Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council
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ROCHDALE BOROUGH COUNCIL OUTSIDE BODY REPRESENTATIVE’S REPORT TO THE COUNCIL REPORT OF THE REPRESENTATIVE TO THE TRANSPORT FOR GREATER MANCHESTER COMMITTEE TO THE MEETING OF THE COUNCIL ON WEDNESDAY, 13th DECEMBER 2017 Thank you Mr. Mayor for the opportunity to report to the Council the latest developments on various matters relating to the Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) Committee. Police Community Support Officers I am pleased to inform Council that Greater Manchester’s transport networks has been bolstered with the addition of 10 new Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs). The 10 officers have joined the ranks of the region’s TravelSafe Partnership (TSP), a multi-agency approach set up to tackle and reduce crime and antisocial behaviour (ASB) on the region’s bus and tram networks. The new officers will provide an increased staff presence on the various transport networks, particularly in the evening and at weekends. This is the latest move to enhance the TSP and brings the total of new PCSOs that have joined the unit since the summer to 30, with a further 20 set to join over the coming months. In the summer, the Metrolink operator Keolis Amey Metrolink introduced 900 hours per week of additional security support onto the tram network when they took over the running of the country’s largest light rail system. This equated to 24 new TravelSafe Officers (TSOs) who were all Security Industry Authority accredited. The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, Beverley Hughes, welcomed the commitment that would prioritise a greater staffing presence on the transport networks, particularly in the evenings and on weekends, and the addition of these extra officers will complement the excellent work already being undertaken to keep the networks as safe as possible. Beverley Hughes stated that: “The continuing expansion of the team should send out two clear messages: that anybody using Greater Manchester’s transport network should feel safe and secure and that antisocial behaviour will never be tolerated.” Pennine Local Link On 21st November I chaired a productive meeting of the Pennine Local Link Group which was attended by several Pennines Township Councillors and staff from TfGM. The meeting had been called to discuss recommendations to withdraw the Pennine Local Link service contract which was due to expire in January 2018. This service had been established as a result of concerns expressed by Councillors about the lack of public transport following a commercial service withdrawal in 2017. The local link was a similar model to the Ring and Ride service. Background information was given advising of TfGM’s decision making process. The decision was deferred at a recent Bus Network Committee meeting, pending consultation with Pennines Township Councillors. During the period of operation there have been eight different people using the service and between them they have made 483 trips. Following consideration of the Pennine Local Link Service statistics were presented which included the high cost per trip and that the service was not attracting the amount of numbers for it to be viable. In light of this the Councillors voted to support the recommendation by TfGM to withdraw the Pennine Local Link from 28th January 2018. The Pennine Local Link had been introduced at the end of January 2017 following requests from Councillors who were concerned about a lack of public transport in the area. The Local Link service was specifically designed in response to the curtailment of the 182 service. The service cost was £57,770 per year. The service also took passengers to the Royal Oldham Hospital and to the Rochdale Interchange. Anti-Social Behaviour The TfGM Committee at its meeting on 17th November 2017 discussed transport trends across the Greater Manchester footprint and following on from the terrorist attack at the MEN Arena 22nd May, TSU deployments were altered to focus on public reassurance in and around Manchester city centre, although some deployments were still tasked with dealing with anti-social behaviour on the transport network. Rochdale had experienced significant issues with a group of teenagers between April and June 2017 and a multi-agency approach involving GMP/TSU/Metrolink/local authority children’s services/Youth Offending Teams had been adopted to address this issue. Additional TSU patrols were deployed and NPTs put extra Police Officers in the town centre, which culminated in the main ringleaders being served a CBO (Banning Order) banning them from Rochdale town centre and transport hubs. As a result of these interventions problems at Rochdale Interchange has thankfully been substantially reduced. 