Lawrence Walker Limited Church Farm House Leamington Hastings Warwickshire CV23 8DZ WALKER ENGINEERING Tel : 01926 632111 Consultants in Highways, Railways Fax : 01926 632340 Bridges and Underwater Engineering Mobile : 07774 839181 E-Mail : [email protected] Kilverstone Estate Crown Estates Thetford SUE Thetford Public Transport Proposals April 2011 Lawrence Walker Limited Registered Office as above Registered in England No. 3001314 Thetford SUE April 2011 Public Transport Proposals CONTENTS Section Page 1. INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Purpose of Report 1 1.2 Report Structure 3 1.3 The Proposed Development 4 2. PUBLIC TRANSPORT PROPOSALS 8 2.1 General Description 8 2.2 Background 8 2.3 Objectives 10 2.4 Principles of Operation 12 2.5 Integration 14 2.6 Planning and Policy Considerations 16 3. PROPOSED BUS ROUTES 26 3.1 Overview 26 3.2 Phased Implementation 30 3.3 Route A 32 3.4 Route B 35 3.5 Route C 38 3.6 Alternative Routes for Crossing the Railway 39 3.7 Options beyond the Development Site 42 C\LAWRENCE WALKER LIMITED\LWL Projects\Miscellaneous\Thetford (6)\Reports\REPORT - PT - Apr 2011.docx - i – Thetford SUE April 2011 Public Transport Proposals 4. LAND ISSUES 44 4.1 Land Affected 44 4.2 Thetford Bus Station 49 4.3 Other Locations 50 5. TRANSPORTATION IMPACT 51 5.1 Introduction 51 5.1 Bus Priority 53 5.3 Bus Passenger Forecasts 59 5.4 Integration with Transport Network 64 5.5 Pedestrians and Cyclists 67 5.6 Mitigation of Transport Impacts 68 6. PROPOSED INFRASTRUCTURE 69 6.1 Internal Bus Routes 69 6.2 Streetscape Design 72 6.3 Stations 74 6.4 Bus Gates 77 6.5 Other Priority Measures 80 7. TERMINAL FACILITIES 82 7.1 Thetford Bus Station 82 7.2 Railway Station 85 7.3 Other Locations 87 C\LAWRENCE WALKER LIMITED\LWL Projects\Miscellaneous\Thetford (6)\Reports\REPORT - PT - Apr 2011.docx - ii – Thetford SUE April 2011 Public Transport Proposals 8. SYSTEM SPECIFICATION 88 8.1 Vehicles 88 8.2 Depot Facilities 92 8.3 Global Positioning Satellites Control System 92 - GPS Overview 92 - Information Systems 94 - Bus Priority 97 - BusNet Information 98 8.4 Passenger Information 102 8.5 Passenger Security 105 8.6 Timetabling 107 8.7 Ticketing 109 - Fare Policy, Collection and Enforcement 109 - Integration 111 9. OPERATIONAL ISSUES 115 9.1 Branding 115 9.2 Marketing 115 9.3 Legislative Framework 117 9.4 Management Company 119 9.5 Operator 120 9.6 Drivers 121 9.7 Monitoring of the System 122 9.8 Harmonisation of Operating Systems 123 C\LAWRENCE WALKER LIMITED\LWL Projects\Miscellaneous\Thetford (6)\Reports\REPORT - PT - Apr 2011.docx - iii – Thetford SUE April 2011 Public Transport Proposals 10. FINANCIAL APPRAISAL 125 10.1 Implementation Costs 125 10.2 Operating Costs 126 10.3 Revenue Prediction 128 10.4 Financial Support 131 11. DELIVERY 133 11.1 Funding 133 11.2 Procurement 134 11.3 Implementation Programme 137 12. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 139 APPENDICES A Proposed Kilverstone Road Public Transport Access B Typical Infrastructure Details (Dartford Park Fastrack) C Public Transport Report (Mott Macdonald) D Summary of Route Specifications E Public Transport Forecasts F Letter from Skills G Financial Appraisal H Dartford Fastrack Supporting Information C\LAWRENCE WALKER LIMITED\LWL Projects\Miscellaneous\Thetford (6)\Reports\REPORT - PT - Apr 2011.docx - iv – Thetford SUE April 2011 Public Transport Proposals 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Purpose of Report This Report has been prepared by Lawrence Walker Limited (LWL) in support of the proposed Thetford Sustainable Urban Extension (SUE) on land to the north of the existing Thetford urban area. The development of an SUE at this location is in accordance with the Thetford Action Area Plan (TAAP), which sets out the policies governing major expansion of the town as identified in the Local Development Framework. The purpose of the Report is to explain the proposals for the Public Transport System (PTS) which will provide direct links between the SUE, the main public transport interchange terminals in central Thetford and key longer distance destinations beyond the town. All issues associated with the design, operation, impact, funding and delivery of the proposals are addressed within the Report. The Report is part of a series of transport-related documents that will accompany the Outline Planning Application (OPA) for the development scheme. C\LAWRENCE WALKER LIMITED\LWL Projects\Miscellaneous\Thetford (6)\Reports\REPORT - PT - Apr 2011.docx 1 Thetford SUE April 2011 Public Transport Proposals The other reports in this series are:- A Transport Assessment (TA) which considers the development's access and transport infrastructure requirements and its impacts on the adjacent transport networks; A Travel Plan (TP) which presents a framework strategy together with outline targets for the use of sustainable travel options by occupying residents and employees; An A3 set of colour Figures, which show the various junction