A Framework for a Public Transport Strategy for District

A discussion on how improving public transport can reduce greenhouse gas emissions

22 August 2013

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Contents Introduction ...... 3 Context ...... 3 Vision ...... 5 Aims ...... 5 Objectives ...... 6 Funding ...... 7 Practical Steps ...... 7 Trains ...... 7 70% lower emissions than cars ...... 7 Achievements so far ...... 8 Case Study: Southampton Metro ...... 9 Other possible case studies ...... 12 Rail Partnership ...... 12 Buses ...... 13 41% lower emissions than cars ...... 13 Achievements so far ...... 13

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Service reduction...... 13 Managing change ...... 14 Service Information ...... 14 The Bus Curfew...... 16 Secret Destinations ...... 17 High Tech Information ...... 17 Passenger Care ...... 18 Case Studies for Possible Bus Service Improvements ...... 19 A: The Winchester – Fareham Corridor ...... 19 B Winchester – Petersfield access to and from the National Park ...... 20 Big Bus or Little Bus? ...... 21 Coaches ...... 21 Trams? ...... 22 Taxis ...... 22 89% higher emissions than cars...... 22 Community Transport ...... 23 Good Connections ...... 23 Between modes and operators ...... 23 Between routes ...... 25 Between fares paid ...... 25 Between timetables ...... 26 List of Schemes ...... 26

Introduction This framework suggests issues that would need to be addressed by a Winchester District Public Transport Strategy. We hope it will stimulate discussion and demonstrate how a strategy would be a useful way of identifying priorities for the district. We believe public transport has a major role in reducing greenhouse gases associated with transport and provide examples of why this is so.

Context

Winchester City Council has adopted a target of a 30% reduction in CO2 emissions in the district by 2015 compared with emissions in 2004. Winchester has per capita transport emissions that are 58% above the national average. This is the main reason that overall emissions are 20% above the national average, so transport will have to make a significant contribution to the city council’s target.

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Source Department of Energy and Climate Change Local Authority Emissions 2011

In September 2012 County Council adopted a District Transport Statement reflecting the priorities of the Department for Transport’s White Paper ‘Creating Growth and Cutting Carbon: Making Sustainable Transport Happen’ published in January 2011. It applies the principles set out by the government to the Winchester District to help:  Create growth and planned regeneration where needed.  Improve travel choices to encourage the safer and more sustainable movement of people and goods.  Reduce carbon emissions and the dominance of traffic through more walking, cycling and passenger transport use.

This discussion document looks at how public transport could be developed and promoted in line with these policies. It is designed to be read in conjunction with sibling initiatives: Winchester District Walking and Pedestrian Strategy1 and Winchester District Cycling Strategy. For the shortest of journeys walking will often be the most appropriate transport mode and will have zero carbon direct emissions. For longer local journeys cycling will offer a zero carbon option. For many people many journeys will be beyond the scope of walking or cycling and in those cases public transport offers the best chance of a low carbon journey.

Currently it is important that greenhouse gas emissions from transport be as low as possible. Once our fuel supply is decarbonised, on current plans there will be a major shortage of zero carbon power and a major lack of sufficient capacity in the electricity supply infrastructure. It will then be essential that we make full use of

1 Currently a draft is being proposed by WinACC

4 public transport to meet our transport needs in order to use as little energy as possible and avoid blowing the fuses.

Vision It would be important for any strategy to have a clear vision of the type of Winchester it would wish to achieve. WinACC would like to see a Winchester District where:  There is a high quality of life increasingly free of noxious gas and noise pollution  Overall greenhouse gas emissions for transport are dramatically lower than they are to-day  Most people are no longer forced to use their cars, and generally choose not to  Public transport is perceived as offering a viable and enjoyable way of making all but the most remote journeys  There is good integration both within public transport and with the two major forms of zero carbon transport (walking and cycling) to facilitate an efficient system of low-carbon transport to all parts of the district.

