DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT SERVICES

(AND HEAD OF TRANSPORT INTEGRATION, SYPTE)

REPORT TO CULTURE, ECONOMY AND SUSTAINABILITY SCRUTINY AND POLICY DEVELOPMENT BOARD

20 MARCH 2008

BETTER BUSES FOR : PROGRESS REPORT

1.0 PURPOSE OF REPORT

1.1 To update Scrutiny Board on the steps taken jointly with SYPTE to improve bus services in Sheffield as a result of the Sheffield First Bus Agreement, with the primary focus being progress over the last twelve months

2.0 BACKGROUND

2.1 Scrutiny Board considered a report outlining progress on “Better Buses for Sheffield” in September 2006. The principle of introducing what would be (and is still) ’s only ‘live’ Statutory Quality Partnership Scheme (SQPS) was endorsed, with a request for a report back on progress once the Scheme had been launched and had settled down. This paper provides that report on progress.

3.0 DISCUSSION

3.1 The vision for public transport in is that it should:

. meet the needs of the people and businesses;

. be affordable, accessible, reliable, well publicised and easily understood.

Plans to deliver this vision are set out in the Local Transport Plan and in greater detail in the supporting Bus Strategy.

3.2 Improvements in bus service can be achieved through a number of different levers:

 Market forces (on-street competition).  Through Voluntary Agreement.  A Statutory Quality Partnership Scheme.  The Quality Contract/Franchising option.

3.3 To a greater or lesser degree we have seen improvements in bus service provision through use of each of the above levers, sometimes in combination:

1 16 August 2017 d:\moderngov\Data\Committ\Internet\Economic and Environmental Wellbeing Scrutiny and Policy Development Committee\20080320\Agenda\$mg1ljhz5.doc  Market Forces

3.4 On street competition between Stagecoach Sheffield and First South Yorkshire has been noted on a number of corridors. This can be seen both in terms of bus investment and fare competition, both across the network and on specific corridors.

 Bus investment

3.5 Stagecoach Sheffield has invested in 38 new buses in 2006 and 2007 with more scheduled for 2008 resulting in a 100% low floor operation. There are also a number of new buses in the other depots across South Yorkshire, some of which run into Sheffield.

3.6 First investment in Sheffield has been lower, but they did invest heavily immediately following the acquisition of Mainline in 1998. There were 10 new buses for the Olive Grove depot in 2006 and 18 new ones based at which operate the X78 service between Sheffield and .

 Fares

3.7 Taking an initial look at the longer-term fare trends, the following table shows how prices for a typical 3 mile single trip have changed over the past five years:

Date of fare change First South Stagecoach Sheffield Yorkshire (formerly Yorkshire Terrier) May 2003 £1.05 June 2003 £0.95 March 2004 £1.10 April 2004 £1.00 March 2005 £1.20 April 2005 £1.10 June 2005 £1.30 July 2005 £1.20 November 2005 £1.50 February 2006 £1.40 January 2007 £1.60 March 2007 £1.50 January 2008 £1.70

The table shows that First South Yorkshire led the fare increases yet Stagecoach and previously Yorkshire Terrier followed in the next month. Fares since 2003 were increased approximately every 10 months until 2005, when First increased fares three times. This was also the year following the drivers’ strike and which had clearly damaged income and saw other measures such as drastic service cuts. At all times Terrier/Stagecoach fares was maintained at a lower level than those of First. The sample fare increase in the 5 years since 2003 was 62% by First and 58% by Stagecoach. The Sheffield agreement has stabilised fare increases by First to once per year.

2 16 August 2017 d:\moderngov\Data\Committ\Internet\Economic and Environmental Wellbeing Scrutiny and Policy Development Committee\20080320\Agenda\$mg1ljhz5.doc It is difficult to compile a simple picture of the price changes for prepaid tickets given changes to the product range and corridor-specific discounting over the period in question. As illustrative figures the weekly South Yorkshire zone TravelMaster has increased from £15.50 to £20.75 (37%) between 2003 and 2008. Over the same period, the price of the FirstWeek South Yorkshire product has increased from £12.00 to £17.00 (41%).