improvements and designations described in the TA; Stage 1 Road Safety Audits for the A11 junctions; Stage 1 Road Safety Audits for the local Thetford junctions and the site accesses, including Kilverstone Road, and; A report entitled “Norwich Road Capacity Assessment” prepared by LWL, which examines the link capacities along the various sections of Norwich Road to the south of the site. Together, these reports seek to address all the transport issues relevant to the proposed development. This report should therefore be read in conjunction with the above documents. C\LAWRENCE WALKER LIMITED\LWL Projects\Miscellaneous\Thetford (6)\Reports\REPORT - PT - Apr 2011.docx 2 Thetford SUE April 2011 Public Transport Proposals 1.2 Report Structure An overview of the proposals is given in Section 2. The detailed proposals and routes are explained in Section 3, together with accompanying plans. Land requirements for building the relevant infrastructure are addressed in Section 4. The wider transportation issues, including passenger forecasts and how the proposals will integrate with the existing transport network, are explained in Section 5, which also considers the need for highway modifications to accommodate the scheme. In this context, the effects of the scheme on existing travel patterns have been assessed using patronage forecasting work undertaken by Mott MacDonald to support the development of the TAAP policies on behalf of the Developers and Norfolk County Council (NCC). Section 6 provides details of the engineering infrastructure required to operate the network including guided bus-ways, stations, streetscape design and priority measures. The proposals for integration of bus services at the main Termini are described in Section 7. The proposed specification for operating the service is described in Section 8. This includes details of the vehicles, depot, control system, ticketing, timetabling, passenger information and security. C\LAWRENCE WALKER LIMITED\LWL Projects\Miscellaneous\Thetford (6)\Reports\REPORT - PT - Apr 2011.docx 3 Thetford SUE April 2011 Public Transport Proposals A full Environmental Statement for the development, including the Public Transport Scheme, is presented as a separate document supporting the site as a whole. Other issues associated with operating the system (e.g. - branding, marketing, legislation, operator and harmonisation) are, however, described within Section 9 of this Report. A financial appraisal of the proposals is given in Section 10 with the proposed programme and method of delivery presented in Section 11. Finally, a summary of the proposals is provided in Section 12. 1.3 The Proposed Development The development site is located to the north of the existing Thetford built-up area and occupies two areas of land that are separated by the Ely to Norwich railway line:- i) Thetford SUE East is bounded by the A11 to the north, the railway line to the west, Kilverstone Road to the south and open countryside to the east. It is bisected by the section of Norwich Road that links the A11 with Kilverstone Road. ii) Thetford SUE West is bounded by the A11 to the north and west, the railway line to the east and existing industrial and residential areas to the south. Both areas comprise primarily “Greenfield” land which is currently in agricultural use. At the south-west corner of the site, expansion of the existing Thetford Enterprise Park (TEP) is proposed as a component of the SUE West development. C\LAWRENCE WALKER LIMITED\LWL Projects\Miscellaneous\Thetford (6)\Reports\REPORT - PT - Apr 2011.docx 4 Thetford SUE April 2011 Public Transport Proposals The site is located between approximately 1.5km and 2.5km to the north of the town centre and as such, a new District Centre will be provided to serve the development. Because the development would cover a large area, smaller Local Centres will also be provided to the east and west of the railway line. The site’s proximity to the TEP and the A11 mean that major employment areas to the west and south-west (London Road) also lie within no more than 3-4km of the site. Thetford Railway Station lies close to the site (approximately 1.5km to the south) and is accessed from Croxton Road via Station Road. The Station lies on the "Breckland Line", which links Norwich and Ely. Generally there are two trains per hour eastbound to Norwich whilst westbound there is an hourly service to Cambridge and an hourly service to Liverpool via Peterborough and Nottingham. Other mainline services between London and northern England can be accessed by interchanging with the East Coast Main Line (ECML) at Peterborough. The location of the proposed development is shown below:- C\LAWRENCE WALKER LIMITED\LWL Projects\Miscellaneous\Thetford (6)\Reports\REPORT - PT - Apr 2011.docx 5 Thetford SUE April 2011 Public Transport Proposals The SUE would be a mixed-use development comprising prestigious employment uses, creating some 2500 new jobs on-site and providing up to 6,000 new homes.