Aims Similarly clear aims would help shape a strategy and set priorities. WinACC would welcome strategies that aim to:  Accelerate the reduction of traffic levels on roads throughout the district  Reduce levels of pollution and congestion in central Winchester  Obviate the need for major road development schemes to increase capacity for cars  Reduce the need for and cost of carriageway repairs necessary because of high traffic levels  Reduce levels of traffic noise along major transport corridors and in central Winchester  Free up land in central Winchester used for parking for low-carbon housing development, and/or other more socially useful purposes

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 Free up the public realm currently dominated by traffic and parked cars to facilitate a richer diversity of walking, leisure and business activities  Remove ‘transport exclusion’ from those sections of the community that do not have the resources to run their own car, so that they can return to leading full lives with full geographic mobility. Objectives Winchester City Council and Hampshire County Council have little or no direct control over public transport in the area. However, they can use their influence, and use related powers to encourage and facilitate practical steps to achieve the following objectives:

 Maximum use of the railway infrastructure in Winchester because of its 2 current potential of delivering the best gCO2e/pkm , and the ease with which an electrified railway system can make use of zero carbon electricity

 Upgrading of the image of bus services and the quality of the network and service delivery  High levels of co-ordination between public transport operators  Ease of payment facilities; smart cards and through ticketing  High quality bus service information and publicity  An increase in bus priority arrangements  A prompt response to take advantage of appropriate future government initiatives.

2 Grams of carbon dioxide equivalent per passenger kilometre, used throughout this paper to measure the average rate of greenhouse gas emission for each mode of passenger transport. Calculations are based on data provided by the Department for Transport.

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Funding This discussion document has been written on the assumption that sources of new funding are generally in short supply. It concentrates on the one hand on projects that will require limited funding (bus information, railway timetable publishing) or that will have the potential for self-financing income funding (better bus and train services).

Some potential substantial funding sources are mentioned. The main one would be funding for the ‘electric spine’ announced by the government in autumn 2012, for improved rail infrastructure between Southampton and Basingstoke and the north. Some funding of local bus services could take advantage of any surplus income from car park charges, if there were the political will to do this. Where there is a link to economic activity (e.g. cycling access to Winnall Trading Estate, better access to Town Centre Jobs) local economic partnership (LEP) funding could be explored.

A further source could be from developers, but the extent of this is difficult to anticipate.

A major principle is that communities should first articulate clearly what they need and why they need it, and that once there are clear proposals it will be more likely that possibilities will increase. It is a major funding problem that there is currently no coherent statement of how local authorities would like to see public transport develop in Winchester District.

Practical Steps This section contains some observations on current service provision and outlines examples of the types of opportunity there are for development. WinACC hopes that this will be a basis for joint work by local authorities, transport providers and community groups to develop priorities and an action plan, with a specific list of schemes.

Trains 70% lower emissions than cars

According to government data, trains produce average emissions of 67 gCO2e/pkm as opposed to 199 gCO2e/pkm for the averagely loaded average car on a journey to work. The electric trains with regenerative breaking used on most services calling at Winchester have even lower emissions at about 60 gCO2e/pkm. People changing their transport mode from car to train at Winchester will save about 70% of their journey’s emissions.

Recently (on 8 January 2013) Network Rail announced proposals, over the five years beginning in 2014 (‘Control Period 5’), to reduce overall rail transport emissions by 30%. They also propose to invest £200m per year on lines used by South West Trains (the Wessex Route). This will include the complete renewal of the

7 route from Basingstoke to Southampton, increases in capacity, and preparations for converting former Channel Tunnel Rail Link platforms at Waterloo for use by South West Trains and their successors. It is important that the local communities and local authorities engage with Network Rail to ensure that such a large investment is spent in a way that provides the very best value for money, addresses local travel needs, and makes a full contribution to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by transport in the district.

Achievements so far In so many ways the train services in the district are excellent. They  Are frequent  Are punctual  Provide passengers with prompt and accurate real-time information  Are delivered with a high level of passenger care  Have new and comfortable trains, well cared for.

Over the last decade the train service has been a success story. South West Trains have almost doubled their passengers since they began in 1994, and Winchester Station is the starting or end point of over 4 million journeys a year (an unweighted average of 11,000 per day). has maintained a regular hourly service from early in the morning to late at night and after intervention by the local rail user group a similar service has been restored at Shawford.

