Bus Services in Tyne and Wear: Charter for Growth The Tyne and Wear Integrated Transport Authority and Nexus Bus Strategy March 2009 TYNE AND WEAR INTEGRATED TRANSPORT AUTHORITY Foreword Welcome to our Bus Strategy for Tyne and Wear. This document sets out our long-term strategy, as well as our detailed plans to improve bus services in Tyne and Wear in the three years up to April 2012. For the first time in a generation, we are starting to experience an increase in the number of people using buses, mainly due to the introduction of free travel for older and disabled people. Three out of four public transport users in Tyne and Wear catch a bus. Bus services are a vital part of the local public transport network and can be crucial in tackling challenges such as growing traffic congestion on our main roads, the impacts of transport on climate change, and in creating communities where everyone has good public transport to work, education, local shops and leisure interests. We want to make buses more attractive for people to use. To do this we must make sure that we have a bus network that is accessible, affordable, reliable and safe. If we manage to make buses more attractive, then this will benefit people and businesses across Tyne and Wear. More people using buses could mean fewer cars on the roads into congested towns and cities which would help reduce carbon emissions. We've made good progress in Tyne and Wear in recent years in improving your bus journey thanks to work done by bus companies, Nexus and local councils. Through partnership, we have: n Built a new bus station at Eldon Square; n Introduced a Voluntary Bus Partnership in East Gateshead; n Rolled out Concessionary Travel; n Put in place more bus priority measures and no car lanes; n Introduced the pioneering QuayLink service in Newcastle/Gateshead. Following recent government legislation, the number of ways Nexus can work together with bus companies has been increased and made more effective. We intend to use this new relationship to deliver the improvements set out in this strategy, which are based on comments we received from customers and stakeholders during a wide-ranging consultation exercise. We recognise that at the time of publication of this document, the UK's economy has entered recession and many people will be feeling the effects of economic downturn on their daily lives. We want better quality bus services that link people to the places they need to travel to, giving people an affordable, practical and attractive way to get to work, education and leisure. 2 We recognise that things change through time, and so this strategy will be updated and refreshed every year to respond to future challenges and opportunities as they arise. We are passionate about bus services, and we are convinced we now have a golden opportunity to design and deliver a bus network in Tyne and Wear that will grow patronage, help reduce congestion, help combat climate change and help more peopleto access jobs and services. Cllr David Wood Bernard Garner Chair, Tyne and Wear Director General, Nexus Integrated Transport Authority 3 Contents Executive Summary 6 Chapter 1 Purpose 10 Chapter 2 Transport policy background 14 Chapter 3 Where are we now? 20 Chapter 4 Action plans 26 Chapter 5 Working together to deliver the Bus Strategy 69 Chapter 6 Bus Network Design Project 79 Chapter 7 Targets and performance measurement 85 Appendices Appendix A Analysis of trends (demographic, patronage etc) 86 Appendix B User satisfaction surveys 89 Appendix C Consultation process and feedback 96 Glossary 108 References 110 Charts Chart 1 Estimate of bus revenue funding in Tyne and Wear 21 Chart 2 Change in bus patronage since 1999-2000 22 Chart 3 Indexed fares, RPI and costs 23 Chart 4 Tyne and Wear Population since 1999 85 Chart 5 Bus user satisfaction with service quality 89 Chart 6 Bus user satisfaction with vehicle quality 90 Chart 7 Bus user satisfaction with personal security 91 Chart 8 Bus user satisfaction with ticketing and information 92 Chart 9 Bus user satisfaction with passenger shelters 93 4 Tables Table 1 Confederation of passenger transport cost index 23 Table 2 Gateshead network design project targets 81 Table 3 Newcastle network design project targets 81 Table 4 North Tyneside network design project targets 82 Table 5 South Tyneside network design project targets 82 Table 6 Sunderland network design project targets 83 Table 7 Network design project list of local centres 83 Table 8 Network design project list of employment sites 84 Table 9 Network design project list of hospitals 84 Table 10 Bus user satisfaction with service quality 89 Table 11 Bus user service quality importance rating 89 Table 12 Bus user satisfaction with vehicle quality 90 Table 13 Bus user vehicle quality importance rating 90 Table 14 Bus user satisfaction with personal security 91 Table 15 Bus user personal security