Enhanced Partnership and Bus Service Improvement Plan
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Agenda Item No. 06 REPORT TO: Overview and Scrutiny Commission DATE: 16th August 2021 SERVICE AREA: Place Shaping and Economic Growth REPORTING OFFICER: EXECUTIVE OFFICER ECONOMY & TRANSPORT (Strategic Transport Planner - David Stannard) SUBJECT: Bus: Enhanced Partnership and Bus Service Improvement Plan WARD/S AFFECTED: ALL DISTRICT FORWARD PLAN REF: N/A 1.0 PURPOSE OF REPORT 1.1 To outline the suggested measures and requests for bus service improvements to be submitted to North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) to incorporate as part of its development of an Enhanced Partnership and Bus Service Improvement Plan. 2.0 RECOMMENDATION/S 2.1 For the Overview & Scrutiny Commission (O&S) to note and feedback on the proposed submission of the proposed list of measures set out in Section 5.0 of this report 3.0 RECOMMENDED REASON/S FOR DECISION/S 3.1 To ensure residents and visitors to the Harrogate District can benefit from improved bus services. This will help reduce the reliance on the private car for travel, reducing congestion and the adverse impacts on the environment as well as providing inclusive access to education, employment and leisure opportunities across the district and further afield. 4.0 ALTERNATIVE OPTION/S CONSIDERED AND RECOMMENDED FOR REJECTION 4.1 The alternative is to not provide any input to the engagement with NYCC. This was rejected as the Council is supportive of sustainable transport and the reduction of negative impacts from transport, such as congestion and contribution to climate change. Provision of enhanced bus services will 1 encourage uptake of travel, over the private car, helping reducing the negative impacts previously referred to. 5.0 THE REPORT 5.1 Currently, outside of London, the bus market in England has been deregulated since 1986. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the majority (around 80%) of these local bus services were run on a commercial basis. Pre-pandemic, the 20% of services which were not run commercially and were considered ‘socially necessary’ were subsidised by Local Transport Authorities (LTAs). 5.2 In terms of commercially run services, the local bus operators determine where and when to run services, the cost of using the services and the level of provision (in terms of buses and facilities), with Local Transport Authorities (such as North Yorkshire County Council) having a limited role. However, this situation has been changing in recent years, specifically with the Bus Services Act 2017 which gave LTAs the ability to have greater influence over bus services in their area through new types of statutory partnerships, with operators, and the ability to franchise services (as in London). Franchising powers are available to Mayors of Combined Authorities but can also be made available to other types of local authority through secondary legislation. 5.3 The bus sector, like many other elements of the transport sector, has seen a significant downturn during the coronavirus outbreak. However, the Government is recognising the shift from public transport to the private car needs to be shifted back quickly by making buses a practical and attractive alternative to the car for more people. As such a £3bn fund has been committed to achieve this goal. 5.4 The Government published a national bus strategy “Bus Back Better” in March 2021. This sets out the Government’s aim to transform bus services across the country, ensuring buses are more frequent, more reliable, easier to understand and use, better co-ordinated and cheaper. The strategy sets out an expectation that LTAs should commit to establishing Enhanced Partnerships across their areas or develop a bus franchising assessment; the latter of which, in the main, will apply to Mayoral Combined Authorities. If these options are not met then LTAs and operators will not be eligible to receive the COVID-19 Bus Services Support Grant (CBSSG) or any new sources of bus funding from the Government. 5.5 In June 2021, North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) gave approval to proceed with the development of an Enhanced Partnership (EP) and the associated Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP); to be submitted to the Department for transport in October 2021. Harrogate Borough Council (HBC) has been notified of NYCC’s intention to proceed with this and has been given an opportunity for HBC to request any ambitions, aspirations or schemes in connection with this. 5.6 An EP is an agreement that enables local transport authorities and operators to set shared aims with regard to improving bus services. An EP comprises of the following: 2 EP Plan - a clear vision of the improvements to bus services that the EP is aiming to deliver. One or more EP schemes – an accompanying document that sets out the requirements that need to be met by local services that stop in the geographical area defined in the EP scheme, to achieve the desired outcomes. 