It would be surprising if there were not some problems:  High fares (passengers pay more per mile to travel from Winchester to Waterloo than they do if they use High Speed 1 between Ashford and St Pancras)  Inexplicable ticketing anomalies (for example a day trip to Birmingham can be £70 cheaper if passengers split their ticket at Banbury)  Arcane rules about travel restrictions (You can get a senior railcard reduction from Winchester to Birmingham at any time, but you have to wait until 08:54 to use it to Waterloo, and 09:00 to use it to Bournemouth)  A limited number of routes  The misleading ‘Next fastest train …’ indicators that were recently installed. (For example on weekdays at 14:34 we are told to catch the 16:38 to Swaythling by the ‘Next fastest train’ indicator. The paper departures board, more helpfully, tells us to catch the 15:05, change at Southampton Airport Parkway, and arrive 89 minutes earlier)

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Because train services are so efficient and useful (and generally invisible in the city, hidden in a cutting), their contribution is often overlooked. Also, despite their major current contribution, there is still significant scope for further development that would reduce transport emissions in the district.

Case Study: Southampton Metro A high proportion of Winchester’s visiting car traffic comes for work, shopping and business from the Southampton area along the M3 and M27. Much of this will originate from the extensive housing areas in parts of Southampton adjacent to one of the five suburban stations on the line between Winchester and Brockenhurst. Currently, there are no regular through trains to and from four of these stations, and the service pauses for 12 minutes in one direction at Southampton and 8 minutes in the other direction at Eastleigh.

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Stations in the Southampton area that could be regularly served directly from Winchester, north east to south west: Southampton Airport, Swaythling, St Denys, Southampton Central, Millbrook, Redbridge, Totton, Ashurst New Forest (stations in green currently benefit only from a poor or non-existent direct service).

A: Printed Information focussing on the current local service An immediate step would be to publish a timetable showing the connections between Southampton suburban stations and Winchester as table C in the Winchester Bus and Train Travel Times booklet and ask South West Trains to publish a pocket timetable that could be circulated widely across central Winchester. Currently there is mention of neither Micheldever Station nor Shawford station in the local timetable booklet, and no timetable covering services between Winchester and all the stations in the Southampton area.

B: Revised stopping pattern More substantially, with a major redesign of the timetable, existing trains (in red in the figure below) could call additionally at the four stations they currently miss, and provide a direct pause-free service between Winchester and all stations in the Southampton area. This change could be achieved without either new infrastructure or new trains. This will happen only if local authorities give their support to the idea. Elsewhere local authorities have supported ideas for improving train services and they have been successful, often without having to make any financial commitment.

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Hourly daytime pattern: Green: existing link between Winchester and Southampton suburbs red: train that could make additional calls

C: Infrastructure improvements and the ‘Electric Spine’ On top of this there is scope for modest improvements to the rail infrastructure, provided local authorities press for it. Recently extra platforms and new lines have been added in many places throughout the UK, usually following campaigns by local authorities. The South West Main Line is one of the most congested in the country.

The government recently announced its approval for re-electrifying the line between Basingstoke and Southampton, as part of the ‘electric spine’ from Southampton to Sheffield and Network Rail have proposed high levels of investment (see above). There is a major opportunity here to argue that the capacity of the line through Winchester should be increased, through redesigned signalling, and improved overtaking facilities at, for example:  Micheldever where the formation already exists,  A new station (Wellhouse Lane) with passing loops, to serve Barton Farm and Springvale (On 27 November 2012 a similar station to serve a development of 3,600 homes at Beaulieu Park on a similarly congested piece of line near Chelmsford was given approval)  Platformed passing loops in the space at the north end of Winchester station (Winchester would be the ideal place for semi-fast trains leaving Waterloo at XX:20 and XX:50 minutes past the hour to be overtaken by fast trains leaving 15 minutes later. The semi-fast trains could then proceed as stopping trains, providing excellent two-way cross platform inter-connections with the fast trains)

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Site of possible new island platforms at Winchester

 additional tracks between Eastleigh and Southampton, and  a new station on the loops next to Mount Pleasant Road Crossing in Northam.

With infrastructure improvements, further increases in the train service would be possible (half-hourly cross-country, a half-hourly ‘Southampton Metro,’ better connections to Chichester and Brighton), and even more freight could transfer from the M3/A34 to the railway.

