EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE BUS SERVICE ...

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www.eastriding.gov.uk

EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE BUS SERVICE IMPROVEMENT PLAN

EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE COUNCIL

October 2021

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00 COPYRIGHTThe contents of this document are © copyright East Riding of Yorkshire Council, with the exceptions set out below. Reproduction in any form, in part or in whole, is expressly forbidden without the written consent of an appropriate council official or representative.

Cartography derived from Ordnance Survey mapping is reproduced by permission of Ordnance Survey on behalf of the Controller of HMSO under licence number WL6576 and is © Crown Copyright – all rights reserved.

Other Crown Copyright material, including census data and mapping, policy guidance, official reports and data from Office for National Statistics, is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen’s Printer for Scotland under licence number C02W0002869.

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000

The TAS Partnership Limited and the council have used commercially sensitive data provided under non-disclosure agreements by third parties to inform this project and disclosure of such information could constitute an actionable breach of confidence. The detailed content is therefore likely to be exempt from disclosure under the Act.

CONTENTS

SECTION 011 Introduction and Objectives ....................................................................................................................................5

1.1 Introduction .....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................5

1.2 Objectives................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................5

1.3 Report Structure .......................................................................................................................................................................................................5

SECTION 022 Overview ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................6

2.1 Introduction and Content ..................................................................................................................................................6

2.2 EP Structure and Membership .......................................................................................................................6

2.3 Single Area Approach ..........................................................................................................................................................................7

2.4 Duration and Review of the BSIP ......................................................................................................7

2.5 Operator Consultation ...................................................................................................................................................................7

2.6 Details of Third-Party Involvement .....................................................................................11

SECTION 033 The Current Situation ..................................................................................................................................................................13

3.1 Introduction and Content ...........................................................................................................................................13

3.2 Public Transport within the East Riding ...........................................................13

3.3 East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s Bus and Road Network .........................................................................................................................................................16

3.4 East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s LTP and Bus Strategy .......................................................................................................................................................................25

3.5 Supported Bus Services ........................................................................................................................................................27

3.6 Baseline Data......................................................................................................................................................................................................................28

3.7 Parking and Controlled Parking Zones ..............................................................38

3.8 East Riding of Yorkshire Bus Operators ........................................................43

3.9 Local Evidence and Views ...........................................................................................................................................45

SECTION 044 Targets and Service Standards .................................................................................................................47


4.2 Journey Time Improvements .........................................................................................................................48

4.3 Reliability Improvements ..................................................................................................................................................48

4.4 Passenger Growth ........................................................................................................................................................................................49

4.5 Passenger Satisfaction ....................................................................................................................................................................49

4.6 Rationale for Network Design ...............................................................................................................50

4.7 Settlement Hierarchy and Service Levels................................................50

4.8 Local Branding ................................................................................................................................................................................................................51

4.9 Accessibility ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................54

4.10 Decarbonisation .....................................................................................................................................................................................................55

SECTION 055 Delivery of Improvements.........................................................................................................................................57


5.2 Key Interurban Corridor Improvements ......................................................57

5.3 Bus Priority ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................61

5.4 Rural Network Improvements................................................................................................................61

5.5 COVID-19 Impacts ...................................................................................................................................................................................63

5.6 New Fares Offers ..........................................................................................................................................................................................63

5.7 New Evening and Weekend Services ......................................................................64

5.8 Route Simplification ..............................................................................................................................................................................64

5.9 Publicity and Information ................................................................................................................................................65

5.10 Bus Rail Integration ...................................................................................................................................................................................66

5.11 Passengers’ Charter ................................................................................................................................................................................67

5.12 Passenger Safety and Customer Relations ..........................................68

5.13 Rural Transport Challenges and Proposals for Enhancement .................................................................................................................................68

5.14 Role of Community Transport Services and Operators .......................................................................................................................................................72

5.15 Role of Taxis - Taxi Supply ........................................................................................................................................74

5.16 Tackling Loneliness and Rural Isolation.................................................................75

SECTION 066 Reporting and Governance..................................................................................................................................77

6.1 Introduction and Content ..........................................................................................................................................77

Appendix A: BSIP Template ..........................................................................................................................................................78

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Guildhall House, 59-61 Guildhall Street, Preston PR1 3NU

Telephone: (01772) [email protected]

Prepared with assistance from The TAS Partnership Limited (Passenger Transport specialists):

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INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES1.1 INTRODUCTION

1.1.1 This document forms the basis of the Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) on behalf of East Riding of Yorkshire Council (ERYC or ‘The Council’). It includes the template BSIP submission form at the end of the document and acts to inform the detail of the Enhanced Partnership intended to be implemented from April 2022.

1.2 OBJECTIVES

1.2.1 The document sets out the key improvements the council and its partners wish to see for the East Riding of Yorkshire’s Bus Network, including:

Key inter-urban corridor frequency improvements.

Rural bus network improvements.

New fares offers.

New evening and weekend services.

Simplification of some bus routes to make them easier to use.

Improved publicity and information.

Enhancement of existing specialised demand responsive services and a demand responsive ‘click and go’ service pilot in a mixed urban and rural context.

Further support for the community transport sector.

1.2.2 These objectives are supported by a thorough analysis of available evidence including detailed consultation with local bus operators, data collection and network analysis, policy analysis and spatial and socio-demographic research.

1.3 REPORT STRUCTURE

1.3.1 The report structure broadly follows the guidance set out by Government in Annex B of its recently published (May 2021) guidance to local authorities and bus operators for preparation of Bus Service Improvement Plans.

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OVERVIEW2.1 INTRODUCTION AND CONTENT

2.1.1 East Riding of Yorkshire Council has given notice of its intent to create an authority-wide Enhanced Partnership (EP) with local bus operators and other key stakeholders, with a view to delivering Enhanced Partnership Schemes to improve bus service provision across the area, commencing from April 2022. This Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) sets out the Partnerships’ strategic vision for a better bus network in the East Riding and establishes targets against which we will measure the Partnerships’ achievements and success.

2.1.2 All local bus operators running registered services on the East Riding’s bus network will be invited to be members of the Partnership, although some operators running only peripheral or marginal services may have a more significant interest and role in partnerships established by neighbouring local transport authorities. While the BSIP will cover the entire geographical area of the East Riding, some Enhanced Partnership Schemes may focus on specific areas, corridors, or themes. There is potential for some joint EP Schemes with relevant neighbouring authorities, who may also be members of the EP Board.

2.1.3 This section also includes:

Details of consultation with operators. Details of third-party involvement.

2.2 EP STRUCTURE AND MEMBERSHIP

2.2.1 The final structure of the Enhanced Partnership has yet to be determined and sub or working groups may be established on a time-limited basis for focusing on delivery of specific EP Schemes. However, it is envisaged that the following basic structure will be established:

FIGURE A: EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE COUNCIL (ERYC) ENHANCED PARTNERSHIP STRUCTURE:

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2.2.2 It is intended that EP Board Membership will include representatives from key bus operators, (our main local operator is East Yorkshire Buses, a subsidiary of the Go Ahead Group), the Hull and East Riding Local Enterprise Partnership, the East Riding of Yorkshire Community Transport Network, Hull City Council, City of York Council and local voluntary sector and bus user representatives.

2.3 SINGLE AREA APPROACH

2.3.1 East Riding of Yorkshire Council (ERYC) examined the possibility of adopting different approaches for different areas of the local authority, particularly those suburban areas surrounding Hull. However, discussions with Hull City Council showed little enthusiasm for a joint approach between that authority and ERYC.

2.3.2 As the bus network in ERYC is formed principally of a network of core interurban routes which intersect and overlap in many places, the most appropriate approach is to adopt a single area plan covering the entire area which will be reflected in the EP Plan but to review this approach at the stage of developing EP schemes.

2.3.3 The only existing partnership is the East Riding Rural Transport Partnership. This was established in 2000 but lost impetus and will be subsumed within the new Enhanced Partnership from April 2022. Service 121 between Bridlington and Hull was established as a ‘Quality Corridor’ but this was not a formal partnership arrangement.

2.4 DURATION AND REVIEW OF THE BSIP

2.4.1 This plan sets out a vision and high-level strategy for the development of the East Riding bus network from April 2022 to the end of March 2025. The EP Scheme Development and Delivery Group will develop a structured delivery plan and conduct an annual review (with input from other sub-groups as appropriate) prior to preparing an annual report on scheme delivery for the EP Board. Once approved by the Board this report will be published by the Partnership.

2.4.2 The Development and Delivery Group will work to robust project management principles and detailed risk analysis and registers will be created and maintained. Some EP schemes may carry significantly greater risk than others and specialists from appropriate disciplines will be brought in to advise the Group both from within the council and from external organisations as required. A collaborative approach will be adopted to maximise available resources and ensure a 360-degree perspective on all development processes.

2.5 OPERATOR CONSULTATION

2.5.1 One of the main purposes of the Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) is to get everyone thinking about what questions need to be addressed in the area, to explore possible answers and to provide an early basis for funding decisions in the autumn and winter in preparation for the financial year 2022/3 when transformational funding begins.

2.5.2 As part of the process to help in the production of this plan an informal discussion took place between 18 and 25 June with operators identifying their requirements, what they see as barriers to growth and recovery and how they see the key goals of the National Bus Strategy being met.

2.5.3 All bus and CT operators operating services in the East Riding were invited to an individual discussion, which took place via Microsoft Teams, Zoom or by phone.

2.5.4 A joint meeting was held between East Yorkshire CT, Goole GoFar and Holderness Area Rural Transport. York Pullman Bus Company said that as it had little involvement in the council area, most of its issues would be taken up with City of York and North Yorkshire County Councils and so declined a discussion. East Hull CT and Ken’s Travel did not respond to the invitation.

EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE ENHANCED PARTNERSHIP BOARD

EP INFRASTRUCTURE AND INFORMATION

GROUP

EP SCHEME DEVELOPMENT AND DELIVERY GROUP

EP BUS USER GROUP

BUS OPERATORS CT GROUPS

Acklam’s Coaches Beverley Community Lift

Arriva Yorkshire East Yorkshire CT

East Yorkshire Buses Goole GoFar

First York Holderness Area Rural Transport (HART)

Stagecoach East Midlands

Thorne’s Independent

TABLE 1: LIST OF CONSULTEES

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2.5.6 RELATIONSHIPS

2.5.7 Operators were asked about their relationships with the council, other local authorities and operators and if the pandemic had changed these relationships.

2.5.8 All operators and CT operators said that relations with the council were very good. They particularly welcomed quick decision making compared to other authorities. The pandemic had not changed relationships as they all felt they were good before the pandemic.

2.5.9 No bus operator complained about relationships with other operators.

2.5.10 BARRIERS TO GROWTH IN BUS USAGE AND DELIVERING THE KEY GOALS OF THE NATIONAL BUS STRATEGY

Operators were asked to consider what they saw as the major barriers to bus usage and therefore potential areas where bus growth could be achieved, how the partnership(s) would achieve the goals of the National Bus Strategy and their aims (wish lists). The headings below are the key goals of the NBS and the operators’ discussions have been summarised appropriately.

2.5.11 MORE FREQUENT SERVICES (LEVEL OF FREQUENCY AND WHERE)

Realistic frequencies along key corridors should be provided rather than providing standard 30-minute frequencies.

Improved frequencies should driven by data and potential demand. The interurban corridors from Beverley to York and Hull to Hornsea and Hessle are seen as those for initial development by more direct services combined with improvements in infrastructure.

September changes to commercial services by East Yorkshire Buses will already fill some gaps in the network.

Changes in ERYC can be incorporated more quickly compared to other authorities where limited changes provide increased frequency.

Availability of cheap parking in key centres provides a disincentive to bus use.

2.5.12 FASTER AND MORE RELIABLE SERVICES (BUS PRIORITY DETAILING CORRIDORS)

Congestion is not an issue for buses in the area and more importantly the car is little affected.

The major congestion issues discussed were all outside the ERYC area, although it was agreed addressing these would benefit services within ERYC. Areas mentioned specifically were York, Hull and the Humber Bridge.

Operators are not looking for any specific bus priority schemes but instead favour policies to dissuade car use such as increasing car parking charges and reduced car access to bus-only facilities.

Operators are keen to see further development of Park and Ride around Hull.

General consensus exists among operators to increase direct services along key corridors rather than diverting to serve smaller villages.

However, there is not yet a consensus about how best to serve smaller villages off main corridor routes. Possibilities discussed were shuttle services, DRT or CT linking at hubs.

Connections need to be improved and better arranged.

2.5.13 INNOVATIVE SERVICES (E.G. DRT)

There was limited or qualified enthusiasm for DRT and operators considered it wouldn’t be a commercial proposition without some form of ongoing local authority or government funding.

If DRT was to be introduced, it was suggested it be developed in small manageable areas.

Use of DRT would be possible for feeder services, but these would need enough flexibility if they are to be used for connecting journeys.

The major operator offered to share its expertise of DRT operation in a neighbouring area.

2.5.14 CHEAPER, LOWER FARES (AND FARES CAPPING)

Operators recognised that fares in ERYC were too high.

The major operator offered to discuss simplifying its fare structure.

Suggestions were made around reducing fares across the board, but initially the focus was on discounts for particular groups and solving anomalies.

In particular, extending half fares to at least age 18 and maybe up to 21 was thought to be critical. It was considered unhelpful that at the time people are able to learn to drive and look to purchase a car the price of their bus fare doubles.

It was suggested that reduced fares should be extended to apprentices.

2.5.15 MORE COMPREHENSIVE PROVISION (SPREADING PROVISION THROUGHOUT THE NETWORK, ENHANCING EVENINGS AND WEEKEND SERVICES)

Operators expressed concerns that bus usage would take significant time to return to pre-pandemic levels and at best operators were looking at returning to 80per cent of pre-COVID levels. Many (including CT operators) felt passengers would not return to pre-pandemic levels for some time.

There was a mixed response with one operator feeling that the social sector would be an area to concentrate on and bounce back first and therefore more weekend and evening services would be appropriate.

However, this view was not widespread as some operators still saw the commuter market as the key area of potential growth.

Where a more comprehensive network was envisaged this should be based around established demand and centred on the area’s principal and market towns.

2.5.16 EASIER TO UNDERSTAND (COORDINATED TIMETABLE CHANGES, INFORMATION PROVISION, BRANDING)

Reducing the number of changes to services would be welcomed by those interviewed, but there was disappointment that it cannot be adopted for rail as well.

Extensive consultation with ERYC is already taking place with the major operator therefore co-ordinated timetable changes will pose no issues in the partnership.

All operators listed improved information at the top of their wish list. While recently focussed on meeting the digital agenda operators feel they have neglected the main customer interaction at the bus stop and would like to see improvement in the standard of bus stop information and more shelters at stops.

Operators were happy to provide the information although they would welcome a consistent approach which may better be delivered by ERYC.

There was a mixed response on the overall branding of the partnership. The main operator was reluctant to change its branding as it felt it had achieved a high level of brand awareness. However, it was content with adopting a logo on publicity, information and vehicles. There were also concerns about how area branding would work with cross boundary services.

FINDINGS

2.5.5 Below is a summary of the findings from the informal discussion. To initiate the discussion an agenda was sent out covering:

Relationships.

Barriers to growth in bus usage.

Delivering the key goals of the National Bus Strategy.

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2.5.17 EASIER TO USE

There was a desire to have common ticketing and all bus operators welcomed an eventual move towards a multi operator ticket of some sort. It was initially suggested this should be to support the tourist and leisure market.

The small bus and CT operators while keen to buy into common ticketing were concerned about the lack of infrastructure for their operation and would welcome funding to support the purchase of appropriate ticket machines.

2.5.18 BETTER INTEGRATED (BETTER BUS-BUS AND BUS-RAIL CONNECTIONS)

Although improved integration was welcomed it was felt that they would be brought about by luck rather than specific design. There were concerns that trying to meet specific connections especially on the rail network could lead to unreliability.

A more favoured option would be to increase frequency rather than introduce specific linked services. However, the importance of through ticketing was recognised.

Concern was raised that the public preferred a direct service to connections and any additional changes must be as smooth as possible. One CT operator explained how its connecting service to the bus network was very poorly used as users lack confidence in the connection especially on the return journey.

Integration should not just be limited to bus/bus and bus/rail but the development of cycle storage hubs at key stops to allow passengers to transfer.

It was recognised that multi-modal ticketing was a long way off but First saw potential to extend the York Plusbus scheme into Stamford Bridge.

2.5.19 ACCESS TO SERVICES

Operators were keen to be involved at the earliest stage of the planning process to ensure that new housing developments were ‘bus’ friendly. They were also keen that greater use be made of the section 106 legislation.

While the physical bus stop and shelter were normally accessible there was a need to ensure that there weren’t any further barriers to access posed by infrastructure within the 400m distance to a service.

2.5.20 OTHER

East Yorkshire Buses asked for more stringent controls on parking availability in the main towns in order to encourage bus use. This would be accompanied by an extension of town flat fares into surrounding villages and suggested the first area addressed should be Beverley.

2.5.21 FLEET / ULEV

There was little enthusiasm for the introduction of electric vehicles, the high cost of infrastructure along with vehicle price and type of operation meant it was currently low on operators’ agendas. It was felt the only area worth consideration would be the current Bridlington Park and Ride, Beverley and Bridlington town services, although there were still issues around range given the location of the depots.

CT’s experience of EVs had been poor and although reliability was improving it was not an area they favoured continuing until cheaper and more reliable minibus options were available.

No operator throughout the discussions mentioned investment in their fleet to attract passengers back to services, either funded externally or through their own investment plans. However, we are aware that East Yorkshire Buses and the Go-Ahead Group have made significant investments in new vehicles, branding and contactless ticketing in the past three years.

