Jurassic Coast Transport Infrastructure Gap Analysis Study Final Report November 2008 Jurassic Coast Transport Working Group Jurassic Coast Transport Infrastructure Gap Analysis Study Final Report November 2008 Halcrow Group Limited Halcrow Group Limited 1 The Square Templ e Quay Bristol BS1 6DG Tel +44 (0)117 910 2580 F ax +44 (0)117 910 2581 www.halcrow.com Halcrow Group Limited has prepared this report in accordance with the i nstructions of the Jurassic Coast Transport Wor king Group for their sole and specific use. Any other persons who use any information contai ned herein do so at their own risk. © Halcrow Group Limited 2009 Halcrow Group Limited 1 The Square Templ e Quay Bristol BS1 6DG Tel +44 (0)117 910 2580 F ax +44 (0)117 910 2581 www.halcrow.com Jurassic Coast Transport Working Group Jurassic Coast Transport Infrastructure Gap Analysis Study Final Report November 2008 Contents Amendment Record This report has been issued and amended as follows: Issue Revision Description Date Signed 1 - Draft for discussion 25-08-08 JCP Draft Final report for 2 A 19-09-08 JCP comment 3 B Final report 28-11-08 GD Contents 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Background 1 1.2 Study area 1 2 Potential rural car-bus interchange sites 3 2.1 Introduction: Park and ride or car-bus interchanges? 3 2.2 Methodology 4 2.3 Case studies 5 2.4 General considerations 7 2.5 Site considerations 11 2.6 Analysis of Potential Sites 20 2.7 Summary & Recommendations 40 3 Bus services to serve camping and caravan sites 44 3.1 Methodology 44 3.2 Findings 49 3.3 Suggested Strategy: Introduction 49 3.4 Strategy Measure A: Bring services closer to accommodation sites 49 3.5 Strategy Measure B: Increase service frequencies 53 3.6 Strategy Measure C: Provide bus stops closer to accommodation sites 54 3.7 Strategy Measure D: Enhance routes from accommodation sites to bus stops and bus stop infrastructure 57 3.8 Strategy Measure E: Improve visitors’ awareness of local bus services at camping and caravan sites 57 3.9 Summary and Recommendations 58 4 Demand Responsive Transport Services: Constraints and Opportunities 61 4.1 Introduction 61 4.2 Types of DRT 61 4.3 Why DRT? 61 4.4 DRT and Policy 63 4.5 Barriers to visitors using DRT services 63 4.6 Barrier A: Lack of awareness of the service 63 4.7 Barrier B: Lack of understanding how the service works 64 4.8 Barrier C: Membership registration requirements 72 4.9 Barrier D: Journey pre-booking requirements 72 4.10 Barrier E: Reconciling journey patterns of residents and visitors 74 4.11 Barrier F: Image 75 4.12 Examples of Good Practice 75 4.13 The future application of the DRT in the study area 78 4.14 Summary and Recommendations 81 5 Rail-bus interchange audits 86 5.1 Introduction 86 5.2 Methodology 86 5.3 Axminster Railway Station 88 5.4 Honiton Railway Station 99 5.5 Exmouth Railway Station 110 5.6 Summary and Recommendations 120 6 Presenting Public Transport Information: Good Practice 123 6.1 Introduction 123 6.2 Local Authority Involvement in Public Transport Information 124 6.3 Conventional at-stop information 125 6.4 Bus flags 129 6.5 Bus stop names 129 6.6 Printed publicity: Area-wide 130 6.7 Printed publicity: service-specific 131 6.8 Printed publicity: Maps 136 6.9 Distribution of printed information 139 6.10 Online information 141 6.11 Real-time Passenger Information (RTPI) 146 6.12 Branding 148 6.13 Service Names Versus Route Numbers 151 6.14 Language 152 6.15 Fares 152 6.16 Summary & Recommendations 153 7 Partnership working 155 7.1 Introduction 155 7.2 Stakeholders 155 7.3 Effective partnership working – good practice 155 7.4 Partnership working in the Jurassic Coast 156 7.5 Summary and recommendations 157 8 Conclusions 158 8.1 Conclusions 158 Appendices A Detailed information on existing bus services to camping and caravan sites B Bus stop access audit C Types of Demand Responsive Transport D Additional details of Door to Dorset service 103/103A E Rail-Bus Interchange Audit Checklist 1 Introduction 1.1 Backgroun d 1.1.1 Halcrow was commissioned by Devon County Council on behalf of the Jurassic Coast Transport Working Group (JCTWG) to analyse various elements of transport infrastructure within the Jurassic Coast and its hinterland. The steering group identified five study topics for Halcrow to research and report on, namely; - Identifying potential for rural car-bus interchanges in the study area; - Discussing how well camping and caravan sites in the study area were served by public transport; - Investigating how well Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) Bus services can meet the visitor market; - Auditing three rail-bus interchanges in East Devon; and - Outlining good practice in presenting public transport information. The results of this analysis is set out in the following chapters. 