Other possible case studies There are a number of other ways of encouraging greater use of the rail system through balanced modest investment in infrastructure and services:  A New Station to serve the development at Whiteley (the scale of the housing is comparable to the scale of the housing at Beaulieu Park mentioned on page 11; the government introduced a ‘new stations’ scheme in January 2013, assuming costs of about £4m per platform but require ‘shovel ready’ plans)  Better connections where they are inconsistent, inconvenient or unreliable: o the south coast route from Fareham to Brighton o the Isle of Wight (Ryde) o Chandler’s Ford and Romsey o the Southampton, Salisbury, Westbury, Bath route

Rail Partnership The creation of a Winchester Rail Partnership could help accelerate modal transfer to rail. It is fully in Hampshire County Council’s and Winchester City Council’s interests to work closely with and encourage local groups. Now is the time to engage more fully in the discussions about the future of the South Western Railway, with regard to the next franchise, and the next period of infrastructure improvements (‘control period 6’).

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Buses 41% lower emissions than cars According to the government, the average load of a bus is 10.8 passengers. This gives them emissions of 136 gCO2e/pkm as opposed to 199 gCO2e/pkm for the averagely loaded average car on a journey to work. A survey of buses in Romsey Road gave the average load of all service buses (excluding P&R buses) as 12.31passengers. This gives Romsey Road service buses emissions of 119.31 gCO2e/pkm, a 41% reduction on the average emission rate of cars.

In future, if buses in Winchester can succeed in attracting higher payloads, the emissions savings will be correspondingly higher. A new generation of low emission and hybrid buses will increase the saving. It is easier and more effective to apply hybrid, battery, and fuel-cell technology to buses than it is to cars, especially with their captive predetermined route patterns.

Achievements so far The quality of the bus service in the district is more mixed than the train service. There are many good aspects to the bus service:  Many of the buses are relatively new  A majority of buses have easy-access low floors  There are still a number of useful routes  Four Winchester City ‘Flock’ services have been actively promoted over the last 10 years (initially branded as ‘Switch’) and provide a frequent service  Two bus companies have shown considerable commercial initiative by increasing the frequency of bus services to Southampton and to Alton.

However there are many frustrations and disappointments that will deter new passengers from transferring from their cars, and will force existing passengers to abandon buses forever.

Service reduction Following the cuts in subsidy in October 2011 the number of buses entering and leaving Winchester on weekdays was reduced by 6%. Many services were unaffected, at least two were improved, much to the credit of the operators. However for some services, despite every effort made by Hampshire County Council officers to mitigate the damage, the effect was severe to disastrous. In future people will have to use their cars to:  Visit Marwell Zoo on a Sunday  Commute to work from Broughton to Salisbury  Come back from a walk in the Test Valley later than 4pm  Cope with large gaps in the timetable. The 67 service across the National Park to Petersfield has seen gaps grow in some cases from 1 hour to three hours. People using service 46 to visit Southampton General Hospital in the afternoons are forced to spend 2h10minutes there, and in the mornings visits must take either 2 or 4 hours.

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 Go to the Farmers’ Market, to church or go to central Winchester for other purposes on Sundays from many locations.

Managing change Worse, the changes were implemented so quickly that many people were unable to make alternative arrangements. In some cases only three days’ notice was given, even of complete withdrawal. It is regrettable that the traffic commissioners waived the requirement for notice in the regulations. This is bound to destroy any confidence in bus public transport, and people with cars are unlikely ever to choose to rely on bus services again. They will prefer to stick with their cars, where they have some power over how they will use them. It would be helpful if a better protocol were adopted for changes in service, especially for county-funded services.

Service Information Much effort is put into providing the public with information about bus services:  Excellent booklets, frequently updated, show bus services directly serving Winchester  Extensive departure information is readily available at nearly all bus stops  One company at least has put considerable effort into making bus stop information and leaflets easily accessible, with maps of complex sections of the route

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Unfortunately there are still too many shortcomings in some of the information provided. Operators do not always tell people what they need to know.