2.5.22 COMMUNITY TRANSPORT

Although the CT organisations have ‘dabbled’ with section 22 work they expressed a preference to keep to their current mainly section 19 based operation.

The areas they would wish to develop further would be the MiBus and Medibus networks.

Their particular wish is greater security on funding.

2.5.23 FUNDING

While all welcomed the partnership approach and the potential funding this was still the major issue. There was concern that £3bn across England would not really go that far. Full buy-in wouldn’t be a given until the operators knew the actual level of funding.

East Yorkshire Buses saw the most appropriate way to spend the proposed funding was through a series of kick-start schemes which the operator would therefore take over commercially in time.

2.6 DETAILS OF THIRD-PARTY INVOLVEMENT

2.6.1 Third Party input was as follows in Table 2. Contact with the LEP has been made at officer level and discussions held with neighbouring authorities and DWP. In addition, ERYC is currently in discussions with the York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust regarding transport issues relating to its Acute Services Review, through the Community Transport Group that the Trust has established. North Yorkshire County Council also attends this forum, so cross-boundary working is included. All local MP’s have been contacted as stipulated in the BSIP Guidance.

2.6.2 There will be a Transport Workshop in early September to discuss transport implications of the Humber Acute Services Review with Hull CCG and Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Trust:

DATE THIRD PARTY PURPOSE OUTCOME ONGOING

June / July 2021Parish Transport Champions

Local knowledge of issues / ideas

28 detailed responses to date

Yes

July 2021 Bus Users UK Data and insight Local data Yes

July 2021 Transport Focus Engagement Support Yes

June / July 2021East Riding of Yorkshire Intelligence Hub

Data collection and sourcing

Key data sets As required

June / July 2021 Hull City Council BSIP alignment Positive agreement Yes

June / July 2021 City of York Council BSIP alignment Positive agreement Yes

August 2021 Hull and East Riding LEP EP engagement Officer input to EP Yes

August 2021Department of Work and Pensions

EP engagementPartnership Manager input

Yes

TABLE 2: INPUT FROM THIRD PARTIES

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3 THE CURRENT SITUATION

3.1 INTRODUCTION AND CONTENT

3.1.1 This section summarises the current situation in ERYC and includes:

Basic information about the ERYC bus and road network. Comparative analysis to the Bus Strategy aims. ERYC supported bus services – budget, routes and route mileage. Baseline data, including gaps and action to address. Parking provision and enforcement. Information about local operators. Local evidence and views.

3.2 PUBLIC TRANSPORT WITHIN THE EAST RIDING

3.2.1 Delegated authority for public transport is provided to the Director of Communities and Environment, which is set out within the Council’s Constitution.

3.2.2 ERYC has an integrated transport unit and its team is led by those with responsibility both for local bus services and school transport. It aims, therefore, to integrate use of resources as much as possible by, for example, providing off-peak services cheaply using buses otherwise deployed on school work. The service includes an internal fleet of 120 minibuses and over 300 drivers and passenger assistants.

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TRANSPORTATION SERVICES GROUP MANAGER

TRANSPORT COMMISSIONING MANAGER

TRANSPORT PARTNERSHIP MANAGER

TRANSPORT DEVELOPMENT MANAGER

TRANSPORT OPERATIONS MANAGER

PRINCIPAL OFFICER ROAD SAFETY (ENGAGEMENT)

PRINCIPAL OFFICER ROAD SAFETY

(SUSTAINABLE TRAVEL)

ROAD SAFETY OFFICER (2x POSTS)

TRANSPORT DEVELOPMENT

OFFICER

ROAD SAFETY

ASSISTANT

ASSISTANT ROAD SAFETY OFFICER

(2x POSTS)

SCHOOL CROSSING PATROL

(43x POSTS)

COMMUNITY CYCLING ENGAGEMENT

OFFICER

ROAD SAFETY INSTRUCTOR

(11x POSTS)

TEAM LEADER (TRANSPORT OPERATIONS)

SENIOR OPERATIONS

OFFICER

OPERATIONS OFFICER (3x POSTS)

TRANSPORT COORDINATOR

(3x DEPOTS / 7x POSTS)

DRIVER (CONTRACTED AND CASUAL / 152x POSTS)

PASSENGER ASSISTANT (CONTRACTED AND CASUAL / 159x POSTS)

TRANSPORT PARTNERSHIP

ASSISTANT (3x POSTS)

PRINCIPAL OFFICER (PUBLIC TRANSPORT

OFFICER)

TEAM LEADER (TRANSPORT CONTRACTS)

PUBLIC TRANSPORT OFFICER (3x POSTS)

SENIOR CONTRACTS OFFICER

(SEN AND COMPLIANCE)

CONTRACTS OFFICER (4x POSTS)

FIGURE B: TRANSPORTATION SERVICES STRUCTURE OCTOBER 2021

TRANSPORT COMMISIONING TRANSPORT PARTNERSHIP

TRANSPORT OPERATIONSTRANSPORT DEVELOPMENT

PUBLIC TRANSPORT ASSISTANT(2x POSTS)

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3.3 EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE COUNCIL’S BUS AND ROAD NETWORK

ROAD NETWORK

3.3.1 The Local Transport Network in Figure C shows the East Riding of Yorkshire’s road and rail network. There are twenty-one railway stations and two dedicated bus stations (Beverley and Bridlington) within the East Riding. The council has the responsibility for the maintenance of 180 miles of ‘A’ classified roads, 206 miles of ‘B’ roads, 570 miles of ‘C’ roads, 1,098 miles of unclassified roads, over 1,170 miles of footways and a bridge stock of around 500 structures.

3.3.2 Highways England is responsible for managing the national Strategic Road Network. In the East Riding, this comprises the M62/A63, the M18 and a section of the A1033. The M62/A63 in particular carries a high volume of HGVs which use the route to access the ports at Goole and Hull and this link is crucial to the economic competitiveness of the area. Other major road links managed by the council include the A164 (Beverley to Humber Bridge), the A1079 (Hull to York), the A614 (Goole to Bridlington) and the A165 (Hull to Bridlington).

3.3.3 There is little dual carriageway road within ERYC other than the main Hull – Goole – M62 link. There are only three other short dual carriageway sections on the A164 at Willerby, the A1079 junction with the A164 and the Leven By-pass on the A1035.

3.3.4 Much of the East Riding’s extensive road network has evolved over a long period of time and was not built to the standards that would be expected of a newly constructed highway. As a consequence, many of its local roads are less resilient to changing environments and circumstances such as severe weather events.

3.3.5 As a rural authority the council also receives proportionately less funding for road maintenance than its urban counterparts and funding allocations for maintenance have not kept pace with inflation over the past years. The condition of the council’s highway assets is continuing to decline under current budget levels, which has resulted in a maintenance backlog where roads were not being maintained to a level appropriate to their classification.

3.3.6 An ‘A’ road maintenance scheme was implemented to bring the East Riding’s roads up to an acceptable standard, ensuring that they were fit for purpose and minimise whole life costs. The funding was delivered through the LEP.

FIGURE C: EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE ROAD NETWORK

ROAD CAPACITY

3.3.7 Although ERYC does not see the levels of traffic congestion experienced in more urban areas, Figure D shows traffic versus road capacity overlaid on the ERYC bus network. The green colour shows where road capacity is most stressed. This applies mainly on the boundaries with Hull and York but also on two key roads around Beverley with the eastern approach from Hornsea of particular note.

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RAIL NETWORK

3.3.8 The East Riding is served by three main rail links: the line from Hull to Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool, the Hull to Doncaster line via Goole and Brough and the Hull to Scarborough line via Beverley, Driffield and Bridlington. These connect the main settlements in the East Riding with other centres in the Yorkshire and Humber area and the rest of the country.

3.3.9 Northern Rail and First Trans Pennine Express currently operates the majority of passenger services in and out of the East Riding with additional inter-city services operated by Hull Trains and East Coast. Frequencies of services have progressively increased in recent years, most recently improvements to the Hull to Scarborough service to run hourly north of Bridlington.

WATERWAYS

3.3.10 There are several navigable waterways within the East Riding. A number of these are popular with boaters (particularly the River Hull and Driffield Navigation) and some are key freight transport routes (the River Ouse and Aire and Calder Navigation).

BUS NETWORK

3.3.11 The distribution and frequency of bus services varies considerably between the urban and rural areas of the East Riding. In the larger towns buses often run relatively frequently while in more rural areas services may only run once or twice per day and some settlements are not on the bus network at all. Bus provision is concentrated on weekday and Saturday daytimes. Evenings and Sunday provision is limited, even on main corridors.

Road above 100per cent stress

Road between 75 and 100per cent stress

Road below 75per cent stress

N

N

FIGURE D: TRAFFIC CONGESTION LEVELS AND BUS ROUTES – EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE COUNCIL

1918

3.3.17 In Figure F, the level of service provision across ERYC is shown. The core interurban network is reflected in the lines of larger brown dots with red dots reflecting town service provision in Beverley, Bridlington and Goole and the satellite areas surrounding Hull.

3.3.18 Within ERYC’s area there are 1,843 bus stops in an area of 2,407 km2. This is a low density of stops but reflects its rural nature and the fact, that, in deep rural areas, buses stop on demand if there are no fixed stops. The density of bus stops is 0.77 per sq. km.

3.3.19 A full list of current services in ERYC is in Table 3 below. This includes services run under s19 and s22 permits. Registered Local Bus Services are shown as they registered and in some cases this reflects a split registration which covers a long through service, for example services 360 and 361 are shown as Goole to Swinefleet and Swinefleet to Scunthorpe while in reality buses run through from Goole to Scunthorpe.

There are 101 services of which 54per cent are cross-boundary.

50per cent of services are wholly tendered (sometimes jointly with other authorities).

A further 14per cent are part-tendered.

3.3.20 Those services which are wholly or part tendered are indicated in Table 3.

FIGURE F: EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE COUNCIL – BUS SERVICE PROVISION BY SETTLEMENT

3.3.12 The majority of bus services in the area are run by East Yorkshire Buses with additional services operated by Stagecoach, Arriva, First buses and other smaller bus companies.

3.3.13 There are local town services in Beverley, Bridlington, Driffield, Hornsea, Goole, Withernsea and Hessle but the core network is made up of inter-urban services running half hourly at best. The highest frequency on the interurban services is between Beverley and Hull where four services combine to provide an almost fifteen-minute headway, but with different routes in Beverley itself. A key issue of the interurban services is that most are cross-boundary into neighbouring authorities, in particular linking ERYC to Scarborough in the north, York to the west or Hull to the south. There are also two services linking parts of ERYC with Scunthorpe in North Lincolnshire.

3.3.14 A third group of services is Hull-based and provides urban services to settlements outside the boundary of Hull City Council to the west, north and east. Generally, including route variations, these run at frequencies between ten and twenty minutes.

3.3.15 Routes are broadly consistent across the week but there are certain diversions which are followed by particular journeys and services into Hull follow a different route in the morning peak to avoid traffic congestion.

3.3.16 ERYC supports a park and ride service in Bridlington which is operated by Stagecoach under contract to ERYC every twenty to thirty minutes in the summer months.

FIGURE E: BUS SERVICES IN THE EAST RIDING FREQUENTLY USE NARROW RURAL ROADS

Bridlington

Hornsea

WithernseaHedon

Cottingham

Anlaby

Hessle

Kirk Ella

Willerby

BeverleyMarket

Weighton

Pocklington

Howden

GooleSnaith

Elloghton Brough

Driffield

Total Number of Services:

<10

10 - 24

25 - 49

50 - 74

75 - 100

100+ N

2120

UNCONVENTIONAL SERVICES

3.3.21 A number of demand responsive community transport schemes are also in operation in the East Riding. These schemes provide a form of public transport for settlements not served by a commercial bus service while also catering for the needs of vulnerable people or groups who are not able to access mainstream services.

3.3.22 Medibus is a demand-responsive service which provides residents of the East Riding of Yorkshire with transport from their front door to local hospitals, doctors' surgeries, clinics and dentists. Passengers can also use the service for visiting friends and relatives in hospital. Note that Medibus also provides cross-boundary journeys, reflecting that ERYC has only one major hospital at Cottingham (Castle Hill) and many patients are referred to Hull, Scarborough, Scunthorpe or York hospitals, none of which are central or on the core routes approaching those centres, although there are conventional buses linking some parts of ERYC with Hull Royal Infirmary.

3.3.23 All the vehicles used on the service are wheelchair accessible. Bookings are taken by telephone or by e-mail. There are eight separate Medibus schemes based on zones in ERYC and a flat fare of £5 single and £10 return applies, with a 50per cent discount for concession holders. Medibus is run under s19 permits, partly in-house by the council’s Transportation Service and partly by the CT sector under contract to ERYC. Two of the Medibus schemes are funded by the National Lottery on a fixed-term award.

3.3.24 MiBus is a similar demand-responsive service designed to link areas that are off the main network with local towns and supermarkets, often only on certain days of the week. Fares and booking arrangements are the same as for Medibus.

3.3.25 The East Riding of Yorkshire was part of a Total Transport pilot, the success of which was limited due in large part to slow processes and a lack of engagement, but signs are now much more positive with the involvement of NHS trusts (see 2.6).

FIGURE G: THE KEY BUS NETWORK IN THE EAST RIDING COMMUNITY TRANSPORT

3.3.26 There are a number of specific transport challenges that can prevent East Riding residents accessing jobs, healthcare, education, shopping, leisure or social activities. These challenges can be broadly summarised as follows:

Conventional public transport is not always available or is not physically accessible. Some people find the costs of personal or public transport are very high or unaffordable. Services and activities are often located in inaccessible places, particularly for individuals without access to a private car. Some people may not be aware of different public transport options, or have the confidence to travel on different services; and

Many community groups with limited resources need flexible, affordable and accessible group travel provision to enable their members to attend and participate in activities.

3.3.27 To address these transport challenges, the council supports a number of local community transport groups and schemes run on a not-for-profit basis to assist people who cannot access private or public transport for any reason. These provide travel opportunities for local residents, particularly older people and those with disabilities, to ensure that they can maintain their independence by accessing social events and other key services.

SERVICE DESCRIPTION OPERATOR TENDERED XB DAYTIME EVENING SUNDAY

1 Holme on Spalding Moor - Selby

Thorne’s Independent Tendered Yes Less than daily none none

2 Bridlington Town - Avocet Way East Yorkshire Commercial No Hourly

off-peak none none

3 Bridlington Town - West Hill and Hospital East Yorkshire Commercial No Hourly none none

4 Bridlington - New Pasture La and Old Town East Yorkshire Commercial No Half-hourly none none

5 Beverley - Model Farm and Swinemoor Est

Acklam’s Coaches Commercial No 5-6 Jnys none none

5/5A Bridlington Town - Bempton Lane East Yorkshire Commercial No Half-hourly none none

6 Beverley Town - Beverley Parklands

Acklam’s Coaches Tendered No 3 Jnys none none

6 Bridlington - Hustler Road and The Crayke East Yorkshire Commercial No Hourly none none

10 Wawne - Hull Stagecoach Tendered Yes Half-hourly none none

10/10A Stamford Br - York - Nether Poppleton First York Commercial Yes Half-hourly Hourly Every 70

mins

12/13 Bridlington - Scarborough East Yorkshire Commercial Yes Half-hourly Hourly Half-hourly

14 Brid - Flamborough - Thornwick Bay East Yorkshire Commercial No Hourly none Hourly

18 Holme on Spalding Moor - York East Yorkshire Tendered Yes 5-6 per day 1 Jny FS none

34/44 Willerby Square - Hull East Yorkshire Commercial Yes Every 20 mins Half-hourly Half-hourly

35 Willerby Square - Hull East Yorkshire Commercial Yes 90 mins none none

36/X36 Pocklington - Sutton upon Derwent - York York Pullman Tendered Yes Two Hourly

Sutton none none

45/46 Bridlington - Driffield East Yorkshire Part Tendered No 5-6 per day 1 Jny none

45/46 Driffield - Pocklington East Yorkshire Part Tendered No Two-hourly 1 Jny none

45/46 Pocklington/Holme on Spalding Mr - York East Yorkshire Part Tendered Yes Hourly/2hrly 1 Jny none

TABLE 3: LIST OF BUS SERVICES IN THE EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE JUNE 2021

Continued...

