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ITEM EX7

EXECUTIVE – 18 FEBRUARY 2003

PREMIUM BUS ROUTES IMPLEMENTATION

Report by Director of Environmental Services

Introduction

  1. This report updates progress made with the Council’s Premium Bus Routes strategy and recommends that in principle some of these routes are selected for inclusion in the transport capital programme for the next three financial years. The report also describes how the Premium Routes strategy links with other public transport strategies and indicates a requirement for some future ‘pump priming’ revenue funding to ensure delivery of the strategy.

    2. Background

  2. County Council policies are generally supportive of public transport in Oxfordshire, as a means of delivering personal mobility in the context of policies to maintain a high-quality physical environment. Of particular note is the inclusion of public transport as a target within the Public Service Agreement negotiated with Government, which commits the County to deliver a 13% growth in bus patronage between 2003 and 2006. The Oxfordshire Local Transport Plan has an ambitious target of increasing the numbers of journeys made on buses in the County’s urban areas by 5% per annum and in rural areas by 2% per annum.

  3. It is considered that the County Council can best achieve this target, at moderate cost, by focussing attention onto a limited number of busy transport corridors with a potential for modal shift from car to bus. The potential for such a shift has already been identified in the ‘Premium Routes and Interchanges Study’ which was completed by Colin Buchanan and Partners and approved by the former Public Transport Sub-Committee in Spring 2001.

  4. The Premium Routes report identifies a core network of high frequency routes that could be commercially self-sustaining by 2011, given some capital investment to provide bus priority measures and quality stop infrastructure, also some ‘pump priming’ revenue funding for some alignments to bring the frequency of buses on all routes up to a ‘turn up and go’ threshold of four buses per hour.

  5. It is anticipated that Quality Bus Partnerships will be negotiated with operators as the Premium Route network is delivered, on the basis of an overarching agreement regarding common aims and principles, and with specific detailed annexes for each bus corridor. A Quality Partnership is a public-private agreement where the County agrees to invest in improved infrastructure to facilitate effective bus operation (bus priorities, stops and shelters) whilst the operators agree to provide a bus service of an agreed quality and minimum frequency). Certain partnership aspects, such as information and publicity, are to be jointly provided.

  6. Other strands of Bus Policy linked with this report include:

    1. GTE - the 1 October 2002 Executive report described progress with the proposed guideways for buses, which has implications for Premium Routes from certain country towns to Oxford.

    2. Real Time Information – the 26 November 2002 Executive report described progress on a project to provide this facility along the Premium Route network, starting with the Oxford-Kidlington corridor.

    3. Bus Stop Infrastructure Standards and Shelter Procurement – a report on this aspect of the Premium Route concept is scheduled for 2 April 2003.

    4. Bus Information Strategy – the 10 December 2002 Executive Report described progress on delivering better information about bus services in Oxfordshire.

    5. Bus Strategy – this comprehensive document, scheduled for early summer 2003, will draw together the various strands of policy for buses in Oxfordshire.

    The Implementation Programme

  7. The Premium Routes report by Colin Buchanan and Partners outlined the geographical extent of the Premium Route network and gave some cost indications for the various elements. A leaflet outlining the network and its qualities was produced and disseminated to District and Parish Councils in spring 2002.

  8. Thought has been given to an indicative programme, based on the following influences:

    1. a Premium Routes Planning Day in July 2002, to which operators and relevant Council departments were invited;

    2. known timescales for planning other important initiatives, such as integrated transport strategies (including OTS);

    3. indicative GTE planning timescales;

    4. A40 corridor review;

    5. feedback from certain District and Parish Councils;

    6. current service frequencies and likelihood of commercial enhancement;

    7. views of bus operators;

    8. a logical sequence of delivery, thus maximising the return on the investment.

  9. A list of projects to complete the Premium Routes network is appended at Annex 1. (download as .doc file)

    10. Environmental Implications

  10. One explicit objective of the Premium Route network is to achieve a substantial growth in travel by bus rather than by the private car, which should have a beneficial impact on the environment, reducing future total vehicle movements and emissions. It is envisaged that better bus stops and shelters, within a range of standard designs, will be provided, which do not have an adverse effect on the visual environment.

  11. The Premium Routes strategy has been identified as the single largest tool for the Council to achieve its Road Traffic Reduction target of reducing traffic growth to half of that previously forecast

    12. Financial Implications

  12. The capital estimate of implementing the full Premium Route programme over the next eight financial years is £12.6m. This should be viewed in the context of an anticipated Local Transport Plan capital allocation of £160m for the same period. Some of this cost would be met by developer contributions. Annex 1 lists the schemes that could be implemented, subject to future capital allocations. There may also be a requirement for  revenue funding in later years to secure additional buses to bring all identified corridors up to Premium Route frequency standards. It has been estimated that the total cost of this for the five year period from 2006/7-2011/12 would be £3.7million, although it is anticipated that some of this would be met by developer contributions and this cost could be reduced if additional commercial services are provided in the intervening period.

  13. Subject to the views of the Executive it is intended to bring forward selected Premium Route schemes as part of the 3 year transport capital programme to be reported to the Executive for approval on 15 April.  Priority will be given to routes where services already meet Premium Routes standards and these routes will be unlikely to require revenue support.  Details of each individual scheme will be submitted to the Transport Implementation Committee for approval following consultation.

    14. Staff Implications

  14. The Public Transport Development function is a relatively new responsibility for the County Council and a new team is being established to fulfil this role of implementing the Premium Route network and Guided Transit Express (GTE). The Executive approved an additional team member in October 2002. Consultants will also be used to assist the team as and where appropriate.

    15. RECOMMENDATIONS

  15. The Executive is RECOMMENDED to:

          1. endorse the list of Premium Routes schemes set out in Annex 1 to the report for future implementation, subject to inclusion of the individual schemes in the Transport Capital Programme at the appropriate time;

          2. ask the Director of Environmental Services in consultation with the Executive Members for Transport and Strategic Planning & Waste Management to select specific schemes from the list for possible inclusion in the 2003/04, 2004/05 and 2005/06 Transport Capital Programme to be considered at the 15 April Executive meeting.

DAVID YOUNG
Director of Environmental Services

Background papers: Premium Routes and Interchanges Study, Colin Buchanan and Partners (2001)

Contact Officer: David Taylor Tel: Oxford 816519

29 January 2003

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