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This notice first appeared on 1 September 2011 in Stockbridge Road to the west of the station. It was in a display case that faced a thickly overgrown steep bank. Only persistent enthusiasts with sturdy walking boots would ever have seen it. The heading does not summarise the key point. The notice unhelpfully fails to point out that a bus stop five minutes’ walk away in City Road would continue to be served by the Route 68. Passengers would also need to know that the route’s destination would change from Salisbury to Andover, and that it had been re-routed as it left Winchester.

There is a poster showing onward bus information at various places around Winchester Station.

Figure 1 This poster does not show the bus station on the local area map for onward travel

One is in a place where people will see it. It includes information on where the Rugby Club, Leisure Centre, and Museum are or, in one case, are not, but it fails to tell people where the bus station is, even though the footnote tells people to go there.

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One of the posters has (in February 2013) been replaced (but in only one location, the others remain) with ‘version 3’ that takes account of the route changes in October 2011 and includes the bus station. A less accurate poster (version 2) is offered on the Network Rail website. Hopefully, the updating and version control will be improved soon.

A simple improvement would be to make the Winchester Public Transport booklet available in the racks at the station. Not many people arriving at the station will know that it is available at the bus station, know where the bus station is, or have time to collect it.

A map one bus company has produced called ‘Major Routes in Winchester’ is misleading. They have omitted the 20-minute-frequency route from Winchester to Southampton, presumably because it is run by another company.

‘Major Bus Routes in Winchester’ leaves out the BlueStar 1, presumably because it is run by a competitor

The county council produces a map that is freely available as a pdf and is regularly updated. It would be good to get agreement from operators to use this for all Winchester network maps.

The Bus Curfew With the exception of some Winchester City ‘Flock’ services and BlueStar 1 especially on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights most bus services start well after sunrise and close down at 7pm or before. Few services outside Winchester operate on Sundays, even though the centre of Winchester is just as busy as on Saturdays. For this reason, no households outside Winchester City area will willingly

16 choose not to have a car. Bus companies simply do not try to provide for all of most households’ essential needs. Although buses still provide a viable service for going shopping and going to school, journeys to work, evening leisure trips, and the first and last legs of long journeys are often difficult to impossible.

To achieve a significant modal shift away from cars a more concerted effort is needed to provide a viable bus service for longer in the day. Train services are not subject to the same curfew, and out-of-hours trains are often well-used. Buses too must be seen as dependable for all common travel requirements. Costs of evening and Sunday services will be marginal, since they can use the equipment already in use at busier periods. Where operators have invested in providing evening services (e.g. BlueStar 1) patronage has grown in the daytime as people fall into the habit of ‘thinking bus,’ because it serves a higher proportion of their needs.

Profit from car parking charges can be spent on public transport funding. Authorities could consider whether use of such funds in this way would be justifiable, especially to overcome the curfew.

Secret Destinations Not many people realise that there are regular through buses from Winchester to Andover via Stockbridge (5), and to Guildford (9). The vehicles and drivers travel all the way, but change route number and destination displays at Stockbridge and Alton. Through tickets are available. It seems perverse that these services are not more widely advertised, and opportunities are being lost for attracting more people who would otherwise use their cars.

High Tech Information

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Current high tech information facilities tend to discredit public transport. Where it exists, electronic departure information is generally still not ‘real time’, does not tell you about delays etc, and departures disappear about 30 seconds before buses are timed to depart. Seasoned passengers ignore them as much as they did when the Miracles final report remarked on it in 2005. A properly functioning ‘real-time information’ system is long overdue, and will be especially useful in remote locations with few buses; it can really matter to a passenger whether the last bus timed to leave at 18:06 has already departed, has been cancelled, or is running late.

Electronic information points are unused and frequently broken (the one outside the station had no keyboard for a number of months). These will soon be superseded for anybody likely to use them by 4G mobile phones, and their costs could be better allocated elsewhere. Plans to provide more electronic information kiosks seem archaic, extravagant, and counter-productive.

Passenger Care The quality of the interaction between staff and passengers varies markedly by operating company. Many are ineffably polite, enthusiastic, and helpful, and show impressive levels of disability awareness.

There can however be problems, even on routes where staff have had customer care training. Although the staff clearly all care about their work, they can often come across as slightly authoritarian and passengers often moan about some services. Buses can leave early or not turn up.