2322


55 Gilberdyke - Goole East Yorkshire Tendered No Two-hourly OP none none

55/156 Hull - Brough - Gilberdyke East Yorkshire Part

Tendered Yes Hourly 2 Jrnys Two- hourly

56/57 Hessle Square - Hull - Bilton East Yorkshire Commercial Yes Every 15 mins Hourly Hourly

63/63C Cottingham - Hull East Yorkshire Commercial Yes Every 20 mins Hourly Hourly

66/66B Humber Bridgehead - Hessle - Hull East Yorkshire Commercial Yes Every 10 mins Hourly Half-hourly

71/A/B Withernsea - Easington East Yorkshire Tendered No Hourly

combined none none

75/X7 Withernsea - Hull East Yorkshire Commercial Yes Half-hourly Two-hourly Hourly

78/79/277 Hull - Hedon - Hull Circulars East Yorkshire Part

Tendered Yes Hourly combined none none

80 Beverley - Hessle Square East Yorkshire Part

Tendered No Hourly none none

88 Goole - Rawcliffe Bridge East Yorkshire Part

Tendered No 4 Jnys none none

88 Bridlington Park and Ride Stagecoach Tendered No Every 20 mins Limited Every 20

mins

99 Bridlington - Skirlaugh - Hull Stagecoach Commercial Yes 2-3 Jnys

Summer none As daytime

104/115 Cottingham Castle Hill Hospital - Hull East Yorkshire Commercial Yes Every 20 mins none Hourly

105 Cottingham Castle Hill Hospital - Hull East Yorkshire Commercial Yes Every 20 mins Hourly Half-hourly

106 Hull University - Cottingham Parkway East Yorkshire Commercial Yes none Limited none

121 Hull - Driffield/Nafferton East Yorkshire Commercial Yes Hourly Two-hourly Hourly

121 Beverley - Bridlington East Yorkshire Commercial No Hourly none Hourly

122 Molescroft - Beverley - Hull East Yorkshire Commercial Yes Hourly none none

123 Beverley - Wilberforce College Stagecoach Commercial Yes 1 Jrny none none

124 Ruston Parva - Brid and Boynton - Driffield

Acklam’s Coaches Tendered No Less than daily none none

129 Withernsea - Hornsea East Yorkshire Tendered No 3-4 Jnys none 4 Jnys

130 Hornsea - Bridlington East Yorkshire Part Tendered No 2-3 Jnys none 2-3 Jnys

131 Bridlington - Carnaby Industrial Estate

Acklam’s Coaches Tendered No Peaks and

Lunchtime none none

135 Driffield - Sledmere - Driffield

Acklam’s Coaches Tendered No 3 Jnys none none

136 Driffield - Beeford - Bridlington East Yorkshire Tendered No 4-5 Jnys none none

142 Beverley - Middleton on the Wolds East Yorkshire Part Tendered No 1-2 Jnys none none

142 Beverley - Bainton Acklam’s Coaches Part Tendered No 4 Jnys none none

143 North Ferriby - Brough - Beverley East Yorkshire Tendered No Less than daily none none


151/2/3 Swanland/Willerby/Hessle - Hull East Yorkshire Commercial Yes Hourly each Hourly Hourly

154 Cottingham Castle Hill Hospital - Hull East Yorkshire Commercial Yes Every 20 mins See 63C Hourly

173 Withernsea - Burton Pidsea - Hull East Yorkshire Tendered Yes 1 Jny SO none none

180 Beverley - Walkington - Castle Hill Hosp East Yorkshire Commercial No 6 Jnys none none

183 Hessle Town Bus East Yorkshire Tendered Yes 5 Jnys FO none none

195Allerthorpe

- Melbourne - Pocklington

York Pullman Tendered No Less than daily none none

196 Aughton - Sutton upon Derwent - York York Pullman Tendered Yes Less than daily none none

198 North Cave - Market Weighton Goole GoFar Tendered No Less than daily none none

199 Huggate - Pocklington York Pullman Tendered No Less than daily none none

220 Aldbrough - Bilton (ASDA) Kens Travel Tendered No Less than daily None none

220 Hornsea - Aldbrough - Bilton

North Holderness CT Tendered No 2 Jnys none none

240 Hornsea - Skirlaugh - Hull East Yorkshire Commercial Yes Hourly 1 Jny 3 Jnys

242 Hedon - Skirlaugh - Beverley Stagecoach Tendered No 1 Jny none none

246 Hornsea - Beverley - Hull East Yorkshire Part Tendered Yes Hourly none 1 Jny

246 Beverley - Hull East Yorkshire Part Tendered Yes Hourly 2 Jnys none

250/255 Hull - Humber Bridge - Barton Stagecoach Commercial Yes Hourly none 1 Jny

350 Hull - Humber Bridge - Scunthorpe East Yorkshire Commercial Yes 4 Jnys none 3 Jnys

350 Hull - Humber Bridge - Scunthorpe Stagecoach Commercial Yes Half-hourly Limited 6 Jnys

358 Holme on Spalding Moor - Goole s22 Goole GoFar Tendered No Less than daily none none

360/361 Swinefleet - Scunthorpe East Yorkshire Tendered Yes 6 Jnys none none

360/361 Goole - Swinefleet East Yorkshire Tendered No 6 Jnys none none

400/401 Goole - Rawcliffe - Snaith - Selby

Arriva Yorkshire Commercial Yes Hourly none none

486Hensall - Pollington -

SelbyThorne’s

IndependentTendered Yes Less than daily none none

488Hensall - Pollington -

GooleThorne’s

IndependentTendered Yes Less than daily none none

504/A Bridlington - BucktonAcklam’s Coaches

Tendered No 3 Jnys none none

520/521Beverley Town -

Swinemoor EstateEast Yorkshire

Part Ten-dered

No Hourly each none none

Continued...

2524


522 Beverley Town - Normandy Avenue

Acklam’s Coaches Tendered No Hourly none none

530 Driffield Town Bus Acklam’s Coaches Tendered No Hourly

Off-peak MF none none

550 Hornsea Town Bus East Yorkshire Tendered No Hourly none none

747 Pocklington - Stamford Bridge - York East Yorkshire Tendered Yes 3-4 Jnys none none

Blue Bridlington - Flamborough Open Top East Yorkshire Commercial No Hourly none Hourly

Brid DAR Bridlington Dial a Ride s19

North Holderness CT

Part Tendered No Less than daily none none

CB3 Roos - Burton Pidsea - Hedon - Bilton s22

North Holderness CT Tendered No Less than daily none none

G1-G5 Goole Town Bus East Yorkshire Tendered No Every 40 mins none none

ME1 Moorsbus Hull - Bainton East Yorkshire Commercial Yes none none Limited

ME1 Moorsbus Bainton - Pickering East Yorkshire Commercial Yes none none Limited

Medibus Medibus Beverley s19 ERYC Tendered Yes

Medibus Medibus Bridlington s19

North Holderness CT Tendered Yes

Medibus Medibus Driffield s19 East Hull CT Tendered Yes

Medibus Medibus Goole s19 East Yorkshire CT Tendered Yes

Medibus Medibus Hornsea s19 East Yorkshire CT Tendered Yes

Medibus Medibus Pocklington s19 ERYC Tendered Yes

Medibus Medibus Withernsea s19 ERYC Tendered Yes

MiBus MiBus Beverley s19 Beverley Com-munity Lift Tendered No

MiBus MiBus Driffield s19 North Holderness CT Tendered Yes

MiBus MiBus Goole s19 Goole GoFar Tendered No

MiBus MiBus Holderness s19 North Holderness CT Tendered Yes

MiBus MiBus Howdenshire s19 East Yorkshire CT Tendered Yes

X5 Goole - Brough - Hull East Yorkshire Commercial Yes 5 Jnys none none

X46/X47 Hull - Pocklington East Yorkshire Commercial Yes Hourly 3 Jrnys FS Hourly

X46/X47 Market Weighton - York East Yorkshire Commercial Yes Hourly Hourly FS Hourly

3.4 EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE COUNCIL LTP AND BUS STRATEGY

3.4.1 The current ERYC Bus Strategy and its associated CT Strategy is part of LTP6 covering the 2021 to 2039 period, aligning with the Local Plan. Naturally, its expectations reflect the COVID-19 situation and the need to provide extra support to maintain the bus network and also the ongoing pressures on available finance. It is notable, however, that ERYC has prioritised spending on local bus services and has not cut back the supported network in the draconian way seen in some other authorities.

3.4.2 The aims of the Bus Strategy align with LTP Objectives 3 and 5 which are as follows:

Objective 3: Reduce Carbon Emissions and Encourage Healthy Lifestyles

To reduce the high proportion of residents in the East Riding’s larger settlements that are still choosing to drive for short distances to get to work.

To encourage and support residents to make short local trips on foot, by bike or using public transport where possible and ensuring that high quality infrastructure is in place to support these trips.

Objective 5: Improve Access to Key Services

To ensure that those residents who do not own a vehicle have access to high quality walking, cycling and public and community transport networks.

3.4.3 The council recognises the importance of working in partnership with the following stakeholders to support and expand bus service provision in the East Riding:

Residents

Bus operators

Community groups

Community transport groups

Businesses

Town and parish councils

Ward Members.

3.4.4 This successful partnership approach has seen the council and local operators maintain a reasonably stable bus network. ERYC also works with key groups to help to empower local communities through its Parish Transport Toolkit and Community Transport Strategy to help local communities identify transport barriers and devise innovative transport solutions which meet local need and source alternative sources of funding to meet that need.

3.4.5 The council manages a number of regular bus forums, chaired by a local charity, which enable its residents to feed back to operators and the council with comments, suggestions and other issues on local bus travel. It also, with the assistance of Ward Members and town and parish councils, seeks direct feedback on supported bus services and ways to make them more responsive to local need.

3.4.6 In one innovative example of this, seven parish councils between Holme on Spalding Moor and York joined with East Riding of Yorkshire Council, City of York Council and North Yorkshire County Council to help fund a replacement service for the largely commercially operated service 18 bus when this was withdrawn by East Yorkshire Buses in 2018. The parishes jointly fund Friday and Saturday evening services, with the three councils supporting six days a week peak and off-peak daytime operation.

3.4.7 LTP funds continue to be invested to improve bus infrastructure and information provision in the East Riding. These schemes aim to make bus services accessible for all users and to improve the door-to-door experience for travellers. The council provides timetable information to Traveline and to the Bus Open Data project. East Yorkshire, the principal operator, provides timetable display inserts on all its routes in the East Riding.

2726

FIGURE H: CT OPERATORS HAVE A KEY ROLE IN THE RURAL NETWORK

3.4.13 The current CT Strategy expired in 2020 and has not yet been renewed due to the pressures placed on the council and CT operators by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, some of its existing priority actions remain pertinent. In particular, the ongoing provision of strategic support to CT organisations by the council’s Transportation Services team to enable them to undertake needs assessments, prepare funding proposals, secure pump-priming funding for new service development and respond in a timely and appropriate fashion to new initiatives or legislative changes continues to be a core priority. Potential new priority actions for 2021-25 include:

Support for recovery from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, including messaging and marketing to encourage former passengers to return to travelling;

Development of new services specifically designed to tackle loneliness and isolation - offering isolated individuals the opportunity to link into social/group activities and health and wellbeing provision;

Development of two new externally (Lottery) funded Medibus services, booked through the council’s Call Centre, with a view to integrating these fully into the Medibus network by 2024;

Continued delivery of Medibus, MiBus, rural Home to School and Section 22 community bus contracts.

RAIL STRATEGY

3.4.14 The ERYC Rail Strategy also stresses the need for better integration of the rail network with other modes. This includes the development of individual station travel plans in partnership with rail operators to reduce the number of passengers accessing rail stations by car where walking, cycling or public transport is a realistic alternative. In addition to increasing the use of sustainable modes by existing users, Rail Station Travel Plans also help to facilitate rail use by making stations more accessible to those who are not currently using the rail network.

3.4.15 The aim of the LTP Rail Strategy is as follows:

The council will work in partnership with rail operators, Network Rail and user groups to improve accessibility to stations, particularly by sustainable transport modes, and support measures to integrate rail travel and other transport modes.

3.5 SUPPORTED BUS SERVICES

3.5.1 The council financially supports around 10per cent of the East Riding’s current bus network. The remainder of the network is provided commercially. Prior to the authority’s major review of supported bus services in 2016-17 there were 90 supported bus contracts which had a budget of almost £1.7 million. Not all these contracts were full bus routes but some included support for one or more journeys on an otherwise commercial bus route.

3.5.2 In deciding when to step in and meet transport needs for scheduled services, the council’s criteria at that stage was to prioritise work journeys, followed by off peak shopping services and finally evening and Sunday provision. However, analysis of the results of an extensive needs assessment process and subsequent analysis of existing service provision against robust weighting criteria indicated that continuing with this themed approach would not lead to best value. This led to the development of a ‘balanced scorecard’ to assess the performance of supported bus contracts. This considered a range of criteria including the annual number of passengers, the subsidy per journey, social need, average passenger numbers, alternative journey opportunities and CO2 footprint.

3.5.3 The balanced scorecard approach has proved successful, with the council experiencing very minimal objections to its plans to withdraw underperforming and non-strategic supported services in 2017 and 2018. The approach will be maintained and utilised when enhancement of secondary rural and feeder networks are considered through the BSIP/EP Scheme process.

3.5.4 Excluding Medibus and MiBus services East Riding of Yorkshire Council currently has 49 supported bus contracts. Some contracts are for full and others for part of services. A small number are contributions to contracts held by other authorities for cross boundary services.

3.5.5 The budget for these contracts is approximately £1.45m per annum representing approximately 1.2m km of supported services. If the cost of the 12 Medibus and MiBus services is added to this it increases this budget to approximately £1.8m per annum. This compares favourably with the council’s pre-review budget in 2016-17, underlining the fact that the council has maintained a core supported bus network in a period when many other authorities have drastically reduced their levels of support for non-commercial bus services.

COMMUNITY TRANSPORT STRATEGY

3.4.8 The council’s Community Transport Strategy acknowledges the particularly serious effect that COVID-19 has had on users and volunteers of the sector.

3.4.9 The strategy has three main objectives, which are as follows:

Understand and meet local needs, change perceptions and enable community engagement.

Work in partnership to sustain vibrant communities and improve social wellbeing.

Be professional, affordable and deliver excellence in service provision.

3.4.10 Peoples’ travel needs are not constrained by administrative boundaries and the Community Transport Strategy also considers cross-boundary issues and the potential for greater partnership working with other local authorities to develop new services and address common issues. The Community Transport Operators Network already includes representation from community transport operators in Hull and the Community Transport Strategy seeks to build on and extend joint working arrangements with neighbouring areas and partnerships.

3.4.11 Local community transport groups have been supported by capital funding from the LTP which has been used to purchase new vehicles. The operators also received revenue support from the now defunct Regional Development Agency funding programmes.

3.4.12 A Parish Transport Toolkit is designed to sit alongside the Community Transport Strategy and aims to assist parish councils, local communities and community groups to identify their community’s transport needs and the transport solution that is most appropriate for their particular location.

2928

FIGURE I: URBAN AND RURAL CLASSIFICATION

3.5.6 Community transport groups operate 14 supported services, including three Medibus and six MiBus services. In addition, they have obtained external (Lottery) funding to develop two new Medibus services, which are booked through the council’s call centre and branded as part of the overall Medibus scheme, increasing this to eight services in total.

3.6 BASELINE DATA

RURALITY

3.6.1 The East Riding is predominantly classified as rural (as shown in Figure I). Its rural nature means that residents often have issues with access to facilities and only 25 per cent of residents live within a fifteen-minute walk or public transport trip of local facilities. For a rural area, the proportion of households without a car, at 17.6 per cent, is also quite high.

EMPLOYMENT

3.6.2 25 per cent of those in work are employed part-time, slightly above the percentage in Yorkshire and Humber generally. The number of benefit claimants represents 4.2 per cent of working age males and 3 per cent of females, totalling 7,100 people, although the number of people out of work has declined by 1 per cent since 2019.

3.6.3 Unemployment among 16 to 24 year-olds rose sharply in mid-2020 and latest figures show it standing at 6 per cent, somewhat lower than the Yorkshire and Humber average, which is nearer 8 per cent.

3.6.4 Claimants are concentrated along the coastal strip and to a lesser extent in Goole. This leads into higher levels of deprivation in these areas too (see Figure J). Deprivation along the eastern coastal strip has seen an award from the Coastal Communities Fund to Hornsea for £3.77m in 2017 along with several other initiatives.

FIGURE J: LEVELS OF DEPRIVATION IN THE EAST RIDING

FIGURE K: AGE PROFILE OF THE EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE

3.6.5 Mid-2020 population estimates show the East Riding of Yorkshire having a population of just over 343,000 people. The split by gender is 51 per cent female, 49 per cent male. This, however, covers significant variation by age group as there are more older females than males (54 per cent of those over 65 are female), while young people above school age have a significant male to female bias (54 per cent of those aged between 18 and 25 are male).

3.6.6 The age profile of the population in the East Riding is of note because of the low proportion of people aged under 45, as shown in Figure K. The average age of an East Riding resident is rising steadily, by no less than 7.3 years since 2001 (see Figure L).

3130

COMMUTING PATTERNS

3.6.7 Some 83,400 East Riding residents both live and work in the area and even pre-COVID just under 19,000 of these worked mainly at home (although this category includes farming and other ‘domestic’ occupations). However, commuting out of the East Riding is very significant and way exceeds those commuting into the East Riding. Major flows are shown on the map in Figure M.

3.6.8 The key movement is into Hull, accounting for over 33,000 commuting trips per day. The two flows in the south are atypical, flows across the Humber Bridge are broadly equal inward and outward, while at Goole there is over 60per cent more commuting into the East Riding from South Yorkshire than out. The latter flows are notable because there is no longer any bus service out of Goole towards South Yorkshire (although the train service to and from Doncaster is good).

3.6.9 Overall, just 2.9per cent of East Riding residents travel to work by bus against 69.2per cent by car. The proportions of those travelling by bus only increases to over 5 per cent in the food and beverage and retail sectors, which correspondingly are the only sectors where the proportion travelling by car is less than 50 per cent.

FIGURE M: DAILY COMMUTING PATTERNS- EAST RIDING (PRE COVID-19)

THE BUS NETWORK - RIDERSHIP

3.6.10 In relation to overall usage levels, the annual figures published by DfT and those supplied by the operators show a major divergence. The DfT figures (Figure N) are much larger and show a significant decline over the last five years, while the operator figures, although lower, show an upward trend pre-COVID (see Figure P). Figure O, which shows monthly figures from June 2017 to May 2021. The savage effect of COVID-19 on bus ridership is clear.