3.8 More recently, Stagecoach introduced the company’s MegaRider range of day (£2.70) and week tickets (£9.50) in May 2006 on all their bus services in Sheffield and Supertram. These prices were increased to £3.00 and £10.00 respectively in January 2008. A number of route specific tickets have been introduced in 2006 and 2007 which are described below in the corridor studies. First introduced zonal district based weekly tickets offering a slight discount over the county one and like Stagecoach introduced a number of route specific tickets on certain corridors.

 Barnsley Road and Ecclesall Road Corridors

3.9 As well as upgrading their fleet to all low floor and making a number of route changes and also increasing services from four per hour to 12 per hour Stagecoach offered an introductory 50p single fare on services 83 and 88 in June 2006, increased it to 70p in September, then to 90p in March 2007 and to £1.00 in January 2008.

3.10 There have been no fares offers from First on either corridor, although there have been some frequency improvements on selected services.

 Halfway to Fulwood and Hillsborough Corridors

3.11 As well as minor route enhancements by both Stagecoach and First, the main battle has been on fares. Stagecoach introduced route specific fare offers in June 2006 with a £6 weekly ticket only valid on 120. In August 2007, a £1 maximum single fare, a £2 DayRider and a £1 NightRider ticket were introduced. The £6 weekly MegaRider was reduced to £5.

3.11 First introduced special fare offers in July 2006 with a £2.50 Day and £6 Week ticket valid only on the Orange routes. These were reduced to £2 per day and £5 per week in the week following the Stagecoach fare reductions. All offers are still currently in place

Voluntary Agreement

3.12 In January 2004 an Agreement was entered into between the Council/PTE/First SY covering the North Sheffield area surrounding Barnsley Road. This agreement was a step change on previous voluntary agreements which offered bus investment in return for bus priority measures along Abbeydale Road and Chesterfield Road and in the S10 area.

3.13 The North Sheffield Agreement sought to review the bus network, provide bus priority measures, introduce a Statutory Quality Partnership Scheme (SQPS), as well as invest in new low floor buses. At the top level the measures in the North

3 16 August 2017 d:\moderngov\Data\Committ\Internet\Economic and Environmental Wellbeing Scrutiny and Policy Development Committee\20080320\Agenda\$mg1ljhz5.doc Sheffield Agreement achieved a 1% patronage growth (against a network fall of -2%). As such it was seen as a success and led to a more extensive Voluntary Agreement being signed on 1 May 2007 between the same Partners. Summary details of this wider agreement are set out in Appendix 1. Further details of overall city-wide patronage trends for First Group and Stagecoach combined will be provided at Scrutiny Board by PTE Colleagues.

3.14 This agreement has had some benefits in attracting bus investment by First, reducing network changes and it could be claimed it has slowed down fare increases.

Statutory Quality Partnership Scheme (SQPS)

3.15 The first (and still England’s only) SQPS was introduced along Barnsley Road between the Wicker and on 18 November 2007. This makes it a condition that in order to use 97 enhanced bus stops and bus priority measures, buses must meet the following standards:

. Euro III engine . Low floor entrance . Fitted with recording CCTV . Drivers with NVQII qualified customer care . Other matters including cleanliness etc

3.16 The SQPS applies to all Operators equally, with exceptions for certain buses (e.g. School Services/CT Operators etc).

3.17 This approach and the improvement in bus standards has contributed to the growth described in para 3.13 above.

Quality Contracts (QC)

3.16 The PTE/A are continuing to explore this option on behalf of the South Yorkshire Local Transport Plan Partnership, including associated costs and risks. This has met with significant opposition from Operators, and it could be argued that alongside the above “carrot” measures, the QC offers “the stick” alternative. The Government are currently passing legislation to make this a more practicable option (within the Local Transport Bill) which is due back into the House of Commons in April.