Driving standards, once regarded as essential, of gentle acceleration and braking seem to have been forgotten and many buses take corners abruptly. Notices telling passengers not to leave their seats until the bus has come to a complete stop simply delay services.

Where services are funded by public authorities, passenger care training, and disability awareness in particular, should be part of the specification.

For all passengers, especially people with hearing and sight problems it is important that buses be fitted with speaking and visual route progress indicators as soon as possible.

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Some form of regular passenger satisfaction survey would be a good way of highlighting any problems and tackling them, resulting in better services used by more people.

Case Studies for Possible Bus Service Improvements A: The Winchester – Fareham Corridor

The current route is hourly, and takes 1h15mins to cover a direct route of 18.5 miles (average speed 14.5mph) that would take 39mins in a fairly slow car, or 31mins via the motorway. The last through bus is at 18:42. , Bishop’s Waltham, Waltham Chase and Wickham together have considerable populations and the bus could be an important lifeline for a significant stretch of Winchester District. However, it is clear that the bus is virtually irrelevant to most people who live in the corridor. It competes on neither speed nor comfort with even the most basic car, and the lack of evening buses means that nobody in the corridor would ever choose to rely on it.

Over the years, as routes have merged, the service has accrued a remarkable selection of residential streets on deviations from the direct route. This has made the bus especially unattractive for passengers who wish to travel between the main centres.

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There is scope here for a review of the route to see if changes can be made to meet the needs of passengers wishing to travel at car speeds between the main centres. This will be essential if we are to offer a viable alternative to car use. Possible alternative approaches could include:  A new fast bus that sticks to the main road. To complement this, work could be done on whether to establish shorter feeder services, or maintain an indirect service based on the current route and interconnecting with the fast service at Bishop’s Waltham, using buses of an appropriate size (see Big Bus, Little Bus below).  Simplification of the time-consuming routes around Bishop’s Waltham, Fair Oak and Colden Common, reducing overall times, but ensuring that the populations served are still within easy walking distance of a bus stop.

In any event, good Sheffield stands, or secure cycle accommodation, and networks of feeder footpaths at main stops could make a faster service accessible to more people. The recent simplification of Route 64, leaving the Worthys to route 67 and the doubling of its frequency, seems to have been successful in attracting more passengers.

Terminating route 69 at Winchester railway station and early/late buses for London commuters would increase the route’s potential.

B Winchester – Petersfield access to and from the National Park

Route 67 currently links Winchester and Petersfield and goes through wide swathes of the South Downs National Park. It is supported by Hampshire County Council but has recently been re-routed and frequency has been reduced drastically. It takes 1 hour 15 minutes to go 29 miles at an average speed of 23mph. The route passes close to Winchester railway station, and serves most of the main villages in the area it goes through.

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There is scope here to press the National Park Authority to add their support to encourage car-free access for visitors, and improve travel opportunities for residents. They could restore the hourly frequency, improve evening facilities for visitors to return to Winchester and Petersfield, and enable car-free access to the national park on Sundays. Good cycle parking facilities at East and and Cheriton would help access to isolated villages. A Sunday diversion via Winchester Hill and could make the park more accessible for visitors with minimal impact on the environmental quality.

Big Bus or Little Bus?

Concern is often expressed that buses are too big for the number of passengers they are carrying. Sometimes this is because a bus is first used on a lightly loaded journey but must then run on a heavily loaded journey that requires a large bus and it is impractical to change buses. How much difference does the size of bus make?

The Department for Transport has developed a low-carbon bus standard. While this will in a few years allow us to know precisely how high bus emissions are, it currently already allows us to compare the emissions of buses of different sizes, because the formula presumably is based on current knowledge of how far emissions increase with bus size.

The following table compares the low carbon bus emissions in gCO2e/pkm for examples of loadings and size of bus (by passenger seating capacity).

Number of Seats for: Seats for: Seats for: Seats for: Seats for: passengers 10 20 40 60 80 passengers passengers passengers passengers passengers 6 94.1 104.6 125.5 146.46 167.4 10 56.5 62.8 75.32 87.88 100.44 20 31.38 37.66 43.94 50.22 30 20.76 29.29 33.48 40 18.83 21.97 25.11

This shows that the increase in emissions is not at all proportional to bus capacity. A bus with a capacity of 80 seats produces less than twice the emissions of a bus with a capacity of 10 passengers for the same passenger load. The most important way of saving carbon seems to be to carry as many passengers as possible on every bus.