FIGURE L: TREND IN AVERAGE AGE OF EAST RIDING RESIDENTS

FIGURE N: DFT FIGURES – BUS TRIPS IN THE EAST RIDING SINCE 2009/10

8.00

7.00

6.00

5.00

4.00

3.00

2.00

1.00

0.00

Pax (m)

MIL

LION T

RIPS

2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/207.38 7.03 7.39 7.52 7.05 7.30 6.06 6.82 6.54 5.75 4.89

MED

IAN A

GE

OF

POPU

LATI

ON

Mid - 2001

Mid - 2002

Mid - 2003

Mid - 2004

Mid - 2005

Mid - 2006

Mid - 2007

Mid - 2008

Mid - 2009

Mid - 2010

Mid - 2011

Mid - 2012

Mid - 2013

Mid - 2014

Mid - 2015

Mid - 2016

Mid - 2017

Mid - 2018

Mid - 2019

Mid - 2020

50.0

44.0

42.0

40.0

38.0

36.0

34.0

32.0

30.0

48.0

46.0

42.242.6

42.8 43.243.5

43.944.3

44.745.1

45.545.9

46.246.6

47.047.6

48.048.5

48.949.2 49.5

3332

FIGURE P: OPERATOR DATA - PRE-COVID RIDERSHIP TREND

THE BUS NETWORK – SERVICE SUPPLY

3.6.11 Figure Q shows the trend in service kilometres operated since 2016/17. There was a small year-on-year decline pre-COVID but not to the degree seen in some other areas. In 2020/21 overall some 91 per cent of the previous year’s mileage was operated.

3.6.12 In Figure R we see the trend in scheduled speed. Although scheduled speed is quite high, reflecting the interurban nature of the network, there has still been a notable decline pre-COVID. Buses were getting slower.

FIGURE Q: SERVICE KMS OPERATED 2016/17 TO 2020/21

FIGURE R: AVERAGE OPERATING SPEED – EYB 2016/17 TO 2020/21

THE BUS NETWORK – USAGE BY TIME

3.6.13 Figure S uses data from the whole of 2019 and shows the total usage by hour in each time period. It will be noted that even pre-COVID, buses in the East Riding were much busier between the ‘peaks’ than at any other time, driven, of course, by the concessionary market. During the main part of the day on Saturday is the busiest time overall.

3.6.14 Figure T looks at the pattern across the day on four different groups of services. There is a very clear distinction, with the core interurban network and services focussed on Hull sharing a similar profile, while town services and the ‘others’ - mainly less-frequent rural services, carry nearly 70 per cent of their passengers in the off-peak.

FIGURE O: OPERATOR DATA – RECENT RIDERSHIP TRENDPA

SSEN

GER

BOAR

DIN

GS

Jun

17Ju

l 17

Aug

17

Sept

17

Oct

17

Nov

17

Dec

17

Jan

18Fe

b 18

Mar

18

Apr

18

May

18

Jun

18Ju

l 18

Aug

18

Sept

18

Oct

18

Nov

18

Dec

18

Jan

19Fe

b 19

Mar

19

Apr

19

May

19

Jun

19Ju

l 19

Aug

19

Sept

19

Oct

19

Nov

19

Dec

19

Jan

20Fe

b 20

Mar

20

Apr

20

May

20

Jun

20Ju

l 20

Aug

20

Sept

20

Oct

20

Nov

20

Dec

20

Jan

21Fe

b 21

Mar

21

Apr

21

May

21

350,000

300,000

250,000

200,000

150,000

100,000

50,000

0

450,000

400,000

MAY 2021 IS 58 PER CENT OF MAY 2019

PASS

ENGER

BOAR

DIN

GS

Jun

17Ju

l 17

Aug

17

Sept

17

Oct

17

Nov

17

Dec

17

Jan

18Fe

b 18

Mar

18

Apr

18

May

18

Jun

18Ju

l 18

Aug

18

Sept

18

Oct

18

Nov

18

Dec

18

Jan

19Fe

b 19

Mar

19

Apr

19

May

19

Jun

19Ju

l 19

Aug

19

Sept

19

Oct

19

Nov

19

Dec

19

Jan

20Fe

b 20

Mar

20

Apr

20

May

20

Jun

20Ju

l 20

Aug

20

Sept

20

Oct

20

Nov

20

Dec

20

Jan

21Fe

b 21

Mar

21

Apr

21

May

21

350,000

300,000

250,000

200,000

150,000

100,000

50,000

0

450,000

400,000

KILO

MET

RES

OPE

RATE

D

12,000,000

11,000,000

10,000,000

9,000,000

8,000,000

7,000,000

6,000,000

5,000,0002016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21

AVER

AGE

SPEE

D K

M/H

R

26.00

25.00

24.00

23.00

22.00

21.00

20.002016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21

3534

FIGURE T: MARKET SHARE BY TIME OF DAY MF

THE BUS NETWORK – TICKET TYPES

3.6.15 In Figure U we see the breakdown of ticket types for September 2019. The dominance of the concessionary market in the East Riding is very noticeable and accounted for nearly 50 per cent of the market.

3.6.16 Of fare payers, only around a third hold some sort of multi-journey ticket. This is a very low proportion for a network in 2019 and must be a reflection of the market being made up principally of simple ‘out and back’ trips. It is unusual to see return tickets making up just under 16 per cent of all ticket transactions. Figure W shows this more clearly once the concessionary share is deleted and shows only fare payers.

FIGURE U: TICKET TYPE PROPORTIONS – SEPTEMBER 2019

FIGURE V: TICKET TYPE PROPORTIONS – MAY 2021

FIGURE W: TICKET TYPE PROPORTIONS – FARE PAYERS SEPTEMBER 2019

FIGURE X: TICKET TYPE PROPORTIONS – FARE PAYERS MAY 2021

FIGURE S: 2019 – PASSENGERS BOARDING PER HOUR BY TIME OF DAY 3.6.17 The analysis in Figure U is repeated for May 2021 in Figure V. The main difference is the reduction in market share of concessionary travel, from 49.5 per cent to 35.3 per cent of the total, with return tickets making up some 12 per cent more of the proportion to compensate. Figure W ‘s analysis of fare payers is repeated for May 2021 in Figure X. In May 2021 single and return fares accounted for 70 per cent of all transactions. It is clear that there has been a shift away from regular travel to less frequent trip-making.

3.6.18 Figure Y shows the percentage change in number of transactions by ticket type comparing May 2021 with September 2019. Concessionary trips are halved. It is, however, notable that the number of return tickets sold in May 2021 is 19 per cent greater than in September 2019. It is also of note that the proportions of day and weekly tickets are broadly the same as in 2019, albeit the same share of a much smaller base. Period tickets have also increased in volume by 5 per cent - this might reflect a switch in buying method.

3.6.19 ‘Other’ tickets increased their share of fare payers by 1.6 per cent (319 per cent by volume of transactions – not shown in Figure Y), made up almost entirely of ‘flexi’ tickets. These were introduced in 2020 and are effectively bundles of day tickets aimed at those working flexibly. The numbers in evidence in May 2021 are not large, representing something between 160 and 180 trips per day.

3736

FIGURE Y: CHANGE IN VOLUME BY TICKET TYPE SEPT 2019 TO MAR 2021

THE BUS NETWORK – TICKET SALES METHOD

3.6.20 During the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of cash has been widely discouraged. Paying for bus travel is no different and a change in ticket purchasing method was expected, shown in Table 4 below. The proportion of tickets bought using cash has fallen from 64 per cent to 36 per cent, while the proportion using contactless has doubled to 44 per cent.

3.6.21 This is also reflected by an increase in the volume of contactless transactions, while cash transactions have fallen by 60 per cent. There was also a smaller fall in app use. It is clear, however, that passengers prefer the option of contactless payment on-bus rather than pre-payment on the app.

3.6.22 However, the 36 per cent who still pay in cash represent a sizeable minority. If these passengers are not persuaded to move away from cash payment by a global pandemic, it suggests a significant core of cash payers and should discourage any moves to move to wholly cashless transactions.

TRANSACTION SEP-19 MAY-21 CHANGE IN VOLUME

Contactless 22 per cent 44 per cent +44 per cent

Cash 64 per cent 36 per cent -60 per cent

App Use 15 per cent 20 per cent -6 per cent

All -30 per cent

TABLE 4: CHANGE IN TICKET PURCHASING METHOD

THE BUS NETWORK – FARES

3.6.23 Table 5 shows some sample fares for typical journeys starting in the East Riding. As is normal, fares taper so that the fare per mile reduces as journeys get longer. Single fares for medium distance journeys are all around fifty pence per mile, while longer trips like Hornsea to Hull or Beverley to York are significantly less per mile. The discount offered by return fares is usually around 30-35 per cent but some give less.

3.6.24 Except in the environs of Hull, where the ‘Hull Plus’ ticket gives very good value at £13 per week, the ratio of weekly ticket price to return tickets is quite high at around 4.3, equating to a discount of around 14per cent compared to buying five return tickets.

3.6.25 Note also that for weekly tickets there is a difference between weekly ticket prices bought on bus and those bought on the East Yorkshire Buses app. This partly comes about because EYB has a different range of app-only tickets, including a discounted ‘Access All Areas’ ticket at £39.50 per week.

3.6.26 There are also some local area tickets offering better deals, coupled to local flat fares, such as in Bridlington, which has a day ticket at £3.60 and a very reasonably priced weekly at £10.40.

3.6.27 Since the primary source of an operator’s income is fares, whether directly or through concessionary reimbursement, fare levels must be set to cover operating cost. However, with one-off fares in excess of £6 and weekly tickets above £30 it is clear how these could act as a deterrent to bus use.

FROM HULL HULL HULL HULL BEVERLEY BEVERLEY

TO CASTLE HILL HOSPITAL COTTINGHAM BEVERLEY HORNSEA DRIFFIELD YORK

Approx. Miles

6.4 4.8 9.5 22.4 12.6 30.8

Single £3.15 £2.35 £4.80 £6.85 £6.40 £7.55£ per mile £0.49 £0.49 £0.51 £0.31 £0.51 £0.25Return £4.40 £4.00 £6.60 £9.10 £8.30 £12.50Discount 30per cent 15 per cent 31 per cent 34 per cent 35 per cent 17 per centWeekly £13.00 £13.00 £28.30 £39.10 £35.60 £53.30Week/Ret 2.95 3.25 4.29 4.30 4.29 4.26Weekly App £13.00 £13.00 £26.40 £37.80 £39.50 £39.50

*Sample fares as applicable in August 2021 taken from East Yorkshire Buses Website.

TABLE 5: SAMPLE EAST RIDING BUS FARES *

DEMAND RESPONSIVE TRANSPORT

3.6.28 Table 7 and Table 8 below show usage figures for ERYC’s DRT services by service for 2019/20 and 2020/21 respectively. As with public transport generally, there is a notable decline due to the pandemic, with travel reduced by two thirds. The reduction in trips year on year is broadly the same for both Medibus and MiBus. The situation is summarised in Table 6 below. The service has been maintained throughout the pandemic but clearly under financial pressure due to reduced income, although this is partly offset by reduced operating cost.

3.6.29 Each booking is likely to relate to a round trip, with very small numbers of one-way trips. The concessionary market dominates, making up 94 per cent of passengers in 2019/20 and 92 per cent in 2020/21. It is perhaps notable that the reduction in usage is slightly higher for concessionary travel.

2019/20 2020/21 20/21 AS PERCENTGE

Passenger Bookings 12,544 4,325 34 per centPassenger journeys 24,371 8,467 35 per centJnys per booking 1.94 1.96Concessionary 11,780 3,994 34 per centNot Concessionary 764 331 43 per centConc. as per centge 94 per cent 92 per cent

TABLE 6: SUMMARY OF DRT SERVICE USE

SERVICE OPERATOROPERATIONAL

DAYSPASSENGER BOOKINGS

PASSENGER JOURNEYS

CONCESSIONARY PASSENGERS

PASSENGERS WITH NO

CONCESSION

Beverley Medibus

East Riding of Yorkshire Council M/T/W/T/F 1,375 2,641 1,288 87

Bridlington Medibus

East Yorkshire Community Transport

M/T/W/T/F 367 772 333 34

Driffield Medibus

East Hull Community Transport M/T/W/T/F 755 1,472 710 45

Goole Medibus


M/T/W/T 659 1,290 605 54

Hornsea Medibus

North Holderness Community Transport

M/T/W/T/F am 1,127 2,137 1,015 112

Pocklington Medibus


Withernsea Medibus


Beverley MiBus

Beverley Community Lift Tuesday 582 1,164 582 -

Driffield MiBus


T/T/2nd Fri of Mth. 959 1,775 940 19

Goole MiBus Goole GoFar Friday 448 896 448 -

Holderness MiBus

North Holderness Community Transport M/W/T/F 1,352 2,691 1,301 51

Howden-shire MiBus


M 272 544 271 1

Totals 12,544 24,371 11,780 764

TABLE 7: PASSENGERS USING MEDIBUS AND MIBUS – 2019/20

SERVICE OPERATOROPERATIONAL

DAYSPASSENGER BOOKINGS

PASSENGER JOURNEYS

CONCESSIONARY PASSENGERS

PASSENGERS WITH NO

CONCESSION

Beverley Medibus

East Riding of Yorkshire Council M/T/W/T/F 637 1,238 602 35

Bridlington Medibus


M/T/W/T/F 257 485 235 22

Driffield Medibus

East Hull Community Transport M/T/W/T/F 321 628 294 27

Goole Medibus


M/T/W/T 250 497 239 11

Goole Medibus 2


M/T/W/F Started 7 Jun 0 0 0

Hornsea Medibus

North Holderness Community Transport M/T/W/T/F am 548 1,059 470 78

Pocklington Medibus

East Riding of Yorkshire Council M/T/W/T/F 479 945 451 28

Withernsea Medibus

East Riding of Yorkshire Council M/T/W/T/F 601 1,160 526 75

Beverley MiBus

Beverley Community Lift Tuesday 200 400 200 0

Driffield MiBus


T/T/2nd Fri of Mth. 281 553 278 3

Goole MiBus Goole GoFar Friday 150 300 150 0

Holderness MiBus

North Holderness Community Transport M/W/T/F 593 1,186 541 52

Howden-shire MiBus


M 8 16 8 0

Totals 4,325 8,467 3,994 331

TABLE 8: PASSENGERS USING MEDIBUS AND MIBUS – 2020/21

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3.7 PARKING AND CONTROLLED PARKING ZONES

3.7.1 There are 41 council-run car parks in the East Riding, fifteen of which are in Bridlington and thirteen in Beverley. They provide a total of 8,183 spaces of which 6,160 are fee-paying and 2,023 are free. Through the management of parking enforcement and the careful and elective use of Controlled Parking Zones (CPZs), the council helps to manage the negative aspects of commuter parking. The CPZs were introduced to stop commuters parking outside people’s homes in the towns, so that residents could park on the highway near their own home and also to encourage the use of more sustainable travel modes by commuters, including the bus.

3.7.2 Overall, the CPZ areas have proved successful in reducing residents’ complaints about people from outside the area parking in the street around their homes. CPZs are in place in Beverley, Bridlington and Howden with an estimate of 4483 total CPZ parking spaces within all CPZ areas.

A CPZ is an area where parking is only allowed in a signed zone and marked bays for a limited time. Controlled Parking Zones (CPZs) reduce traffic and parking congestion for residents who live in or near to town centres or tourist/visitor hotspots. They can apply to whole parts of a town, whereas a Residents Parking Scheme (RPS) normally applies to individual streets.

3.7.3 As seen in Table 11, parking in the more outlying smaller towns is comparatively cheap in relation to the level of bus fares. For example, visitors to Flamborough and Howden can park for eight hours for £2.90. This is aimed at enticing visitors to these more remote smaller towns to improve the local economy. This has been especially important during the COVID-19 pandemic, where businesses and the public are looking to the council to support small local independent businesses and encourage visitors to town centres, and we do this by keeping parking charges consistent. Although it is accepted that increased parking charges may shift a proportion of visitors to utilise bus services instead, increasing parking charges at this time or in the near future would not be received favourably by stakeholders or the public and would result in a significant backlash.

3.7.4 Figure X compares the pattern of usage in June 2021 with June 2019. The increase midweek is notable. We look in Figure Y at 2021 versus 2019 by town. There is a clear demarcation between types of location, significant increases at coastal locations against falls in usage at the shopping centres inland, particularly Beverley and Goole. These changes are likely to be linked to the COVID-19 pandemic. With some businesses temporarily closed during the recent lockdowns, the public have travelled less to town centre shopping areas and instead undertaken more online shopping. 2021 has also seen more visitors to local coastal areas in place of being able to travel to holiday resorts abroad during COVID-19 restrictions.

4140

3.7.5 Although low-cost parking can compete with bus services, particularly in economic centres such as Beverley, there is no significant free parking in the largest towns of Beverley and Bridlington (see Table 12) and this contributes to limiting any impact on bus travel take-up.

3.7.6 For cross-boundary passengers, this extends to Hull and York where traffic congestion and the availability of extensive car parking impacts on bus services, particularly in terms of journey times and reliability. Liaison with those two authorities will be key to improving bus services to and from the East Riding. The major operator has indicated its wish to see stringent parking controls in the main towns.

3.7.7 ERYC intends to undertake a review of current car parking charges in the near future, once sufficient post lockdown data is available, given the anomalies introduced by the COVID-19 pandemic.

3.7.8 Revisions to the existing Controlled Parking Zones and/or introducing other waiting restrictions on key bus routes will also be considered by ERYC to target excessive and inappropriate free on-street parking affecting bus journey times and reliability in main centres of employment.

