with a view to sharing the costs and equipment involved in operating smart ticketing systems.
“It’s a really exciting bid, and given how tight money is, the opportunity the BBAF presents is extremely helpful,” said Coun Merrett.
“It would mean that, within two years, we will have noticeable improvements in the quality of local bus services and ticketing arrangements, including an all-service smart ticket and much better bus interchange facilities.
“It will make getting around the city centre by bus a much nicer experience and hopefully reduce congestion.”
Comments(21)
pedalling paul
says...
9:52am Wed 22 Feb 12
ISeeEverything wrote:Tch..tch...such scepticism!
And how much are the bus companies contributing?
The OX
says...
9:55am Wed 22 Feb 12
russeboy
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9:55am Wed 22 Feb 12
monkeyhanger
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10:03am Wed 22 Feb 12
Tkmax
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10:25am Wed 22 Feb 12
bloodaxe
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11:12am Wed 22 Feb 12
dogcapp
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11:39am Wed 22 Feb 12
Amoco Caditz
says...
11:40am Wed 22 Feb 12
All the locations detailed above already have bus stops there, basically all they will be doing in reality is putting up some extra real time signage (already there in some places) and maybe a few more timetable notices, maybe a seat if the old dears are lucky!
‘ the appointment of a “bus controller”, who would monitor punctuality and have the power to remove obstructions to buses. ‘
Is the problem with the number 1 bus from Wigginton in the early morning going to be resolved? I doubt it!
What happens is that the buses all arrive at the Wigginton start area sometimes late on mass. So one of the buses cuts the corner through Wigginton missing out the initial part of the route through Haxby village and then picks up passengers as the normal route down Eastfield Avenue and carries on its merry way leaving passengers on the rest of the initial route waiting and non the wiser as it happens out of sight wondering why so many buses have gone the other way but not come back yet.
Another ‘late’ (now on time) bus then does the complete route picking up the long time waiting passengers on the missed out section and predictably gets very full, when the bus gets to Eastfield Avenue by a miracle there are no passengers to pick up as a bus has just come along cutting the route.
This way First Bus who have a monopoly on this route get all the passengers fares and still qualify for their subsidy because the bus is on time when it leaves Haxby (at the level crossing), nice eh!
First Bus – I have caught you.
‘include CCTV-led traffic enforcement in the Coppergate area’
This has nothing to do with this scheme, its about enforcement of an already in place restriction, why as part of a bus improvement scheme, tenuous to say the least!
“It will make getting around the city centre by bus a much nicer experience and hopefully reduce congestion.”
Impossible…… sat on a bus with other members of the public!
Ignatius Lumpopo
says...
12:28pm Wed 22 Feb 12
Tkmax wrote:Ah! That's what I thought. However if you look at council plans (like the failed York St John's development) you'll see a dotted line along the outbound side of Clarence St, which is reserved for developing a bus lane. A new pavement would be on the car park side of the trees and the bus lane would extend from the shops after Clairmont Terrace to the bus stop opposite Boots. At that point the buses would all get held up at the lights outside the Punch Bowl like the rest of us.
Where is a bus lane going to go on Clarence st, you can only just get two lanes of traffic down it another bad idea by the Plonkers that try and run this city!
livewithit
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12:42pm Wed 22 Feb 12
bang goes the 4 bars in the city walls then !
cherokee
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2:21pm Wed 22 Feb 12
cherokee
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2:21pm Wed 22 Feb 12
cherokee
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2:23pm Wed 22 Feb 12
mummymetal
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3:39pm Wed 22 Feb 12
TheTruthHurts
says...
3:53pm Wed 22 Feb 12
mummymetal wrote:Unless of course you happen to be travelling from Stamford Bridge to poppleton in which case your idea will just compound any delays.
Why do we have to have routes that go across the town centre. These routes could be split into two with one service running each side and meeting in the middle; e g the no 10 from Stamford Bridge to Merchantgate could be one route and the number 10(renumbered) could run from Poppleton to Merchantgate. This could ease the issues of punctuality caused on one side of town affecting those on the other.
mummymetal
says...
4:24pm Wed 22 Feb 12
TheTruthHurts wrote:that's a small proportion of the total number of passengers on any cross town route
mummymetal wrote:Unless of course you happen to be travelling from Stamford Bridge to poppleton in which case your idea will just compound any delays.
Why do we have to have routes that go across the town centre. These routes could be split into two with one service running each side and meeting in the middle; e g the no 10 from Stamford Bridge to Merchantgate could be one route and the number 10(renumbered) could run from Poppleton to Merchantgate. This could ease the issues of punctuality caused on one side of town affecting those on the other.
bloodaxe
says...
4:41pm Wed 22 Feb 12
cherokee wrote:The quid pro quo would be free blue badge bus transport from park and rides. It works elsewhere so why not here ?
Will senior citizens still have to pay £0.50 on the P & R buses and if you ban all cars from the city centre how will "Blue Badge" holders manage
kabushga
says...
5:57pm Wed 22 Feb 12
kabushga
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6:01pm Wed 22 Feb 12
Whoreallycares
says...
6:40pm Wed 22 Feb 12
X1,X1A,2,2A,X2,2B,2C
,2D, and how they all used to go down different roads but form a common headway on the main road, BE PREPARED TO YAWN
ISeeEverything says...
9:38am Wed 22 Feb 12