1.2 Study area 1.2.1 In general, the area covered by the Jurassic Coast Transport Strategy (JCTS) is bounded to the north by the Exeter to London Waterloo railway line as far as Axminster, the A35 (and thus most of the 31 bus route) as far as Dorchester, and the Weymouth to London Waterloo railway line from Dorchester to Poole. However, some of the topics of this study cover a much more specific area. These are exp lained in the methodology to each chapter. 1.2.2 The study area includes parts of both Devon and Dorset. Devon and Dorset County Councils (DeCC and DoCC) act as both local highway authority and local transport authority. They are the local authorities, in which most powers relating to transport are vested (maintenance of all pub lic highways except the trunk road in the study area, rights of way, preparation of Local transport Plans (LTPs), etc). The study area also covers parts of four local p lanning Doc No 3 Rev B: - Date: November 2008 1 G:\Final Report Web version\CTR-ADA Study Report Rev9.4. doc authorities (LPAs) – East Devon, Purbeck & West Dorset District Councils (EDDC, PDC & WDDC) and Weymouth & Portland Borough Council (WPBC), who have responsibilities covering control of development and preparing Local Development Frameworks (LDFs) setting out planning policy for their area. It includes two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) – the East Devon & Dorset AONBs. Doc No 3 Rev B: - Date: November 2008 2 G:\Final Report Web version\CTR-ADA Study Report Rev9.4. doc 2 Potential rural car-bus interchange sites 2.1 Introduction: Park and ride or car-bus interchanges? 2.1.1 ‘Park and ride’ is usually defined as a scheme where car travellers park on the periphery of settlements and comp lete their journey to settlement centres on dedicated public transport (bus) services. They are commonly found in larger towns and cities, but also to access smaller coastal settlements which have limited road access and parking. 2.1.2 Park and ride of this type already exists in a limited form within the Jurassic Coast Lyme Regis has two seasonal sites adjacent to the A3052 – one on Sidmouth Road, across the county boundary in Devon (maintained by Lyme Regis Town Council), and one on the Charmouth Road towards the summit of Dragon’s Hill (maintained by WDDC). Bridport has a seasonal site at West Bay operating on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Norden Park and Ride is unusual in that it is rail-based park and ride and further away from some of the intended destinations, allowing visitors to park and travel by train to Corfe Castle and Swanage 1. Additionally, in Sidmouth, EDDC promote the use of the Council Offices car park as a location for ‘park and walk’ to the town centre at weekends [EDDC 2006]. 2.1.3 The JCTS [DeCC & DoCC 2005] view park and ride as one part of a wider parking strategy for the Jurassic Coast. A site for Weymouth will be constructed on the former Lodmoor North tip as part of the relief road planning permission [DoCC 2007], whilst the Lyme Regis Community P lan wishes to see the existing park and ride enhanced [Lyme Forward 2007]. A parking study in Sidmouth in 2001 noted that conventional park and ride would be unlikely to be viab le if it had less than 500 parking spaces and parking spaces continued to be readily availab le in the town centre [DeCC & DoCC 2005]. 2.1.4 Research suggests that few people walk further than 400m to reach bus services [Kennisplatform Kerkeer en Vervoer 2006] and this is commonly used 1 See also Halcrow, 2008 Doc No 3 Rev B: - Date: November 2008 3 G:\Final Report Web version\CTR-ADA Study Report Rev9.4. doc as a standard in guidance documents 2. This study examines potential locations for visitors to travel by car to bus stops, park their vehicles and undertake their onward travel by conventional, existing, bus services in the corridor served by the CoastlinX53 bus service. This is unlike most existing park and ride sites, which use dedicated bus services. As a rule, public car parks already have a range of roles, including, for examp le, access to local shops and facilities and longer-stay parking for visitors exploring the area. They may be already be used for informal transfer onto nearby bus services. 2.2 Methodology 2.2.1 This study concentrates on locations between Newton Poppleford to Chideock, which is referred to as the study corridor in this chapter of the report. This report has termed such sites as rural car-bus interchanges, rather than park and ride per se, because of the likely differences in their operation; however, they have in other examp les been referred to as parking pockets .