3.7.9 The DfT has suggested that, as part of its Disability Strategy, that it will shortly issue new proposals in relation to parking on pavements, which is a contentious issue. Restrictions on pavement parking will undoubtedly lead to further pressure on parking spaces and access issues for buses, emergency services and other service vehicles which could compound the above bus journey reliability concerns further in the East Riding, York and Hull. The impact of this change when it comes into force will be monitored.

3.7.10 ERYC produced a surplus from its parking operations in 2019/20 as shown below in Table 9.

ITEM ON-STREET OFF-STREET

Spaces 564 7,706

Parking charges £697,931 £1,657,763

Permits and other £183,095 £463,171

Parking Control Notices £421,296 £113,229

Costs £1,227,091 £1,813,431

Surplus £75,231 £420,732

TABLE 9: EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE COUNCIL FINANCIAL POSITION - PARKING

LOCATION PAY SPACESBeverley 1,402

Beverley (Sat) 1,725

Bridlington 3,393

Driffield 152

Flamborough 550

Goole 109

Hornsea 419

Howden 135

TABLE 10: FEE-CHARGING COUNCIL-RUN PARKING PLACES

TOWN 2 HOURS 4 HOURS 8 HOURSBeverley £2.56 £4.81 £4.84

Beverley Sat £2.35 £4.46 £4.84

Bridlington £1.63 £3.28 £3.21

Bridlington P&R £5.40 £5.40 £5.40

Driffield £2.48 £4.00 £4.00

Flamborough £1.40 £2.90 £2.90

Goole £2.00

Hornsea £1.58 £3.24 £3.16

Howden £1.40 £2.90 £2.90

TABLE 11: AVERAGE PARKING CHARGES BY TOWN AND DURATION

LOCATION SHORT STAY LONG STAY TOTALAnlaby 28 64 92

Bridlington 39 39

Brough 15 15

Cottingham 66 212 278

Driffield 134 134

Goole 255 255

Hedon 116 40 156Hessle 331 331

Hornsea 254 254

Mappleton 32 32

Market Weighton 13 13Pocklington 115 115

South Cave 15 15

Stamford Bridge 50 50

Willerby 101 101

Withernsea 143 143

TABLE 12: FREE CAR PARKING PLACES IN EAST RIDING

4342

FIGURE Z: EAST RIDING CAR PARK USE BY DAY OF WEEK

FIGURE AA: COMPARISON OF 2019 AND 2021 PARKING BY TOWN

3.8 EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE BUS OPERATORS

3.8.1 There are fourteen operators of registered local bus services in ERYC, listed in Table 13. Just over half of these are operated by East Yorkshire Buses (EYB). EYB still trades under the old company name of East Yorkshire Motor Services (EYMS), but this has been dropped from all branding and publicity etc. EYB operates most of the core routes in ERYC, with a smaller number provided by Stagecoach and single routes by Arriva Yorkshire and First York.

3.8.2 EYB has a total fleet of around 270 buses and has been in the area for around a hundred years. It is a subsidiary of the Go Ahead group and shares some management with Go North East but has its own senior management team based in Hull. EYMS was the penultimate management-owned former part of the National Bus Company and only sold out to Go Ahead in 2018. Since 2018 Go Ahead has made significant investment in the EYB fleet.

3.8.3 EYB has four small depots in the East Riding at Bridlington (16 buses), Elloughton (17 buses), Pocklington (12 buses) and Withernsea (16 buses). In addition, the main depots at Hull (149 buses) and Scarborough (60 buses) contribute to the ERYC network.

3.8.4 Despite having a major presence in Hull, Stagecoach only operates two core commercial routes which serve the south-eastern edge of ERYC before crossing the Humber Bridge.

3.8.5 Arriva Yorkshire operates a single core route west from Goole to Selby while First York operates a single cross-city route serving Stamford Bridge (which is on the periphery of the City of York). Acklam’s Coaches, based in Beverley, operates a small number of commercial and tendered services locally in and around Beverley.

3.8.6 All other operators listed in Table 13 operate services under contract to ERYC either as conventional services or as demand-responsive operations.

OPERATOR NO. OF REGISTERED SERVICESAcklam’s Coaches 10Arriva Yorkshire 1Beverley Community Lift 1East Hull CT 1East Yorkshire Buses 55East Yorkshire CT 3ERYC 3First York 1Goole GoFar 3Ken’s Travel 1North Holderness CT 6Stagecoach 9Thorne’s Independent 3York Pullman 4All Registrations 101

TABLE 13: BUS OPERATORS IN EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE COUNCIL

THE FLEET

3.8.7 Figure BB shows the current age profile of the combined bus fleet in the East Riding. In an ideal world of ongoing fleet replacement this graph would be flat but it is far from being so. There is sign of growing investment in recent years (except 2018 when EYB was going through the sale process) but the bulk of the operating fleet is twelve years or older. The profile by Euro standard in Figure CC is much more even.

3.8.8 The smaller operators have older vehicles in service alongside some newer vehicles and EYB has a large number of older double-decks geared to school work. From information provided by EYB, the only all-day services using Euro IV engined buses are the Bridlington town services and services 71, 129 and 130 along the coastal strip.

3.8.9 The two main CT operators rely on some fairly elderly minibuses alongside newer examples and this must be a concern.

9,000

8,000

7,000

6,000

5,000

4,000

3,000

2,000

1,000

0Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

2019 2021

AVER

AGE

VEHIC

LES

BY D

AY

Beverley Bridlington Bridlington P&R Driffield Flamborough Goole Howden

2019 2021

AVER

AGE

VEHIC

LES

PER

DAY

2,000

1,800

1,600

1,400

1,200

1,000

800

600

400

0

200

Hornsea

4544

FIGURE BB: EAST RIDING BUS OPERATORS – AGE PROFILE

FIGURE CC: EAST RIDING BUS OPERATORS – ENGINE STANDARD

3.9 LOCAL EVIDENCE AND VIEWS

3.9.1 The council has written to all local Members of Parliament outlining our BSIP proposals and asking for feedback on constituents’ views on the bus network.

3.9.2 The council manages a number of regular bus forums, chaired by a local charity, which enable its residents to feed back to operators and the council with comments, suggestions and other issues on local bus travel. We also, with the assistance of Ward Members and town and parish councils, seek direct feedback on supported bus services and ways to make them more responsive to local need.

3.9.3 East Riding of Yorkshire Council has an extensive network of local transport contacts known as ‘Parish Transport Champions’. These have been upheld as a model of passenger representation and consultation by Transport Focus. There are around a hundred champions covering just under two thirds of all parish and town councils in the East Riding. Champions have been asked to feedback on local issues that they see as important in respect of improvements to public and/or community transport networks in their communities. Detailed responses have included:

Bus services identified as infrequent, very slow, expensive, very limited in the evening and on Sundays.

Lack of direct services to key facilities such as hospitals.

Specific suggestions to improve connectivity.

Lack of town bus services in some towns and suggestions to improve bus-rail connectivity and relieve parking problems at and around the station.

Suggestions to improve the flexibility of season tickets.

Problems with longer journey interchange increasing overall journey costs.

Problems with finding easily accessible bus information.

Suggestions for ‘evening out’ bus services and more Sunday bus services.

Evidence of passenger loss on services where frequencies have been reduced.

Suggestions for new, faster and more advantageous routes.

Suggestions for longer distance links from large inland population centres to Bridlington.

Suggestions for a planned review of bus shelter infrastructure.

Request to install bus shelters and re-instate late night bus service.

Request for a demand-responsive service to replace an existing limited scheduled route.

Request for a limited Saturday bus service.

Request for a diversion of an existing service.

Request for the restoration of a community bus service.

Request for an increased level of service.

Provision of local demographic information.

3.9.4 Discussions have also been held with representatives of Transport Focus and a meeting with key members of York Bus Forum was convened to better understand their structure, role and influence in the City of York and consider replicating this in an East Riding context.

3.9.5 East Riding of Yorkshire Council also has a significant body of research findings from a review of its secured services carried out in 2016 which, it is felt, is still relevant. This included a significant number of telephone surveys (1,067 responses), of whom over half were non-users. There was service-specific research carried out on each subsidised service which helped ERYC prioritise its spending and to amend services or timings to be more in line with users’ wishes and to assess the impacts of service withdrawal.

40

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

All OPs

NUM

BER

OF

VEHIC

LES

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 199 24 4 21 19 16 14 8 3 16 7 34 32 20 17 22 2 11 9

Euro Standard

NUM

BER

OF

VEHIC

LES

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

0

10

III IV V VI EV

1

7876

73

58

4746

TARGETS AND SERVICE STANDARDS4.1 INTRODUCTION AND CONTENT

4.1.1 This section looks at overriding principles and policies behind the Enhanced Partnership:

Journey time.

Reliability.

Passenger growth.

Passenger satisfaction.

Rationale for overall network design.

Settlement hierarchy and service level specifications.

Local branding. Tourism and leisure services.

Bus stop infrastructure, Real time information.

Accessibility (disability and protected groups). Cycle carriage.

Decarbonisation - local position statement. Future plans.

04

4948

4.2 JOURNEY TIME IMPROVEMENTS

4.2.1 The largely rural nature of the East Riding bus network means that serious delay in congestion is limited as, for the most part, other traffic is free flowing. There are exceptions, such as stretches that are under 'stress' in terms of traffic volume and speeds, or which may become stressed without intervention (see Figure D for identification of where these intersect with major bus routes). Localised congestion issues also exist in some of the major settlements including Goole, Beverley and Bridlington. These are some of the consequences of relatively high car ownership and usage in the East Riding.

4.2.2 The majority of improvements to journey times will come from measures taken by Hull City Council and City of York Council to improve bus speeds on the key approach roads to their city centres. For journey time improvement we will be reliant on actions in neighbouring authorities in large part.

4.3 RELIABILITY IMPROVEMENTS

4.3.1 Figure DD below shows the trend in buses recorded as running ‘on time’ in the East Riding over the last ten years. Since 2015/16, after years of continual improvement, the level of reliability has plateaued.

4.3.2 The Traffic Commissioners’ standard is for this figure to be at 95 per cent and this must, obviously, be the target. The main cause of unreliability is traffic congestion. This affects long, interurban services disproportionately as severe congestion in, say, York city centre, affects timekeeping throughout a journey and it is less easy to ‘drop in’ replacement buses in the way that shorter, local routes can do.

4.3.3 As bus priority makes journey times more predictable, lower levels of unreliability can be expected, while continued investment in newer vehicles reduces the incidence of vehicle faults.

4.4 PASSENGER GROWTH

4.4.1 The main way in which passenger growth can be encouraged in the East Riding is by development of the core services. In principle ERYC would like to see key links provided half hourly during the day with an hourly evening and Sunday service, but to be cost effective this must be supported by usage data to prove the level of demand, rather than sticking to a hard and fast principle. ERYC and East Yorkshire Buses are both keen to see the use of kick-start funding to develop service improvements with a view to ultimate commercial operation.

4.4.2 ERYC and the operators also see young people as a key market for growth and the most likely age group to return to public transport post-pandemic. As such the aim is to increase the discount offered to this age group.

4.4.3 All of the demographic elements described in section 3, from the need for improved access to work opportunities to better facilities for tourists suggest the need to develop services along the coastal strip and a proposal here is a part of this plan.

4.4.4 Driven chiefly by improvement to frequency and service coverage, together with fares offers, we aim to achieve a twelve per cent increase in patronage by 2024/25.

4.5 PASSENGER SATISFACTION

4.5.1 Table 14 summarises the results of the Transport Focus 2019 Survey for East Yorkshire Buses. These surveys were primarily undertaken in Hull, covering some 392 respondents. There was some skewing of the sample towards those not commuting and those over 35 years of age. The results are mostly positive with one major exception - value for money. Only 54 per cent of farepayers were satisfied with value for money and 32 per cent were dissatisfied. Another lower-scoring attribute was ‘information provided inside the bus which scored only 71 per cent satisfied.

4.5.2 As well as the intention to expand the surveys to cover the East Riding, clearly the two aspects which need addressing are fare levels and on-bus information provision. As fare-paying passengers gave an overall satisfaction rating of 88 per cent, addressing the two issues as a priority could easily raise the overall average score to 95 per cent.

4.5.3 As part of the EP the intention is to set up a bus users’ sub-group to ensure passengers’ views are properly represented.

FIGURE DD: PERCENTAGE OF BUSES RUNNING ON TIME

SATISFACTION (PER CENT) ALL SATISFIED ALL DISSATISFIED BASE SIZE

Overall journey satisfactionAll passengers 92 5 392

Fare-paying passengers 88 8 130

Free pass holders 99 1 256

Passengers saying have a disability 97 1 142

Value for money

All fare-paying passengers 54 32 125

Punctuality of the bus 73 14 352

The length of time waited 71 14 369

Time journey on the bus took 87 5 385

On the busRoute information outside the bus 88 2 359

Cleanliness and condition outside 87 5 353

The ease of getting onto the bus 95 1 378

The length of time it took to board 92 1 358

Cleanliness and condition inside 83 8 379

Information provided inside the bus 68 3 331

Availability of seating or space 92 2 369

The comfort of the seats 81 7 370

The amount of personal space 84 5 365

Provision of grab rails 84 3 367

The temperature inside the bus 81 6 369

Personal security whilst on the bus 85 2 364

Ease of getting off the bus 93 1 373

TABLE 14: 2019 BUS PASSENGER SURVEY – EAST YORKSHIRE BUSES

PER

CENT

OF

SERV

ICES

RUNNIN

G O

N T

IME

Series 22009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19

9 24 4 21 19 16 14 8 3 16

86 PER CENT

85 PER CENT

84 PER CENT

83 PER CENT

82 PER CENT

81 PER CENT

80 PER CENT

79 PER CENT

78 PER CENT

77 PER CENT

76 PER CENT

5150

4.6 RATIONALE FOR NETWORK DESIGN

4.6.1 The East Riding of Yorkshire’s core bus and rail network is well established. Two rail corridors run through the East Riding from Bridlington to Hull for north-south travel and from Hull to Goole east-west travel and links to the wider region. Buses provide a more widely available service with core routes approaching Hull from Pocklington, Bridlington. Hornsea, Withernsea and Goole via Brough. Operator data shows the levels of interurban journeys along these corridors. A study by Steer Davies Gleave in 2000 found the Beverley-Hull corridor to be by far the most significant route, with the Withernsea corridor the second most important. Since then operator intelligence would suggest that the Market Weighton - Pocklington - York corridor has grown in significance, with commuting and other travel into York from the north west of the authority providing a counterbalance to the pull of Hull to the south and east.

4.6.2 East Riding’s modal split for public transport journeys to work is comparable to similar rural counties such as Lincolnshire and Shropshire, but fare levels are somewhat higher than in some comparable areas. This is acknowledged by operators as a key issue that will need to be addressed by the Enhanced Partnership as it develops its strategy and delivers key schemes.

4.6.3 What is clear, however, that the predominance of the car means that a relatively small percentage transfer of car trips to bus represents a very significant uplift in the number of bus passengers.

4.6.4 The Partnership’s rationale for overall network design is to focus demand on the core network, which partners feel gives the greatest opportunity for passenger growth and where higher frequencies and standards of services can be developed more easily. In some parts of the network strong frequencies already exist and these can be further extended along corridor routes. The introduction of one additional vehicle along a route with an unevenly spaced three bus per hour frequency can lead to a stabilised core 15-minute frequency at a reasonable cost benefit ratio, with real scope for increased patronage and increased fares revenue.

4.6.5 In secondary and supported rural networks much work has already been undertaken to identify levels of unmet transport need and demand. This has been ongoing at parish level since the establishment of the East Riding Rural Transport Partnership in 2000 and was consolidated in 2016 through the recruitment of a network of parish transport champions as part of the council’s review of its supported bus network. With a few exceptions, particularly in south east Holderness, car ownership in rural parts of the East Riding remains high and there are few issues of congestion to mitigate against personal car use. Some secondary networks are strong and can be improved through the provision of additional evening and weekend services, for which there is already evidence of demand from local travel surveys.

4.6.6 Existing demand responsive services that cover the rural East Riding are well used and can be strengthened further, and new technology for open access DRT operation will be tested out in a pilot zone. Opportunities will be developed to give increased scope for onward return travel from rural villages, through interchange and feeder routes. The role of community transport in rural areas is already well defined through the authority’s Community Transport Strategy and the role that taxis may be able to play to further enhance journey opportunities will also be explored.

4.6.7 In respect of our rationale for overall network design the council has therefore decided to take a pragmatic approach to the development of improved links between key settlements, based on the available evidence of settlement growth, passenger demand and operator assessments of growth potential, rather than adopt a rigid, settlement hierarchy driven, set of standards.

4.7 SETTLEMENT HIERARCHY AND SERVICE LEVELS

4.7.1 The East Riding of Yorkshire’s settlement hierarchy is set out in the council’s Local Plan. The key elements of the settlement hierarchy are set out in Table 15 below, along with an assessment of their bus and rail networks and the existing and aspirational service levels relating to each settlement level.

AREA PLACES BUS AND RAIL NETWORK ASPIRATIONS

The Major Haltemprice Settlements

Anlaby, Willerby, Kirk Ella,

Excellent, frequent bus links to the City of Hull

Cottingham Frequent rail and bus links to Hull and Beverley

Hessle Frequent bus links to Hull, Core 60 bus link to Beverley

The Principal Towns BeverleyFrequent rail links to Hull, Driffield, Bridlington. Core 15 bus links to Hull. Core 30 bus links to Driffield, Bridlington and Market Weighton

BridlingtonFrequent rail links to Driffield, Beverley and Hull. Core 30 bus links to Driffield and Beverley.

DriffieldFrequent rail links to Bridlington, Beverley and Hull. Core 30 bus links to Bridlington and Beverley.