Coaches Much needs to be done to develop the potential coaches have as a low carbon alternative to the car. They have a very low public profile and many people dismiss them too easily.

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Coaches achieve low emission figures (34.71 gCO2e/pkm) and fares are often relatively low. This is mainly the result of the high occupancy rates achieved by National Express (about 25 passengers average per coach). Currently routes and timetables at Winchester are limited (8 coaches per day to Heathrow, 8 per day to London, 1 per day to Bradford) and information is not easily available. Even the coach stop has no timetables or information that coaches can be booked at the bus station. At the bus station itself leaflets are in sporadic supply, timetables home- made, and a notice apologises for the difficulty in predicting the fare that will be charged on any service.

Coaches have the disadvantage, compared with rail, that it will be relatively difficult to convert them to zero carbon fuel, but technology could be developed for efficient battery or fuel cell coaches, and these would use energy more efficiently than cars.

There is scope for developing services to fill gaps in current public transport provision. Care should be taken to ensure that they are well-used, and achieve low levels of gCO2e/pkm. A network of coach routes could improve medium distance alternatives to the car. If all coaches were to serve the transport interchange at the railway station interconnecting coach and train services could complement each other to good effect.

Possible new routes, designed to fill gaps currently requiring the use of a car and not duplicating existing rail routes could include:  Gosport – Fareham – Bishop’s Waltham – Winchester – Andover – Marlborough – Swindon – Gloucester  Bristol –Chippenham – Devizes – Salisbury – Winchester – Alton – Guildford – Sevenoaks In addition, the Meon Valley would benefit from the restoration of the Portsmouth – Alton – Farnham – London service.

Trams? In September 2011 the coalition government published ‘Green Light for Light Rail’ encouraging proposals for tram systems. Some consideration could be given to whether there are any routes in Winchester with a service intensity that could justify conversion and make zero carbon electricity a potential public transport energy source. The combined Routes 5 and P+R along Romsey Road with up to 14 buses an hour could be worth considering.

Taxis 89% higher emissions than cars Taxis have a crucial supplementary role in providing connections that public transport cannot provide, and in providing occasional transport (e.g. for the monthly shopping, hospital visits, or taking the pet to the vets) in a way that means people feel they do not need to have a car. Volunteer driving schemes have a similarly crucial role. Lifestyles that normally rely on walking, cycling and public transport and

22 only occasionally resort to taxi will have a lower carbon footprint than lifestyles based primarily on car use.

Taxis gather at the station just after the rural bus curfew

However, once taxi use becomes the norm it results in shockingly high emissions. Taxis in Winchester usually do a return journey for a fare making a single journey. This will give emissions of 376 gCO2e/pkm, 89% more than an average car, 316% higher than Winchester buses.

It is important that we consider ways of replacing concentrations of taxis (e.g. at the station in mid-evening) with additional well-filled bus services, and develop public transport in ways that mean people do not have to rely regularly on taxis.

Community Transport Community transport can play an important role in strengthening local communities and supporting community events. Normally, however, it is not easily accessible by people who are not members of the community, and should not be seen as an adequate substitute for public transport services. It cannot have the same potential for encouraging modal transfer from the private car unless services are well- advertised, regular, dependable, and open to all.

In some places it may be viable to provide public transport services that are run and managed by the community, but a creative approach to complying with regulations and keeping costs low may be necessary. Where there are gaps in provision some communities may wish to explore developing locally-run public transport services.

Good Connections Between modes and operators

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The current public transport system in the district is badly fragmented. One factor is the element of competition between operators and modes. Some operators are under the misapprehension that any form of cooperation is against the law because it is anti-competitive. There is an important role for local authorities to banish such misapprehensions and to sponsor safe forms of legal cooperation. The private car is the main form of competition for public transport operators, and full cooperation and coordination is the most effective way to tackle such competition.