4 16 August 2017 d:\moderngov\Data\Committ\Internet\Economic and Environmental Wellbeing Scrutiny and Policy Development Committee\20080320\Agenda\$mg1ljhz5.doc 3.17 It is fair to say that in Sheffield we have seen significant investment in buses and the following table illustrates the changes seen by the two largest Operators over the last 12 months:

Stagecoach Sheffield First South Yorkshire 2007 2008 2007 2008 Number of Buses 100 102 330 325 % Low Floor 75% 100% 64% 78% % Euro III or better 11% 42% 41% 51% Total Mileage 71652 76201 281294 284839 Market Share 17.9% 18.8% 70.1% 70.2% Punctuality 81.6% 79.8%* 90.8% 86.4%* Reliability 98.7% 97.6%* 98.7% 97.9%* Fare (weekly) £2.70 £3.00 £4.00* £3.50 Patronage tbc tbc tbc tbc CCTV Coverage 75% 96% 28% 46%

* from SYPTE monitoring samples includes effect of major works for Inner Relief Road construction throughout 2007.

** £3 Sheffield-only ticket introduced in July 2007)

3.18 As well as seeing improvements from the two main Operators in Sheffield, other initiatives have been introduced:

. FreeBee City Centre service - SYPTA funded service aimed at improving access around the City Centre. Target patronage 5,000 ppw, current patronage is now well above this figure with half-term week recently peaking at 7250 passengers

. Park & Ride – see separate paper on today’s agenda

. Quality Bus Corridors – a second generation of priority ‘Bus Key Routes’ is now being developed, closely linked with Congestion Target Routes identified in the South Yorkshire Congestion Delivery Plan.

. Supertram Feeder Services - This was a commercial scheme introduced by Stagecoach Supertram to provide links between Stockbridge and Supertram.

5 16 August 2017 d:\moderngov\Data\Committ\Internet\Economic and Environmental Wellbeing Scrutiny and Policy Development Committee\20080320\Agenda\$mg1ljhz5.doc Conclusions

3.19 Overall, closer working with bus operators is forcing them to invest in Sheffield at a rate unlikely without extensive public sector investment in bus priority measures and other facilities. The Local Transport Bill now going through Government should add to our collective effectiveness in improving the bus as a means of transport.

4.0 EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES

4.1 There are no equal opportunities implications arising directly from the content of this report.

5.0 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS; PROPERTY IMPLICATIONS

5.1 There are no environmental or property implications arising directly from the content of this report. Individual sites may well have such implications when identified and designs worked up. These will be refined once the options being taken forward have been agreed (e.g. the land needed for the development of Park and Ride).

6.0 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

6.1 There are no new financial implications arising directly from the contents of this report. All of the initiatives mentioned are ongoing with approved allocations from the South Yorkshire LTP and/or Operator contributions

7.0 RECOMMENDATIONS

7.1 It is recommended that Members note the progress described in this report.

John Bann Head of Transport and Highways, SCC and

David Young Head of Transport Integration, SYPTE

16 August 2017

6 16 August 2017 d:\moderngov\Data\Committ\Internet\Economic and Environmental Wellbeing Scrutiny and Policy Development Committee\20080320\Agenda\$mg1ljhz5.doc APPENDIX 1: SUMMARY OF BETTER BUSES AGREEMENT

BETTER BUSES FOR SHEFFIELD AGREEMENT

1 MAY 2007

First South Yorkshire/First Group have entered into an agreement with SCC/SYPTE, initially covering Sheffield. The aim being to secure volume passenger growth. The offer from First Group can be summarised as follows:

. Revamp of the Sheffield network to achieve growth (without undermining LTP accessibility) and a commitment on network stability;

. A package of bus priority and enforcement works;

. Measures to incentivise performance;

. Joint marketing and other initiatives;

. Driver training programme.

First commit to over £7m of bus investment, a further £3.3m in low floor vehicle cascade, investment in CCTV (retro fitting) and staff training (£600k) between 2007/08 and 2008/09.

The Sheffield agreement exists initially for 2 years and is extended annually thereafter subject to a 2 month notice of exit clause. It provides a basis for stabilising services and addresses one of passengers’ key concerns. It also tackles quality, punctuality, reliability and customer care.

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