GooleRail links to Hull, Doncaster and Sheffield. Core 60 bus links to Elloughton cum Brough.

Towns Elloughton cum BroughRail links to Hull, Doncaster Sheffield and London. Core 15 bus links to Hull. Core 60 bus link to Goole.

Hedon Core 15 bus links to Hull.

HornseaCore 30 bus links to Beverley and Hull. Core 60 bus link to Cottingham and Hessle.

HowdenFrequent rail links to Hull, Selby and Leeds. Open access rail services to London. Core 60 bus links to Goole.

Market Weighton Core 15 bus links to York. Core 30 bus links to Beverley.

PocklingtonCore 15 bus links to York and Market Weighton. Core 30 bus links to Beverley.

Withernsea Core 30 bus link to Hedon. Core 15 bus link Hedon-Hull.

Rural Village and Hamlet

Various Some rail links. Some Core 15/30/60 bus links. Less frequent rural bus links. Full Medibus and MiBus service coverage.

TABLE 15: SETTLEMENT HIERARCHY AND SERVICE LEVELS

4.8 LOCAL BRANDING

4.8.1 As almost all of the key services in the East Riding are cross-boundary into one of three different local authority areas, dedicated branding purely for the East Riding is difficult and would be potentially at odds with branding adopted by neighbouring authorities.

4.8.2 East Yorkshire buses have recently undertaken a major new branding programme, with a new livery being rolled out across the bus fleet, and associated brands being developed for specific services. Key interurban corridor services are now branded as ‘EastRider’ and the Bridlington-Scarborough service has been given a new ‘Coaster’ brand and associated livery. Given this recent work, it is understandable that there is limited appetite from the company for a further rebranding exercise to establish a unified livery and brand for the East Riding’s Enhanced Partnership. As East Yorkshire is the dominant operator in what is practically a one operator network, this makes good sense.

4.8.3 East Yorkshire is, however, happy to display an Enhanced Partnership logo on its buses and the council will shortly be going out to tender to develop a logo and brand name for the EP that can be used on bus stop flags, website, publicity materials etc.

4.8.4 East Yorkshire buses operates a seasonal ‘Moors Explorer’ service from Hull via Beverley to Pickering on the North Yorkshire Moors on a commercial basis and the partnership will seek to promote this further. The service offers links into the rest of the ‘Moorsbus’ tourism and leisure network as well as links to the North Yorkshire Moors heritage railway at Pickering Station. The Partnership will also seek to develop new tourism and leisure services, starting with a revival of the former ‘Spurn Ranger’ summer Sunday and Bank Holiday service connecting Withernsea with the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust’s visitor centre at Kilnsea and the nature reserve at Spurn Point through extending the existing 71 service to Kilnsea. Spurn is famous for migrating birds and has a rich military heritage due to its use as a defensive garrisoned base with anti-tank and other defences in World War 2.

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4.8.5 Within the East Riding of Yorkshire there are some 1,843 bus stops, of which only 430 (23per cent) are equipped with shelters. East Riding Council will be commissioning an audit of all bus stop and shelter infrastructure in its towns (including the Haltemprice settlements to the west of Hull) in 2021. Any remaining resources from the funding allocation for this work will be spent on the highest priority improvements. Many stops are in deep rural areas with minimal use.

4.8.6 However, the partnership intends to also commission an audit of its rural bus stop and shelter infrastructure with a view to establishing a coherent programme of improvements and consistent rebranding, along with an examination of the provision of hardstanding for level access and establishing a regime for repair, maintenance and cleaning The input of the parish champions in establishing the need for new or replacement shelters will be key to this exercise. The council’s Transportation Services team will also create and recruit a new post of Bus Infrastructure Officer, who will be tasked with overseeing this programme of activity.

4.8.7 Currently bus shelter ownership in the East Riding falls into three categories:

Council owned;

Commercial Advertiser owned or

Parish and Town Council owned

4.8.8 Responsibility for maintenance and cleaning currently therefore falls into three camps and better coordination is required. The council has a maintenance budget (currently held by Property Services) and the partnership wishes to see responsibility for administering this budget transferred to Transportation Services, to link with the new post of Bus Infrastructure Officer above. Transportation Services has a small annual LTP-derived budget for improvements to bus stop infrastructure. Recent additional LTP funding has also been made available for refurbishment of Beverley and Bridlington bus stations and real time information provision.

4.8.9 Two new bus shelters recently installed in the coastal town of Withernsea have proved popular with residents. A decision was made to move away from the standard dark green corporate colour and instead develop a brighter ‘coastal’ colour scheme. One resident tweeted “How brilliant are Withernsea’s new bus shelters” along with photos of both old and new shelters (see Figure GG below). This colour scheme may be replicated as more shelters are replaced in coastal towns.

FIGURE GG: NEW WITHERNSEA BUS SHELTERS

4.8.10 ERYC has developed a programme to install real time bus information provision at main bus stations and key interchange points of the bus network and is rolling this out using LTP and other funds (e.g. Goole Town Bid). A dynamic RTPI system which also provides facilitated advertising has been procured and a framework exists for the provision of further sites across the county.

4.8.11 So far real time information screens or totems have been installed at Beverley and Bridlington Bus Stations and at Cottingham Green interchange, with further installations being planned at Hessle Square Interchange (currently going through planning permissions) and Goole North Street. Advertising slots on existing screens were used to display COVID-19 secure messaging during the pandemic and lockdowns in 2020 and 2021. Travel demand management messaging was also displayed.

4.8.12 Further real time information provision will be planned and delivered at key locations over the life of the BSIP with a particular view to installing real time bus information at the major railway stations. Sites will focus on key interchange locations and towns on core inter-urban bus corridor routes (see Table 16 below).

LOCATION RATIONALE INSTALLATION PROJECTED DATE Anlaby 28 64 92

Hessle Square Bus Interchange/Core 15 Totem Oct 2021Goole North Street/ Rail Station Principal Town Totems 2022

Anlaby (Common) Bus Interchange/Core 15 Totem 2022

Driffield George Street Principal Town/Core 30 Totem 2023

Pocklington (Bus Depot) Market Town/Core 15 Totem/Screen 2023Brough/Elloughton (Bus Depot) Bus Interchange/Core 15 Totem 2023

Hornsea (Leisure Centre) Coastal Town/Core 30 Totem 2024

Hedon (Thorn Road) Market Town/Core 15 Screen 2024

Market Weighton (Griffin) Market Town/Core 15 Totem 2024

Stamford Bridge (Centre) Rural Service Centre/ Core 30 Totem 2025

Withernsea (Pier Road) Coastal Town/Core 30 Totem 2025

Howden (War Memorial) Market Town/Core 60 Totem 2025

TABLE 16: REAL TIME INFORMATION PROGRAMME

FIGURE HH: REAL TIME INFORMATION TOTEMS AT COTTINGHAM GREEN

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4.9 ACCESSIBILITY

4.9.1 Accessibility to the bus network is about much more than having all vehicles on service being compliant with PSVAR standards, meeting other standards for interior furnishings or having audio-visual announcements. Fundamentally, it starts with:

Is there a bus service where my journey starts from? And

Is there a bus service to where I want to go to?

East Riding of Yorkshire Council already has very comprehensive coverage with service levels appropriate to the finance available currently. As outlined above, there are aspirations to improve both the core network and rural links.

4.9.2 It is quite clear that bus service provision supports independent living, not only for those of retirement age or those physically unable to drive, but also for younger people who are too young to drive or lack the means to afford their own transport. In addition, ERYC has been keen to provide travel training to those supported by SEND in order that they can travel to education, work or other activity without assistance.

4.9.3 The Medibus and MiBus services, together with grants to community transport organisations, increase travel options for the older and disabled members of the community; with cost being a particular burden on young people, measures to reduce fares for this age group should reap benefits, while there are clear attempts to improve service levels in areas of higher deprivation, particularly the coastal communities. There is two-way potential here with improved links between the coast and larger towns offering better links for tourists.

4.9.4 The pilot DRT scheme in the Cottingham and Beverley area will offer potential for new journey to work opportunities too.

4.9.5 While most bus stops in urban locations have raised kerbs which permit level boarding, this is not always the case in rural areas. The promised review of bus stop infrastructure will include a review of kerbside construction and access to bus stops along adjoining footpaths. ERYC have a Road Safety Team within Transport Services which is experienced in walk route assessments. ERYC is held up as a national exemplar and trains staff from other local authorities. Any issues raised lead to a full assessment.

4.9.6 East Yorkshire Buses has introduced cycle-carrying facilities on some of its newer buses on longer interurban routes. The dedication of space for cycles is, however, a trade-off against loss of seating capacity or buggy space, particularly as seats near the front are valued by those passengers who are less ambulant.

FIGURE II: CARRYING BICYCLE ON AN EAST YORKSHIRE BUS

4.10 DECARBONISATION

4.10.1 East Riding of Yorkshire Council has developed and adopted a Carbon and Energy Management Strategy and has also declared a climate emergency.

4.10.2 The Humber LEP’s Local Energy Strategy includes:

Building ultra-low carbon emission vehicle charging infrastructure and

Compressed natural gas (CNG) for transport;

4.10.3 The East Riding of Yorkshire Climate Emergency declaration suggested:

considering undertaking viability studies into the use of hydrogen as a fuel in areas where partnership arrangements could be put in place to share costs and benefit from reduced carbon emissions;

4.10.4 Bus service improvements will be implemented with the aims and objectives of these strategies firmly in mind and look at alternatives to diesel as the main form of propulsion.

4.10.5 The council’s Transportation Service, which runs a fleet of 120 minibuses, has already started the process of transitioning to zero-emission operation for smaller people carriers, with a pilot vehicle currently being purchased and tested. Replacement of these vehicles in the next three years would lead to at least 25per cent of the fleet being zero-emission by 2025. The council will be willing to explore opportunities to develop potential funding bids including Bus Company and council fleet vehicles (e.g. buses and bin lorries).

4.10.6 East Yorkshire buses current fleet statistics by emission level are shown below:

Euro 6 – 80 buses

Euro 5 – 73 buses

Euro 4 – 65 buses

Euro 3 – 51 buses

4.10.7 East Yorkshire buses also considers that its Euro VIs operate more mileage in ERY than in the rest of its business area. It is a subsidiary of the Go Ahead Group, which launched its Climate Change Strategy in July 2021 (see the link below): www.go-ahead.com/media/press-releases/go-ahead-plots-journey-become-carbon-neutral-transport-provider-2045

4.10.8 As a result, East Yorkshire buses will be developing its own strategy and delivery plan locally. It is also keen to look at ways in which it can potentially bid jointly for investment in EV or hydrogen refuelling infrastructure across the area, partnering with Hull and East Riding of Yorkshire Council.

4.10.9 The nature of East Riding’s bus network is set against the current range of electric buses between charges. For example, a round trip on service X46 between Hull and York is just under ninety miles. Many electric vehicles have a maximum range of around 170 miles and so one charge is insufficient to cover two round trips. In addition, unlike diesel-powered vehicles, battery life reduces as services operate at higher speeds, so until battery range is significantly extended, the only way of converting to full electric operation is to build in expensive redundancy in the number of vehicles used.

4.10.10 There is a small number of potential uses of electric buses on town services and (as described above) on Park and Ride services.

4.10.11 HART, the Holderness area community transport organisation, has pioneered the use of electric vehicles with the purchase (with funding assistance) of an electric MPV and minibus. Both were early models of such vehicles and have had reliability issues. The range of the electric minibus is insufficient for some of the organisation’s more intensive duties which limits its utility. However, their use has provided valuable experience and the vehicles have developed considerably since.

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05 DELIVERY OF IMPROVEMENTS5.1 INTRODUCTION AND CONTENT

Key inter-urban corridor improvements.

Bus priority.

Rural network improvements, including DRT pilot area(s).

COVID-19 impacts – commercial viability / supported bus needs.

New fares offers. Young peoples’ fares. Evening flat fares.

New evening and weekend services.

Route simplification.

Passenger safety and customer relations.

Easily accessible publicity and information.

Confidence building.

Bus rail integration including DRT-Rail. Cycling/walking connectivity.

Passengers’ Charter – commitment and key provisions.

Rural transport challenges and proposals for enhancement.

Role of community transport services/operators.

Role of taxis.

Tackling loneliness and rural isolation.

5.2 KEY INTER-URBAN CORRIDOR IMPROVEMENTS

5.2.1 Following detailed discussions with local bus operators, ERYC has considered its aspirations for improvements to frequencies on key interurban corridors, town bus services and the rural bus network. The latter is discussed further in section 5.4 below. An initial attempt has been made to establish the likely cost of facilitating these improvements with a view to them achieving commercial viability through increasing passenger growth over the period of the BSIP. As noted in 3.6 there is only one small area of the East Riding which has a turn up and go’ frequency of service and as such the concept of BRT is not appropriate for ERYC. However, if the principle is adopted in Hull or York we would expect cross-boundary services to benefit.

5.2.2 As detailed in sections 4.7 and 4.8 above the council has decided to take a pragmatic approach to the development of improved links between key settlements, based on the available evidence of settlement growth, passenger demand and operator assessments of growth potential, rather than adopt a rigid, settlement hierarchy-driven, set of standards. Core frequency aspirations have been established for settlement links on this basis. These are set out in the tables below.

5.2.3 It should be emphasised that in many cases these core frequencies already exist on the network for large parts of the day or week. More detailed work will be undertaken to identify the key days and times where improvement is required and this will be costed. Equally, to achieve the level of frequency stipulated, the extent of council input and investment may vary, as operators also have commercial aspirations to achieve increased patronage, and revenue growth, along some of these routes. The major operator has committed to work with ERYC to achieve the target frequencies in the most resource-efficient way.

BEVERLEY PARK AND RIDE

5.2.4 Accompanying significant new housing development off the A1079 to the south of Beverley, ERYC intends to introduce a new Park and Ride service from an adjoining site into the centre of Beverley with bus priority measures in place. Planning permission included parking for 500 cars and a terminal building. This will be a bespoke service operating at least every fifteen minutes using ultra-low or zero-emission vehicles and will also serve Beverley railway station. Dependent upon power supplies, the opportunity exists to install vehicle-charging facilities at the Park and Ride site and to base electric buses on site.

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EAST RIDING BUS SERVICE IMPROVEMENT PLAN – BUS SERVICE ASPIRATIONS

DAY FREQUENCY TIMES

Monday - SaturdayAt least every 15 minutes or better

6am - 7pm

Monday - Saturday At least every 30 minutes or better 7.01pm - 11pm

Sunday At least every 30 minutes or better 7am - 11pm

Vehicle Spec Euro 6, USB Charging, WiFi

Settlement links to be considered:Brough – HullBeverley – HullMarket Weighton – Pocklington – YorkCottingham – HullHessle – HullHedon – Hull

TABLE 17: ASPIRATIONS FOR CORE FIFTEEN-MINUTE FREQUENCIES

DAY FREQUENCY TIMES


6am - 7pm



Vehicle Spec Euro 5 or 6, WiFi

Growth Target to move to Core 15 +30per cent

Settlement links to be considered:Beverley – Driffield – BridlingtonStamford Bridge – YorkBridlington – ScarboroughBeverley – HornseaHornsea – Skirlaugh – HullWithernsea – Hull

TABLE 18: ASPIRATIONS FOR CORE 30 INTER-URBAN LINKS

DAY FREQUENCY TIMES


6am - 7pm



Vehicle Spec Euro 5

Growth Target to move to Core 30 +30per cent

Settlement links to be considered:Brough – GooleGoole – SelbyMarket Weighton – DriffieldBeverley – Market Weighton Withernsea – EasingtonWawne – Hull

TABLE 19: ASPIRATIONS FOR CORE 60 INTER-URBAN LINKS

DAY FREQUENCY TIMES


6am - 7pm



Vehicle Spec Euro 6 (aim for ZEV), WiFi

Settlement links to be considered:BridlingtonBridlington Park & RideBeverleyBeverley Park & RideGoole

TABLE 20: ASPIRATIONS FOR PRINCIPAL TOWN SERVICES

DAY FREQUENCY TIMES


8am - 6pm only

Sunday No service

Vehicle Spec Euro 5

Settlement links to be considered:DriffieldHornseaWithernseaCottinghamHessleBrough

TABLE 21: ASPIRATIONS FOR SECOND TIER TOWN SERVICES

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FIGURE JJ: MAP OF THE ASPIRATIONAL CORE BUS NETWORK

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5.3 BUS PRIORITY

5.3.1 The largely rural nature of the East Riding, the relative lack of congestion and the constraints of the road network mean that the council and operators see little current scope for any major bus priority measures within the authority boundaries. However, there is some scope for softer priority measures, particularly in the urban Haltemprice area. The potential for priority signalling interventions to improve bus flows at key junctions (e.g. Cottingham Green) and facilitate quicker site exits (e.g. from Castle Hill Hospital) will be explored and implemented where feasible.

5.3.2 The introduction of the new Park and Ride service in Beverley (see 5.2.4) will be accompanied by bus priority measures between the Park and Ride site and town centre, with detail still to be developed.

5.3.3 In addition, discussions with neighbouring local authorities, in particular the cities of Kingston upon Hull and York about planned bus priority measures are ongoing, and it is felt that these may have much more beneficial impacts on interurban services than small-scale priority measures within the East Riding itself.

5.3.4 East Yorkshire Buses reports significant issues for buses turning right from villages onto the A1079 between Pocklington and York. The EP forum will be used to assess the viability of any measures to ameliorate this.

5.3.5 Further information on proposed measures from both Hull and York is currently awaited. Both authorities have indicated that they will cross reference potential benefits to services entering from or departing to the East Riding in their respective BSIP’s.