importance rating 91 Table 16 Bus user satisfaction with ticketing and information 92 Table 17 Bus user ticketing and information importance rating 92 Table 18 Bus user satisfaction with passenger shelters 93 Table 19 Bus user passenger shelter importance rating 93 5 Executive Summary VISION The Tyne and Wear Integrated Transport Authority's vision for bus services is: We will have a bus system that will be accessible, affordable and easy to use for everyone. Buses will provide people with a viable alternative to the private car, encouraging more people to travel in an environmentally friendly way . OBJECTIVES This document is the revised Bus Strategy for the Tyne and Wear Integrated Transport Authority (ITA) and Nexus. The Bus Strategy is our plan to meet that Vision. The Strategy identifies four key Object ives: n Making travelling by bus an easy, practical and attractive choice for customers; n Making buses more accessible to use; n Making buses more environmentally responsible; n Making buses more affordable to use. ACTION PLANS These objectives are supported by ten Action Plans, each designed to deliver improvements to bus services, in order to benefit bus passengers and grow patronage. We have consulted widely among residents of Tyne and Wear, and with key stakeholders to make sure that the Action Plans deliver visible and practical improvements to bus services, covering the areas that respondents felt were of the highest importance. Therefore during the period 2009-12, we aim to work with bus companies and local councils to deliver a programme of improvements that:- 1) Makes bus services operate to timetable and reduce journey times by: n Delivering priority measures to increase punctuality to 85% of buses arriving no more than one minute early or five minutes late; n Working with our local authority partners to improve bus priority measures on key routes. 6 2) Delivers the right service frequency by: n Addressing frequency to ensure more households are within 400m of a service departing at least every 10 minutes; n And by working with partners to continue improvements to frequency on ‘Superoutes’. 3) Gets customers where they want to go by: n Significantly increasing the number of households that can access citycentres, loca l services, employment and health facilities by public transport within 30 minutesdoor-to-doo r; n Making sure that customers have easy access to flexible public transport; n Investigating the benefits and practicalities of reducing the standard walking distan ce to a bus stop by 25%. 4) Gives customers accurate information when they need it by: n Improving customer satisfaction with bus service information from 80%in 2008 to 90% by 2012; n Delivering phased improvements to information delivery, such as SMS text and web-based real-time information by 2012. 5) Offers simple and affordable fares and ticketing by: n Delivering a region-wide smart ticketing scheme which is designed around customer benefits and needs; n Increasing satisfaction with the cost of travel from 41%in 2008 to 45% by 2012. 6) Makes customers feel safe and secure when waiting and travelling by: n Delivering a 5% improvement in customers' perceptions of safety and security by 2012; n Improving CCTV coverage and lighting at bus interchanges and shelters; n Increasing the presence of staff on the network. 7) Ensures a high quality on-board experience for all passengers by: n Increasing customer satisfaction with bus cleanliness and condition by 5% by 2012; n Improving customer service by agreeing standards for driver training and behaviour. 8) Gives customers high quality waiting facilities by: n Improving customer satisfaction with provision and condition of bus shelters by 5% by 2012; n Continually reviewing and improving our performance in maintaining and repairing shelters. 7 9) Markets bus services more effectively by: n Increasing the awareness of key bus promotion campaigns by 10% by 2012; n Promoting sustainable travel choices through the ‘Smarter Choices’ programme. 10)Minimises harmful emissions by: n Establishing the carbon footprint of public transport in Tyne and Wear, and setting targets to reduce it; n Reducing CO2 emissions by 10% from 111.8g per passenger kilometre by 2012. Bus Network Design Project Nexus, on behalf of the ITA, is currently undertaking a project to design a comprehensive bus network for the region to help achieve priorities 2 and 3. The Bus Network Design Project will seek to design an affordable bus network which improves standards of accessibility for the residents of Tyne and Wear. New relationship with bus companies The service improvements set out in this strategy, and the network enhancements identified by the Bus Network Design Project will not happen if Nexus, the Tyne and Wear ITA, the bus companies, the main ones being Go North East, Stagecoach and Arriva, and the five local councils work in isolation.