412 Bus Service The current contract for the 412 (Middleton – Royton – Oldham) bus service is due to expires in January 2018 and has been reviewed to ensure the continued best use of TfGM funds. To ensure that a service can be maintained within acceptable cost per passenger targets, it is proposed that the Monday to Saturday day-time timetable be revised (with effect from 28th January 2018) to operate every 90 minutes, (rather than every 60 minutes at present). The service from Oldham would start later on Mondays to Fridays (08:27 from Oldham, rather than 06:46) and finish earlier (14:27 from Oldham rather than 17:06). Journeys towards Oldham will, it is proposed, finish earlier on Mondays to Friday (last trip leaves Middleton at 13:39, rather than 17:48). The proposals would affect an average of 2.64 passengers per trip on the early morning journeys from Oldham, 7.2 passengers per trip on the late afternoon journeys from Oldham and 6.07 passengers per trip on the late afternoon journeys from Middleton. Rail Safety Week As part of a week of events designed to raise awareness of the dangers of trespass on the railway, Manchester Piccadilly station hosted a stand attended by TfGM, Keolis/Amey, Metrolink, Network Rail, BTP, Greater Manchester Fire Service and the St John’s Ambulance. The event started early in the morning giving out safety leaflets to the morning rush hour passengers. Manchester's Key 103 radio also featured rail safety week in their news every hour from 6am on the day. Metrolink’s tram simulator proved very popular with the public, giving them an insight in to how it looks from a driver’s point of view and highlighting the hazards and concentration it takes operating a tram through the busy city centre. The representatives of St. John's Ambulance were fantastic, as ever, giving advice and practical demonstrations throughout the day. Over 500 goodie bags, 1,000 safety leaflets, water bottles, mugs and pens were distributed throughout the day, ensuring positive engagement with passengers. Anti-Social Behaviour on Rochdale Rail Line Sadly I also have to report on more anti-social behaviour, this time on the railway service. TfGM have been working with colleagues at British Transport Police and with their own Travel Safe Unit after complaints of numerous incidents of anti-social behaviour at stations along the Rochdale line. Amongst other incidents, planters had been set alight, trampled on and thrown onto the tracks at Rochdale and station staff have, additionally, reported suffering verbal and threatening abuse. TfGM has requested that the current town centre dispersal zone order (which currently does not include Rochdale train station and tram stops) is extended in order to do so. Moston station, in Manchester, on the Rochdale line, has been repeatedly targeted by vandals who have caused substantial damage to Northern Rail’s new waiting shelters. British Transport Police have increased patrols at the station and on 29th September undertook an operation targeting all stations along the line, using both covert and uniformed officers. CCTV is now to be installed at Moston station as part of a station improvement programme, to be carried out in 2018. Women’s Cycling initiative An initiative to get more wore women cycling in Greater Manchester is to run again following on from previous similar successful initiatives over the last few years. Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) is to urge women to get on their bikes by offering cycle clubs, groups and not-for-profit organisations the chance to apply for grants of up to £2,500 towards events and activities. The three month-long ‘celebration of cycling’ starts in January and runs until the end of March 2018. The various events are aimed at encouraging complete beginners to give cycling a go, through to women returning to cycling or those who may need a bit more confidence. This year TfGM is looking for groups to run a whole programme or series of events rather than a one-off, single-day event. The grants can fund a variety of activities such as bike maintenance sessions, talks and led rides. The Urban Fitness Collective, an Old Trafford-based initiative that trains young people to become leaders through sport, ran an event last year, which had proved to be a great success. More information on how to apply is via the TfGM Cycling team on 0161 244 1000 or by email on: [email protected]. Community Work TfGM’s has a small grants fund that is now available and is accepting bids from Community Rail Partnerships and individual station Friends Groups. The fund is administered by ACoRP and details can be found at https://acorp.uk.com/ TfGM continues to work with different station Friends groups, across the Greater Manchester footprint, and other stakeholders and has contributed to volunteer days and improvements at Rochdale, Woodsmoor and Patricroft stations. Rochdale station has had existing planters refurbished and the installation of new planters, along with a clean-up of the subway area. TfGM staff worked with the various local Friends groups and further enhancements will be made to the areas in the forthcoming weeks.