Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Keith Wakefield, Councillor Christine Towler, Councillor Neil Buckley, Brittany Stead, Peter Dixon, and Mike Leighton.

Transport Committee Members only.

None were declared.

There were no exclusions of the press and public at the meeting.

Resolved - That the minutes of the last meeting be approved.

Presentation.

The subcommittee was provided with a presentation outlining Leeds City Council’s transport strategy for the city, which was welcomed by the subcommittee. The first consultation is ending in May 2018, with a second one planned for Summer 2018. Headlines from the presentation included:

• An aim to reduce car usage/presence in the city centre
• Satisfying increasing popularity of park and ride schemes, with a potential site in North Leeds
• Utilising an investment programme of nearly £500m encompassing works to improve bus, cycling and walking on key corridors, city centre gateways, new buses , rail station improvements and preliminary works to develop three new rail stations
• Reduce journey times and, by extension, traffic congestion
• Make transport modes more reliable and improving quality of buses
• Pursuing the possibility of bus lanes and other infrastructure and road improvements around junctions and roundabouts

This was followed by questions and a discussion covering the following:

• That bus operators, through the Combined Authority, are closely involved and are behind the strategy.
• Concerns were raised that the planned bus lane extension on Scott Hall Road would not be used enough and might be opposed by residents. It was stressed that the plans are in the early stages and decisions have yet to be made, pending analysis of effects on traffic and communities and the commercial viability of any park and ride services going through Scott Hall Road. Leeds City Council hope to capture these concerns in the consultation.
• The Council was urged to coordinate strategy and plans with Highways to ensure that efforts are not duplicated and plans do not contradict each other.
• Analysis should be done on how population increases and demographic trends effect particular services and transport modes in the long term, before building permanent infrastructure like bus lanes to suit immediate needs. The Council accepted this point and has ensured that transport is included in Local Plans and connected to housing strategy and that any infrastructure being built has a potential dual purpose e.g. bus lanes having the potential to be converted for use in a newer mass transit system in the future.

Resolved: That the presentation on Connecting Leeds be noted and the subcommittee’s feedback be noted.

Presentation.

The subcommittee was provided with a presentation outlining the findings of the annual West Yorkshire Tracker Survey, followed by questions and a discussion covering the following:

• That some people cannot afford to use smartphones and other digital services and therefore printed material should not be discontinued. In some cases the information on digital and printed do not match. In other cases, it is taking weeks to update bus stop displays after changes to services.
• The subcommittee heard that the bus stop displays are updated together at a set time and the delays were due to a new style of display being rolled out.
• If there are plans to move to a more digital based platform, maintenance should be a priority, 24/7 – particularly on weekends – to ensure websites and apps are always functional.

Resolved: That the Tracker Survey and the subcommittee’s feedback be noted.

Northern updated the subcommittee on rail service changes affecting the Leeds area due to the new timetable update scheduled for May 2018. Due to an unfortunate delay in the electrification of rail near Bolton, certain electric train reallocations which the new timetable relied upon could not be made and the timetable had to be redone. It was emphasised that no previous enhancement plans have been cancelled, only delayed until the new lines and trains are in operation – expected in Summer/Autumn 2018.The additions of the Leeds-Harrogate quarterly service and the new York-Leeds-via-Micklefield fast service have been postponed. Network Rail must first approve the timetable before they are printed. The new changes will be distributed to the subcommittee after the meeting. 

First reported the following updates, which were followed by discussion and questions:

• First are on board with and support Connecting Leeds, sending staff to the consultations.
• Improved punctuality since January 2018 – after some difficult timetable decisions.
• Still working on improving punctuality on certain ‘problem’ routes.
• New ultra-low emission buses expected in June on the park and ride.
• £7.5m spent on new buses with a target spend of £71m on improvements to the fleet. The first phase of new buses are operating on Headingley services.
• Introduced audio-visual on buses, and seeking feedback from passengers to improve further.
• A new target to double patronage within 10 years has been adopted.
• A recruitment drive for staff is ongoing and 40% of existing staff are undergoing new training programmes.
• New customer service hub being established in Leeds.
• A target of 80% cashless travel within 5 years has been set to reduce journey times extended by cash transactions. Mobile payment and MCard are preferred.

• First will investigate some issues about the real time displays not featuring a minute countdown on the newer buses.
• 33A’s punctuality issues – which is affecting patronage – is being reviewed and is in line for a timetable change in May 2018.
• Ticket products being reviewed to ensure anomalies such as under 18 mobile fares being the same as paper ticket fares.

Resolved: That the operator updates be noted and subcommittee’s feedback be noted.

An information report was presented updating the sub-committee on matters relating to the Leeds district.

Resolved: That the information report be noted.

The Clean Air Zone consultation will probably begin in June 2018.

Suggestions and comments included:

·         More effort needs to be taken to gather data on the current transport usage landscape by district, within West Yorkshire. Targets of increasing patronage cannot be effectively met if accurate current numbers are not known at district level. It was noted that district specific data is difficult to gather due to the cross-district nature of transport use.

·         Transport for the North’s (TfN) Strategic Transport Plan is too rail focused without enough focus on buses. It was noted that TfN’s mandate is to focus on regional transport networks between cities and regions, though buses would be part of the multi-modal smart ticketing system being developed by TfN.

·         The Subcommittee asked if the new Real Time Display designs can be shared with members and if they could suggest the best places to put them. Real time displays will be prioritised on high frequency routes.