Connections between rail and bus/coach services would improve immeasurably if all district bus/coach services could use a new transport interchange at the railway station. Suggestions that some of the fallow areas next to the station be developed as a commercial centre offer a positive opportunity to take this possibility further.

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Between routes Much needs to be done to develop seamless journey opportunities for people who wish to combine cycling/walking, catching a bus, and catching a train, so that a full range of journeys is possible without the need for a car. This could include:

West Meon, a good place for a transport hub?

 The designation of key public transport hubs in main towns and villages across the district, where o all bus routes call, o there is the focus of a comprehensive network of safe walking/cycling routes o there are good weatherproof cycle parking facilities with recharging points for electric bikes o there is comprehensive accessible information on all services o there is reliable real-time information on how services are actually operating o there are comfortable waiting facilities  A transport interchange at the railway station (see above).

Between fares paid Generally passengers have to pay separately for each leg of their journey, which can make journeys involving a change or two unreasonably expensive. The situation would improve with:  A universal smart payment card (like London’s Oyster)  Through ticketing on all routes  A Winchester ‘hour’ ticket

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 The ability to add ‘Plusbus’ supplements to rail tickets at both ends of rail journeys, and the ability to purchase the ticket on the initial bus journey  A local students’ travelcard.

Between timetables There has been little thought put into ensuring the time taken connecting between services at Winchester is robust but reasonable, especially where route frequencies are low. The time taken up by the connection is unpredictable, varying from unreliably short to tediously long. The following table shows how long it takes to change bus/train at Winchester at about 11am for a range of journeys through Winchester. Mid-morning has been chosen because it is a time of day that offers some of the best opportunities.

Starting point by Depart Arrive at Time for Depart Arrive by Destination Winchester Connection from Winchester Micheldever train 10:10 10:18 0:31 10:49 10:54 train Shawford Station Shawford train 10:19 10:24 0:32 10:56 11:05 train Micheldever Station Stockbridge 68 bus 09:30 10:08 0:52 11:00 11:50 67 Bus West Meon West Meon 67 bus 10:53 11:41 0:34 12:15 12:53 68 bus Stockbridge 46 bus 10:33 10:52 0:18 11:10 12:18 64/65 Farnham bus Farnham 64/65 10:15 11:28 0:043 11:32 12:10 66 bus Hursley bus Sparsholt 7 bus 10:36 10:59 0:16 11:15 12:00 69 bus Bishop’s Waltham Bishop’s Waltham 69 bus 10:19 11:05 0:054 11:10 11:31 7 bus Sparsholt Southampton train 10:30 10:48 0:225 11:10 11:26 64 bus New Alresford 64 bus 10:10 10:28 0:216 10:49 11:12 train Southampton Cheriton 67 bus 11:06 11:41 0:28 12:09 12:34 86 bus Sutton Scotney 86 bus 09:59 10:23 0:37 11:00 11:37 67 bus Cheriton

A more consistent set of connections could be achieved for less frequent buses if a single hub were chosen and buses arrived within ten minutes of each other, and after a period of five minutes they then all departed within ten minutes. If the transport interchange were established at the railway station many train services could be included in this connection pattern, especially if slow and fast trains were to interconnect at Winchester.

List of Schemes Hopefully the ideas in this paper will suggest a wide variety of schemes, and local knowledge will be able to apply some of these ideas to situations not dealt with here. Purely as an illustration, some of the schemes given as examples above could look a bit like this:

3 Unreliable connection, could take an hour longer if the 64 bus is late 4 8 minutes longer if the change is made at the Discovery Centre 5 Includes 15 minutes’ walk between railway and bus stations 6 Includes 15 minutes’ walk between railway and bus stations

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Reference Description Objectives Estimated Cost 1 Timetable for train connections for all stations Maximum use of railway Part of Winchester between Totton and Winchester infrastructure Public Transport booklet 2 Construction of two island platforms to the Maximum use of railway £5m ? north of Winchester Station infrastructure 3 Transport Hub in West Meon Upgrading of bus network £25,000 4 High quality Bus services Co-ordinating Group Public transport co- £25,000 ordination

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WinACC is funded by the Hampshire County Council, the University of Winchester, Winchester City Council, donations from individual supporters, and grants for projects from charitable trusts and the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

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