5.4 RURAL NETWORK IMPROVEMENTS

5.4.1 Off main interurban bus corridors East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s current rural bus network is delivered through a significant number of council-supported registered local bus routes and two longstanding demand responsive services, Medibus and MiBus. The network has been established and largely stable for some time, meaning that the council has good data for each service and a good level of awareness of the level of demand and unmet transport need in its rural areas. Some new services have recently been added, using the council’s Better Deal for Buses funding allocation.

5.4.2 The East Riding of Yorkshire is defined as Largely Rural, with many sparsely populated areas. By the Office of National Statistics Rural/Urban Definitions post 2009 East Riding’s total rural-related population is 200,468, or 60 per cent of its population. By national standards, the area has a rapidly ageing population. People over 65 as a proportion of the total population are predicted to rise more rapidly than the England average. Both these factors have significant impact on public and community transport, creating increased potential demand from harder to serve, sparse rural settlements. While car ownership in many such areas is relatively high, increasing numbers of older residents will find themselves unable to drive in the coming decades.

5.4.3 Deprivation and disadvantage also exist in the East Riding’s rural areas, and when combined with remoteness and sparse population significantly add to rural transport challenges. The latest evidence (2011 Census) shows that while overall the quality of life for people living in the East Riding is around the national average and generally good, there are significant exceptions. These include Wards such as South East Holderness, North Holderness, East Wolds and Coastal, Mid Holderness, Wolds Weighton and Howdenshire. The focus here on the coastal strip is notable.

5.4.4 While some supported rural bus services operate daily or Monday to Saturday, others are less frequent, mirroring the weak level of current demand. Some services operate on only one to three days per week and in these cases the council is concerned that attempting to provide a daily demand responsive alternative would be both extremely costly and unlikely to generate sufficient additional patronage to justify the expense. Residents along these routes already have access to the council’s pre-booked specialised DRT provision: Medibus, which takes residents door-to-door to hospitals, GP Surgeries and other healthcare provision runs daily through the week. MiBus shopper services are less frequent, but add additional journey options direct to supermarkets and are very popular with older passengers.

5.4.5 East Riding’s rural bus networks generally lack evening and weekend provision and give limited options for onward return travel. They are destination-led, often giving residents a limited time window in their local market town. Table 22 shows the routes under consideration and potential enhancements. The council considers that as a first step to improve its rural network these three aspects should be considered and action taken to address them where feasible. Enhancing and improving connections between the rural services and core services is a key aim, along with minimising the fare penalty.

5.4.6 Additionally, the council intends to extend the Medibus network to further increase its capacity and establish a DRT pilot in a mixed urban and rural context where a previously commercial bus link has been withdrawn by the operator. More detail is given is sections 5.6 and 5.12-15 below.

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SERVICE DESCRIPTION POSSIBLE ENHANCEMENT

1 Holme on Spalding Moor to Selby

14 Bridlington to Flamborough Friday/Saturday evening provision

88 Goole to Rawcliffe Bridge Saturday provision

124Ruston Parva to Bridlington and Boynton to Driffield

Saturday provision

129 Withernsea to Hornsea Integration with service 130

130 Hornsea to Bridlington Integration with service 129

135 Driffield to Sledmere to DriffieldSaturday provisionSaturday evening provision

136 Driffield to Beeford to BridlingtonFriday/Saturday evening provisionSunday provision

142 Beverley to Middleton on the Wolds and Bainton Friday/Saturday evening provision

143 North Ferriby to Brough to Beverley Monday to Saturday provision

173 Withernsea to Burton Pidsea to Hull Tuesday or Thursday provision

180 Beverley to Walkington to Cottingham Demand Responsive Transport

195 Allerthorpe to Melbourne to Pocklington Saturday provision

196 Aughton to Sutton upon Derwent to York Saturday provision

198 North Cave to Market Weighton

199 Huggate to Pocklington Saturday provision

220 Aldbrough to Bilton (Asda)

220 Hornsea to Aldbrough to Bilton (Asda)

242 Hedon to Skirlaugh to Beverley

358 Holme on Spalding Moor to Goole

360/361 Goole to ScunthorpeFriday/Saturday evening provisionSunday provision

486 Hensall to Pollington to Selby

488 Hensall to Pollington to Goole

504/504A Bridlington to Bempton/BucktonSaturday/ Sunday evening provisionSunday provision

747 Pocklington to Stamford Bridge to YorkFriday/Saturday evening provisionSunday provision

CB3 Roos to Hedon/Bilton

TABLE 22: PROPOSED ENHANCEMENTS TO KEY RURAL SERVICES 5.5 COVID-19 IMPACTS

5.5.1 COVID-19 and its associated restrictions have had a devastating impact on public transport use. Continuation of the network has been supported by dedicated funding since April 2020 and from September 2021 it moves into Recovery Funding until the end of March 2022.

5.5.2 Recovery will certainly take a long time and ultimately no-one knows what level of ridership will return post-pandemic. Many expect home-working or part time home-working to continue into the future, but over the long term no-one knows definitively. It is almost certain that from April 2022 a significant amount of funding will be needed simply to support the continuation of the existing network.

5.5.3 From data supplied by the operators, comparing May 2021 with May 2019 the network is carrying 58 per cent of pre-COVID numbers overall, although figures supplied by EYB show that this proportion increased to 79 per cent in June and 68 per cent in July, comparing 2021 with 2019. In terms of passenger numbers, a headline percentage of pre-COVID passenger numbers is too simple a metric. There will be variations by time of day, trip length and type of service. Anecdotally it appears that shorter, local routes have recovered better than longer services, but this is not universal. If interurban services are recovering more slowly, it bodes ill for the main network in the East Riding.

5.5.4 In the CT sector many of both its users and volunteers have shielded during the pandemic, causing difficulties for the sector.

5.5.5 BSIP funding will certainly need to support the existing network for some time to come. However, it is going to be difficult once the COVID-19 emergency is over to decide at what point a local authority will cease to support a ‘commercial’ service in favour of it becoming a supported service like any other which fails to cover its costs and put it out to competitive tender.

5.5.6 There will undoubtedly be adjustments to services to reflect the ‘new normal’, but it would be unwise to allow too much reduction of service immediately prior to providing extra funding to improve services. The aims of the BSIP would not be met in this way. It is, therefore, quite likely that the supported network will grow significantly as a proportion in the short term at least. In other areas, it is clear that there is a resource shift with marginally commercial services becoming tendered services and core services being boosted with extra resource.

5.5.7 Concessionary travel posits another issue to address. The Government currently ‘suggests’ that local authorities continue to pay concessionary reimbursement at pre-COVID levels. This has naturally broken the link with actual usage and therefore the ‘no better off / no worse off ’ principle.

5.5.8 While many concessionary passholders continue to limit or curtail their trip-making, a ‘correct’ reimbursement on past principles would be much lower. However, it could reasonably be argued that there is now a much higher proportion of ‘essential’ concessionary trips than there were previously and as such the generation level is much lower, therefore reimbursement ought to be much higher, i.e. the operator will receive a higher percentage of the fare forgone. The issue lies in quantifying ‘much higher’ and ‘much lower’

5.6 NEW FARES OFFERS

5.6.1 There is general support from local bus operators for the development of a multi operator ticket and once established the Enhanced Partnership will work to develop this and bring forward an appropriate scheme. However, prior to that development, as the East Riding network is largely operated by East Yorkshire Buses, the Partnership will support the company (and other operators) in developing a range of new, simpler and more attractive fares offers designed to attract new patronage. East Yorkshire piloted a simple £1 Evening Flat Fare after 7pm in July and August 2021. It is also developing flexi-ticket options in response to emerging commuter patterns, based on post-COVID agile home and office working arrangements.

5.6.2 The major operator has indicated its willingness to discuss the simplification of its fare structure, which is still loosely stage to stage distance-based, with several historical anomalies. It is currently assessing the potential for an East Riding wide simplification of the existing fare structure. It also intends to extend the all-day Beverley Zone ticket to include several surrounding villages, which will deliver much cheaper fares for

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residents of these communities.

5.6.3 However, ERYC still feels that the overall level of fares is too high and acts as a deterrent to bus use and this is, in part, acknowledged by the major operator. Experience in Bristol of substantial reduction in cost several years ago produced enough extra passengers to generate more money, although the context was much more urban and the potential market therefore greater. Consultants TAS who are supporting BSIP and EP development have found from surveys that there is an unconscious ‘ceiling’ on the price passengers will pay for a weekly ticket, above which they find other travel methods.

5.6.4 ERYC feels, therefore, that the multi-operator ticket should be priced at a much lower level than current prices and act as an effective cap on fares paid. Funding will therefore be used to subsidise the prices of at least day, flexi and weekly tickets (and possibly longer period tickets). An appropriate reimbursement methodology will be agreed within the partnership. In line with the recommendation in the guidance, the area covered is likely to include the majority of strategic cross-boundary journeys.

5.6.5 Future integration of multi-operator tickets with local rail journeys will also be explored with Northern Rail.

5.6.6 The Partnership is committed to developing an extended young persons’ half fares offer, increasing this from the current age 16 cut off to 21 if funding allows. The major operator, East Yorkshire Buses, currently gives a 20per cent discount to those aged 16 to 18. Funding would therefore be used to support lower fares for those aged 16 to 21, together with the possibility of extending this concession to jobseekers.

5.6.7 The coastal strip in the East Riding, bordering the North Sea and running from the holiday camps and caravan parks north of Bridlington down to the lighthouse at Spurn Head, has significant tourist appeal, as does the minster town of Beverley. To the north there are the seaside resorts of Scarborough and Filey, to the west the tourist hotspot of York, while to the south tourism in Hull has grown significantly since its successful reign as City of Culture. The area is therefore ripe for developing tourist and leisure-focussed ticketing based on this market.

5.7 NEW EVENING AND WEEKEND SERVICES.

5.7.1 Subject to the availability of funding the council intends to offer new Friday and/or Saturday evening services on some routes where a vibrant cultural, leisure and hospitality offer is available in a rural hub town. Additional off-peak Saturday services will also be considered on some weaker routes, with prior consultation with local communities and passengers. Where possible better connections will be established to enable onward core bus or rail travel, with a later return journey being provided on demand by a retained taxi or community transport operator. Currently none of these services offer evening travel and only two provide Sunday services. These enhancements will be supported by an improved fares offer, including an evening flat fare (see 5.5 above) and clear and consistent information (see 5.9).

5.8 ROUTE SIMPLIFICATION.

5.8.1 Two routes which currently have dual numbering will be selected to pilot a route simplification measure. These are likely to be the 78 and 277 Hull-Hedon-Paull services and the 129 and 130 Withernsea-Hornsea and Hornsea-Bridlington services. In the former case there has long been a recognition that this service is too complicated and potentially confusing for passengers and earlier attempts at simplification have had limited success. Rather than tinkering at the margins the partnership will take a radical look at the 78 and 277 services with a view to creating a simple, one number service that has an easy to understand timetable and a coherent fares offer.

5.8.2 East Yorkshire buses has developed a ‘Coaster’ brand for its Bridlington – Scarborough service and it would seem an opportune time to consider the establishment of the same brand along the East Yorkshire Coastline stretching from Bridlington in the north to Withernsea in the south.

5.8.3 We intend to review both 129 and 130 timetables (including the 130’s overlap with the 136 service between

Beeford and Bridlington) with a view to developing a much improved frequency with one integrated timetable with a single number and brand.

5.8.4 We will further discuss with the main operator the scope for simplification of the current complex timetable on services 45 and 45A which link Bridlington and York.

5.8.5 The side effects of simplifying services are illustrated by the September changes to services 80 and 180 between Beverley and Hessle. Instituting a simple, more direct hourly service with all journeys following the same route is clearly the best approach for generating passengers, but it did leave villages unserved and led to additional cost for ERYC in providing a replacement service.

5.9 PUBLICITY AND INFORMATION

5.9.1 East Yorkshire buses, as the main operator of the East Riding’s bus network, has made significant improvements in recent years to the accessibility of its timetable and other publicity information. The company’s website www.eastyorkshirebuses.co.uk is well designed and easy to navigate. Latest news including new fares offers and flexi tickets, new bus services, timetable changes, service updates etc. are featured on its home page as are easy links to the site’s bus stop finder, journey planner and timetables and maps. Online route maps also provide a ‘bus tracker’ facility.

5.9.2 East Yorkshire buses also operates a 7am-7pm (weekdays) and 8am-4pm (Saturdays) ‘Busline’ telephone help centre for queries on times, routes, fares, stops, tickets, passes and other enquiries from the public. A live chat option is also available on the website.

5.9.3 East Yorkshire buses has also developed and actively marketed its mobile app. This provides a real-time live countdown to when any bus will arrive at a given stop, live departure information, options to buy tickets by mobile phone, plan journeys and live service updates. It is free to download. All East Yorkshire buses timetables are also available ‘in the palm of your hand’.

5.9.4 East Riding of Yorkshire Council has developed a programme to install real time bus information provision at main bus stations and key interchange points of the bus network. Detailed information about this programme is given in sections 4.8.4/5 above.

5.9.5 To build public confidence in the bus system in the East Riding, information and publicity needs to be as widely disseminated as possible and in as many different formats as possible. This should not, by any means, exclude printed paper media, both at bus stops and in hand-held timetables. The availability of both is rated highly by the ERYC passenger champions. ERYC will aim to improve bus stop information (see 4.10) and produce high quality marketing material in conjunction with the operators which contains more than the basic bus timetable and is attractively presented in the way that Transdev has for key routes and First produces in holiday areas such as Norfolk, Suffolk, Dorset and Cornwall. East Yorkshire buses has recently produced just such a guide for its services in Beverley, which were revised in September (see https://images-eyms.passenger-website.com/downloads/Beverleyper cent20Busesper cent20Guideper cent20Septemberper cent202021_0.pdf)

5.9.6 Post-COVID there needs to be a major marketing exercise to regrow patronage on public transport and promote the network as a whole. ERYC intends to commit significant resource to this, in conjunction with commercial operators. This would be both targeted and network-wide aimed at locals and visitors, linked to service improvements and fares initiatives. The EP will consider a smart marketing campaign focussing on the benefits of public transport use and active travel, with associated health and well-being benefits and reductions in emissions.

5.9.7 ERYC is in the process of developing its digital strategy and its customer contact strategy. Within these bus information will have its own dedicated section on the ERYC website including times, routes and fares information, a journey planning capability, the ability to send enquiries, a telephone contact and operator details. The website will also publish relevant statistics from the EP on a six monthly basis.

5.9.8 The council also submits data to Traveline, will oversee and produce where necessary timetable inserts for bus shelters and has a rolling programme of real time information displays (see 4.9.10)

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FIGURE KK: EXTRACT FROM BEVERLEY BUS GUIDE SEPTEMBER 2021

5.10 BUS RAIL INTEGRATION

5.10.1 The council’s Road Safety team, which sits within the Transportation Services department, has a number of programmes in place to encourage cycling take-up, including the appointment of a new Community Cycling Engagement Officer, funded for three years by the Safer Roads Humber Partnership.

5.10.2 Where possible participants in cycling programmes will be encouraged to consider the potential for undertaking bike-bus multi modal journeys instead of using a car and case studies will be developed. The X46/7 East Rider Hull-Beverley-Market-Weighton-Pocklington-York corridor already has bike-bus operation and has already been promoted to cyclists by the Road Safety team.

FIGURE LL: EAST YORKSHIRE - BIKES ON THE BUS

5.10.3 The council’s proposed zonal DRT ‘click and go’ pilot scheme (see section 5.13.8) will include actively promoted bus-rail opportunities at both Beverley and Cottingham rail stations. Bus-rail integration and train-taxi integration will also be piloted at a market town rail hub.

5.10.4 As well as an approach to install real time information screens showing bus departures at the main stations, the intended improvements to town services will offer better connections between local areas of housing and railway stations.

5.11 PASSENGERS’ CHARTER

5.11.1 ERYC will work with its operator partners to commit to a passengers’ charter which will be succinct and offer clear definitions of:

a) Responsibility;

b) Channels for feedback;

c) Standards for information supply and

d) Targets for responding honestly and individually.

5.11.2 It will outline aims in relation to:

Quality;

Safety;

Reliability;

Cleanliness and presentation;

Environmental targets and

Accessibility.

5.11.3 It is also likely to include some form of refund promise or mechanism following failure to deliver and a ‘get you home’ promise if last journeys fail to run.

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5.12 PASSENGER SAFETY AND CUSTOMER RELATIONS

5.12.1 Security on bus services is not a major issue in the East Riding. However, the operators fit most vehicles with on-board CCTV. As part of the review of bus stop infrastructure consideration will be given to the addition of CCTV to selected bus shelters at key locations and where real time displays are installed.

5.12.2 The operators will be encouraged as part of the Enhanced Partnership arrangements, to offer free travel to police officers on duty.

5.12.3 Bus passengers often have difficulty in knowing who to contact about public transport-related matters, with individual operators and different responsibilities for secured services, demand-responsive transport, information and infrastructure.

5.12.4 As part of the Enhanced Partnership, ERYC will set up a point of central contact for all public transport matters, complaints, compliments and enquiries.

5.12.5 Passenger consultation and representation in rural areas will continue to depend upon an enhanced network of parish champions. For the core services and in the towns ERYC will work with national bodies Bus Users UK and Transport Focus to carry out additional surveys, in the latter case by extending the coverage of its National Bus Passenger Survey to include the East Riding (currently it includes only Hull).