5.7 As part of pursuing an EP the LTA should also produce a Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP), which sets out the vision for delivering the step- change in bus services that is required by the national bus strategy. The BSIP is a “live” document highlighting key interventions with an overarching aim to grow patronage and must seek to deliver the outcomes in the national bus strategy. 5.8 An overview of what the BSIP should include is set out below: Summary of the existing situation including an overview of evidence and data setting out the current bus service arrangements and provision including detail on local operators, existing contracts, patronage levels, fares, mode share, trends, accessibility to services, as well as highlighting the main barriers to bus use, together with the key opportunities for improvements. The views of passengers and third parties must also be reported. Outline proposals for improvement and how the LTA and operators would deliver them. The Department for Transport (DfT) recognises the short timeframes for completion and as such an exhaustive list of interventions is not required but an emphasis on improvements that deliver services that are more frequent; faster and more reliable; cheaper; more comprehensive; easier to understand and use; and better integrated with other modes and each other are required. This can also include demand responsive transport. Consideration of “post-pandemic” challenges, including how it is anticipated bus networks may change as a result of demand changes. Including an exploration of levels of support required for services where commercial viability may be impacted in the long term. Appropriate target setting is required, including for improvements in bus journey times, journey reliability, patronage levels and customer satisfaction. Longer term ambitions for buses, such as aspirations for diversification of the network e.g. bus rapid transit and other schemes that lie between conventional bus and light rail. 5.9 The Enhanced Partnership Plan will then detail how interventions outlined in the BSIP will be delivered and form a “blueprint” for service improvement. 5.10 In terms of HBC’s request, as to what could be included in the EP and the BSIP, the following is proposed: Encouragement of ‘greener’ vehicles – The Harrogate Bus Company (Transdev) already serves Harrogate with electric buses but other operators, such as Connexions currently do not. The EP should look to ensure low emission vehicles become as standard across the district, to 3 ensure effective contribution to the Council’s carbon reduction agenda as well as reduction of particulates which adversely impact air quality across the district, in particular the council’s declared air quality management areas. In addition, it is understood that NYCC has submitted an Expression of Interest bid to DfT, in connection with the Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas fund, to make all of the Harrogate Bus Company depot fleet zero emission. The bid for around £20m will fund provision of 39 new Zero Emission Buses (ZEBs) and associated infrastructure. This would further boost the operational capacity of the electric bus services in the district meaning around 90% of bus services would be electric. The Enhanced Partnership should ensure all operators benefit from this. Bus priority measures – provision of this is essential to give greater priority to buses to improve journey times and reliability, making buses more attractive than the private car. The Transforming Cities Fund proposals for Station Parade include bus priority measures and further provision across the town and district will help provide a more joined up and holistic bus network, improving the viability and attractiveness of the services. Bus priority measures form part of NYCC’s emerging Harrogate Transport Improvement Plan, which also includes the potential for Park and Ride provision. Improved frequency and coverage of services – confidence in a service that will ‘turn up and go’ is important to encourage bus use. Increased frequency services can reduce overall journey times, again improving uptake in bus travel. Likewise improved coverage, geographically and temporally will be vital to encourage a shift from the private car. There is a significant amount of new housing planned across the Harrogate district, and as such integrated bus transport needs prioritising (alongside active travel) to improve accessibility for residents of those new homes. New developments, such as those in the west of Harrogate, Ripon Barracks and the new settlement to the east of Harrogate, must have good accessibility to reliable and frequent bus services to ensure use of public transport can become the norm for new occupants of those sites. Improved coverage of services, in rural areas, is also essential to provide a viable alternative to car travel. Given changing demands as a result of the planned growth and the COVID-19 pandemic, it is suggested that routes that have previously been cut are reviewed, and considered on their merits, as part of the development of the EP and BSIP.