Agenda and minutes

Open session for members of the public to ask a question, raise a concern or provide feedback.

The Sub-Committee was given the opportunity to raise any issues which were not covered on the agenda and the following comments were made:

·         Members raised an issue around the extent to which consultations were advertised and whether they could be promoted further to reach a wider audience.

·         Members expressed concern regarding the timetabling of the 681 and 508 services which were clustered together with long intervals in between the services particularly in the evenings. First committed to take the coordination of the two services away and look at ways to improve the timetable spacing.

·         Frustration that there can be two 503 services leaving at the same time.

·         The need for a drastic step-change in public transport use following the declaration of a climate emergency.

·         The importance of improving the attractiveness of public transport infrastructure to increase patronage. 

·         It was noted that bus and rail patronage data could be provided to members of the DCSC.

Apologies for absence were received from Kate Smyth and Reid Anderson.

Transport Committee members only.

There were no pecuniary interests declared by members at the meeting.

There were no items which required the exemption of the press or public.

Resolved: That John Shepherd continue to act as deputy chair of the Sub-Committee.

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

The Sub-Committee was provided with the following bus operator updates:

First

·         Provided an update on services struggling for reliability due to congestion; particularly those services affected by the works on the Headrow in Leeds.

·         The training scheme for bus drivers was ongoing and First reported that they had put a lot of resources into training.

·         Progress on mobile ticketing was now at 35%.

·         First reported that the service in Calderdale was not fully staffed which made timetabling difficult.

Arriva

·         Arriva were in the process of rolling out disability awareness training which focussed on hidden disabilities.

·         A small cascade of buses was forthcoming form Arriva’s Leeds operation.

·         Arriva provided an update on specific services including the 228 service as well as discussing their October timetable changes. 

Following the bus operator updates members of the Sub-Committee had the following questions and comments:

·         A member wished to observe the driver session training and provide feedback. First stated that they would be happy with this in principle, but would need to check with the individual trainers.

·         Members raised the issue around the bus fleet in Calderdale with newer buses consistently being distributed in Leeds. Operators responded that the funding for new buses was tied to Leeds which made  it difficult to distribute them more evenly. 

·         Members wished to raise questions regarding Yorkshire Tiger. Arriva committed to passing the queries onto Yorkshire Tiger and it was noted that in future it would be helpful if a representative from Yorkshire Tiger attended the meeting.

·         Representatives from the Combined authority informed members of the Sub Committee that they had held meeting with Yorkshire Tiger regarding concerns over the standard of service and had discussed plans to improve.

·         Members queried the process around real time updates as they were often unreliable.

Northern

·         Northern outlined their performance from the last period with 83% of trains running to time. It was acknowledged that this was not good enough.

·         Northern detailed their upcoming timetable changes which included an express service to Blackpool and a train from Halifax to Hull.

·         Northern explained that some of their franchise commitments on the Calder Valley line would not be met due problems with capacity around the Manchester stations which would require infrastructure investment to resolve.

·         Northern announced that new diesel trains would be operating the 21 November.

·         Pacers would be retained into the new year as Northern’s new trains were late from their suppliers.

·         All new trains would be delivered by May 2020 and the pacers would be removed form service by that date.

Following Northern’s operator update members of the Sub-Committee had the following questions and comments:

·         Members questions centred around Sowerby Bridge station regarding ease of access and connectivity as well as the traffic congestion in the area.

·         Members also raised an issue with the reduction in services which call at Sowerby Bridge and Mytholmroyd. Services calling at those station was due to decrease from 3 trains an hour to 2 trains an hour.

Resolved: That the operator updates and the Sub  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The Sub-Committee was provided with a presentation regarding the Bus Alliance and made the following comments:

·         The importance that audio and visual technology was included in the bus alliance for disabled bus users.

·         A member asked if there were plans to extend the bus alliance to smaller operators such as Yorkshire Tiger and TJ Walsh.

·         The need for timetables to be clearer and easier to interpret for non-regular bus users.

·         Members discussed the need for better bus stop infrastructure and this was suggested as a consultation topic for a future joint DCSC meeting.

·         The importance of multi-modal ticketing and the need for the bus alliance to build on this. 

Resolved: That the presentation and the Sub-Committee’s feedback be noted.

Member considered an information report which provided an update on matter relating to the Calderdale district. Members of the Sub-Committee raised the following points:

·         Members noted that the zero-carbon emission working group had held its first meeting.

·         It was noted that a phase one draft of the Calderdale LCWIPS had been formulated and sent out to officers and select interest groups for initial feedback.

·         Members asked about the upcoming tendering processes for bus services in the district.

·         Members requested more information regarding the renovation of Halifax bus station especially with a view to providing feedback around the design from a disability standpoint. Disability Partnership Calderdale was suggested as a good group to consult.

Resolved: That the information report and the Sub Committee’s comments be noted.