5.13 RURAL TRANSPORT CHALLENGES AND PROPOSALS FOR ENHANCEMENT

5.13.1 Please see our analysis of the challenges involved and our initial proposals for improved rural evening and weekend services set out in section 5.4 above. In addition, we intend to extend the capacity of our existing demand responsive Medibus network and pilot an App-based click and go DRT service in a mixed urban and rural context. Further details are given below.

5.13.2 There are currently eight Medibus services, six of which are funded directly by East Riding of Yorkshire Council and two which are externally or part-externally funded. They cover the whole area, but in some cases can only offer transport in one direction meaning that journeys to hospitals on different sites are not possible. Our planned expansion of the service will remove this issue and will also lead to the full integration of the two externally funded services into the core council-funded network in 2024-5. Pre-Pandemic, Medibus services delivered approximately 17,300 door-to-door passenger journeys to hospitals and other healthcare settings annually.

5.13.3 Operating as part of the established Medibus network, the current Driffield Medibus takes passengers to hospital appointments north of Driffield (Scarborough and Bridlington Hospitals) and south of Driffield (Hull and Castle Hill Hospitals). Pre-Pandemic, the Driffield Medibus delivered approximately 1,500 door-to-door passenger journeys annually. Currently there is a 65per cent (South) 35per cent (North) split in journeys. Enabling the vehicle to serve as many parishes and destinations as possible, the service currently operates on a two-hour gap rule between bookings for Hospitals in the north and Hospitals in the south. The downside to this is that passengers are often collected from their home address early and dropped off at their destination early as the vehicle will inevitably be required to collect other passengers and take them in the opposite direction. Passengers also experience longer waiting times to be collected and returned home. In addition to this, passengers are often declined transport due to existing bookings dictating the area in which the vehicle will operating at a given time.

5.13.4 Community Transport Operator Holderness Area Rural Transport (HART) currently provides the Bridlington Medibus service. This was initiated by HART using external funding following an increasing number of requests for transport to hospitals from less mobile residents in the town. The Driffield Medibus does not serve Bridlington, only surrounding parishes, a relic of the fact that Medibus started life as a successful 1999 Rural Bus Challenge bid, and while residents in the town have good bus and rail connections to Scarborough and Hull, hospital access requires rail-bus or bus-bus interchange, journey times can be long and the less mobile may have difficulty in walking to and from bus stops and stations. ERYC makes a de-minimis contribution to the HART Bridlington Medibus Service.

5.13.5 An opportunity therefore exists to rationalise Driffield and Bridlington Medibus provision and ensure that the downsides associated with the two-hour gap rule can be removed. We propose to create a second Driffield Medibus service and establish a revised operational framework for the area. Services will be re-purposed as follows:

Bridlington and Driffield Medibus (North) – will cover Bridlington and the existing Driffield Medibus zone but will serve only Scarborough and Bridlington hospitals.

Bridlington and Driffield Medibus (South) – will cover the existing Driffield Medibus zone but will serve only Hull and Castle Hill (Cottingham) hospitals.

Bridlington Medibus – will be extended to include additional parishes to the north of Bridlington and will serve only Hull and Castle Hill (Cottingham) hospitals.

FIGURE MM: CURRENT BRIDLINGTON MEDIBUS ZONE

FIGURE NN: CURRENT DRIFFIELD MEDIBUS ZONE

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FIGURE OO: PROPOSED BRIDLINGTON MEDIBUS SOUTH

FIGURE PP: PROPOSED BRIDLINGTON AND DRIFFIELD MEDIBUS NORTH

FIGURE QQ: PROPOSED BRIDLINGTON AND DRIFFIELD MEDIBUS SOUTH

5.13.6 Bookings for Medibus and other DRT services are taken through a dedicated call centre based within the council’s Transportation Service. This currently operates between 08:30 and 16:30, Monday to Friday. Bookings are currently received via telephone or email. Pre-pandemic, the call centre processed approximately 13,000 Medibus and MiBus booking requests annually. To enhance the call centre operation, booking process for passengers and to support existing and pilot DRT services (see above), we will look to utilise information technology to receive and process booking data and communicate with passengers and drivers. We intend to commission a company with the expertise to build or install a bespoke back-office booking system and mobile booking app. We expect this to cost in the region of £40,000 (capital including purchase costs for tablets, fitting cost and contingency etc.) with an annual revenue cost of £5,000 for in-vehicle equipment and software licences.

5.13.7 In September 2021 East Yorkshire buses undertook some substantial network revisions in the Hull - Beverley - Hornsea and Hessle - Beverley corridors. The 246 Hornsea - Beverley - Hull service was re-routed and re-numbered (25) to run from Beverley via Cottingham to Hessle, simplifying services to a core 15 frequency on the main Hull-Beverley corridor and giving residents of Hornsea, Beverley and intervening villages direct access to Castle Hill Hospital at Cottingham. These changes also allowed for the rationalisation of service patterns on the Hessle - Beverley 80/180 route and led to the withdrawal of the 180 service. While main connections between Hessle, Cottingham and Beverley were substantially improved this left several peripheral village communities formerly served by service 180 without a bus service.

5.13.8 ERYC stepped in to fund a continued 180 service between Cottingham and Beverley only, meaning that the villages of Skidby, Little Weighton and Walkington still had a daily bus service. This tendered service will operate until the end of September 2022. From October 2022 the Council intends to test a pilot mixed scheduled bus and DRT service in this area, linking the urban centres of Cottingham and Beverley and serving the three villages on demand.

5.13.9 The DRT element will be an app-based ‘click and go’ flexibly routed registered bus operation, with booking available to all residents on the day of travel. A more limited scheduled off peak service will ensure that enough capacity exists to balance travel demands and needs from urban and rural settings. A map of the area to be served together with the service 180 route which it will replace is in Figure RR overleaf.

5.13.10 The major operator in the East Riding, East Yorkshire Buses, has extensive experience of DRT operation in North Lincolnshire and ERYC would capitalise on its expertise to ensure efficient operation of the new service.

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FIGURE RR: DRT PILOT SCHEME AREA

5.14 ROLE OF COMMUNITY TRANSPORT SERVICES AND OPERATORS

5.14.1 The East Riding of Yorkshire has a strong and resilient community transport (CT) sector, which is actively supported by the council through contract opportunities and some limited direct grant funding. There are four main CT groups all medium size and covering the bulk of the East Riding area. These are:

Beverley Community Lift (covering Beverley and Rural, Market Weighton and Pocklington areas).

Goole and District Community Transport (Goole GoFar) (covering the Goole and Howdenshire area).

North Holderness CT (Holderness Area Rural Transport - HART) (covering all of Holderness, Bridlington and the Driffield and Rural area).

East Yorkshire Community Transport (a joint charity established by Goole GoFar and HART which bids for external funding and works collaboratively across the East Riding).

5.14.2 The East Riding of Yorkshire Community Transport Strategy forms one of the strategic objectives of the council’s Local Transport Plan. It is due to be updated in 2021 and will be aligned to the Enhanced Partnership and BSIP/EP Scheme. The strategy sets out the role of CT in the local transport network. This includes:

Delivery of demand responsive transport services (between them the CT groups have the largest fleet of fully accessible minibuses outside of the council itself in the area and are the main supplier of contracted DRT services to the council). In the main these services focus on access to healthcare, food shopping and other key services and facilities.

Delivery of group hire travel for youth and community organisations, health and wellbeing clubs etc.

Provision of volunteer car schemes.

Securing external funding to pilot new types of service provision – a good example being a highly successful ongoing programme of day trips for disadvantaged families using East Riding’s Children’s Centres.

Operating section 22 community bus routes in response to local community initiatives – a good example being the successful CB3 service developed by the Burton Pidsea Better Transport Group, initially piloted with funding from local wind farm community benefit funds and now an integral part of the council’s supported bus network.

Testing new technologies – Holderness Area Rural Transport secured funding from EON and the EU LEADER programme for England’s first fully zero-emissions electric community minibus (a Mellor E-Orion) and an electric car for their volunteer car scheme.

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TAXI PRIVATE HIRE

Number licenced 103 170

No. of wheelchair equipped 19 0

= Percentage 18.4per cent 0per cent

Compared with all largely rural and mainly rural

13.0per cent 9.0per cent

Per 1,000 population 0.3 0.5

- Yorkshire and The Humber 0.7 3.1

- North Yorkshire 1.1 0.9

- Largely or Mainly Rural 1.0 1.1

TABLE 23: TAXI STATISTICS – EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE

5.16 TACKLING LONELINESS AND RURAL ISOLATION

5.16.1 The role of the community transport sector in tackling isolation and loneliness in both rural and urban contexts is well-recognised (see the ECT ‘Why Community Transport Matters’ report – section 1: ‘Tackling Loneliness and Isolation Through Community Transport’) and the council will continue to support this work through continuing and extending the scope of its annual ‘hardship’ grant to community transport operators. This grant is used by operators to subsidise the cost of services to enable isolated, lonely and often financially disadvantaged residents to access their non-contracted shopping services, day trips, services to health and wellbeing activities and to clubs and activity sessions. This means that fares are kept low and affordable, but operators do not have to run these services at a loss.

5.16.2 Currently the CT ‘hardship’ grant consists of a £5,000 per year payment to each CT group. If funding is available this will be significantly increased (within the new subsidy control limits) to enable operators to increase the level of subsidised services they provide in this area and encourage new users to come forward. This will be achieved through developing increased links with local social prescribing teams, health visitor and adult social care teams.

5.16.3 Post-COVID the sector has a key role in getting those who have shielded and been almost housebound for months back into society and to enjoy social activities once more and perhaps more importantly, bring back a sense of independence.

5.16.4 ERYC’s continued support and expansion of Medibus and MiBus services allows a degree of independence for rural residents who can make their own affordable medical and shopping trips without reliance on anyone else. MiBus currently focusses on access to shopping facilities in local towns but it is intended that the range of journeys will be expanded to allow connecting trips to and from the major centres.

FIGURE SS: HOLDERNESS AREA RURAL TRANSPORT’S ZERO-EMISSIONS MINIBUS AT THE LAUNCH OF HEDON TOWN BUS SERVICE IN JULY 2020

5.15 ROLE OF TAXIS – TAXI SUPPLY

5.15.1 As with many largely rural authorities, taxis are fairly small in number in the East Riding, although their availability in neighbouring Hull and York is much better. This at least in part reflects much lower levels of trip making than in urban areas. ONS figures quote an average in Yorkshire and Humber of 15 trips per head against five per head in rural towns and fringes. The longer trips necessary within a rural area such as the East Riding make them unaffordable.

5.15.2 In rural areas the education market is significant for the taxi sector, although this can limit the availability of taxis and PHVs at school times. There are 226 taxi school contracts on behalf of ERYC. However, of these only 18per cent (41 contracts) are held by East Riding operators, with the balance held by Hull operators. Taxi supply in Hull is plentiful with 170 licenced taxis and 1,007 private hire vehicles. However, wheelchair accessibility of the Hull taxis is very poor, with none of the taxis and only six PHVs so equipped.

5.15.3 The Government’s disability strategy is likely to introduce provisions to enforce an increase in the availability of accessible taxis. Up to now the decision has rested with the licensing authority, but even so, in many local authorities, taxis (if not PHVs) must all be wheelchair accessible to meet the licence conditions.

5.15.4 East Riding Council intends to pilot bus-rail-taxi integration to enhance onward travel opportunities for rural residents whose current bus services offer opportunity for travel to and from their local market town. Bus services from villages around Driffield will be extended to serve Driffield rail station and a pre-bookable early evening taxi (or CT) return, with a single bus-rail-taxi ticket will be developed. This will enable village residents to travel onward to Beverley, Hull for day travel and potentially into the wider rail network for longer trips.

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06REPORTING AND GOVERNANCE6.1 INTRODUCTION AND CONTENT

6.1.1 This section will examine the intended working function of the Partnership leading on from the BSIP. This includes:

The BSIP Document.

Forums for ongoing discussion. Structure of EP and sub-groups.

Six-monthly performance reporting (including URL) and

Letters of support from operators.

6.1.2 It is intended that the key elements of this document will form the East Riding of Yorkshire Enhanced Partnership Plan, and the proposed interventions set out in it will be brought forward as elements of a single Enhanced Partnership Scheme, under the governance of the Enhanced Partnership Board once established, and subject to the availability of funding from Government, East Riding of Yorkshire Council, bus operators and other potential external sources.

6.1.3 East Riding of Yorkshire Council will establish three Enhanced Partnership sub-groups (see section 2, Figure A). These groups will report to the EP Board on a quarterly basis and will act as ongoing forums for discussion and development around the three main themes of:

bus infrastructure and information,

bus service schemes and their delivery and

bus user and community engagement and involvement.

6.1.4 Consideration will be given to the formation of a separate Bus User’s Forum to complement the existing Parish Champions, based on existing models such as the York Bus Forum.

6.1.5 Quarterly reporting from these three sub-groups will feed into a more detailed six-monthly progress report to the EP Board combining all these elements. The Board and sub-groups will be supported by a secretariat established under the auspices of East Riding of Yorkshire Council. This will be managed by the council’s Transport Partnership Manager, who is a member of the council’s Transportation Services Management Team.

6.1.6 Links with other key council services, in particular the Finance and Legal teams will be essential, and the secretariat will ensure timely reporting as necessary to fulfil all internal corporate requirements. A web link to the six-monthly reports will be provided to the Department for Transport, as expected by Government.

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APPENDIX A: BSIP TEMPLATEThis appendix contains the East Riding of Yorkshire version of the template supplied with the DfT’s Bus Service Improvement Plan Guidance document.

NAME OF AUTHORITY OR AUTHORITIES:

EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE COUNCIL

Franchising or Enhanced Partnership (or both):

Enhanced Partnership

Date of publication: October 2021

Date of next annual update:

October 2022

URL of published report: https://eryc.link/bsip

TARGETS 2018/19 2019/20TARGET FOR

2024/25DESCRIPTION OF HOW

EACH WILL BE MEASURED

Journey Time 55.7 56.2 55.0

Calculated by the average of the journey time on the 'Core 15' services taken from the September timetable of the year in question and measuring both morning peak arrivals (between 8.15 and 9am) and off-peak departures.

Reliability 85.0 per cent 90.0 per cent 95.0 per cent

Taken from published figures in DfT table BUS0902 for the percentage of journeys operating on time on non-frequent services. Target is based on Traffic Commissioners’ standards.

Passenger Numbers 5,750,000 4,890,000 6,468,750

Taken from published figures in DfT table BUS0109 for local passenger boardings by local authority. Post 2022 will be gathered from patronage figures supplied to the Partnership.

Average Passenger Satisfaction

Unknown93.00 per cent

95.00 per cent

Taken from overall satisfaction scores from Transport Focus surveys on East Yorkshire Buses in Hull - only carried out in 2019. Surveys to be extended into East Riding and include all operators in future years.

TABLE 24: EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE BUS SERVICE IMPROVEMENT PLAN SUMMARY

MAKE IMPROVEMENTS TO BUS SERVICES AND PLANNING

MORE FREQUENT AND RELIABLE SERVICES

Review Service Frequency

Yes

Following detailed discussions with local bus operators, ERYC has considered its aspirations for improvements to frequencies on key interurban corridors, town bus services and the rural bus network. These aspirations for significant frequency improvements are set out in section 5.2 of the BSIP.

Increase Bus Priority Measures

Yes

We plan to explore bus priority signalling interventions in Haltemprice, initially at Cottingham Green and Castle Hill Hospital. Bus priority in Beverley will accompany the introduction of Park and Ride. We will encourage bus priority measures in neighbouring authorities that can improve bus flows to and from the East Riding.

Increase Demand Responsive Services

Yes

We plan to extend our successful demand responsive Medibus service to increase capacity in the Driffield and Rural and Bridlington areas. Expand MiBus shoppers’ DRT to increase journey opportunities. Establish a pilot app-based click and go DRT service in a zone between Cottingham and Beverley.

Consideration of Bus Rapid Transit Networks

Yes

Although the nature of the East Riding provides insufficient passenger volumes for ‘heavy’ BRT, we plan to establish significant Core 15-minute frequencies along key interurban corridors.

IMPROVEMENTS TO PLANNING / INTEGRATION WITH OTHER MODES

Integrate Services with Other Transport Modes

Yes

We will promote additional bike-bus services on the core network, we will pilot DRT-rail and rail-taxi integration. (as explained more fully in sections 5.7.1, 5.10 and 5.15.4). Improve bus information and wayfinding at principal rail stations. Medium term aim to include rail network in multi-operator tickets.

Simplify Services YesWe plan to simplify two existing bus services with complicated routes and timetables as a pilot to test the benefits of this approach (see section 5.8).

Review Socially Necessary Services

Yes

East Riding has a significant number of socially necessary supported bus services and plans to review and enhance a number of these. (see 5.4). Services will be improved in areas suffering high deprivation and unemployment and links to major hospitals will be improved.

Invest in Superbus Networks

Yes

Our aspiration to establish a Core 15/Core 30 and/Core 60 interurban bus network linked with multi-operator ticketing will form the basis of a future Superbus network for the East Riding of Yorkshire including links into neighbouring authorities. Rural services will feed into core services with through ticketing arrangements.

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IMPROVEMENTS TO FARES AND TICKETING

Lower Fares Yes

Local operators recognise that fares in ERY are too high. We will initially focus on extending discounts for specific groups and solving anomalies. Extending half fares to age 18 and potentially up to 21 is thought to be critical. Further focus will be on an affordable multi-operator weekly ticket.

Simplify Fares Yes

The Enhanced Partnership will support operators to develop a range of new, simpler, and more attractive fares offers designed to attract new patronage – e.g. a simple £1 Evening Flat Fare and new flexi-ticket options.

Integrate Ticketing be-tween Operators and Transport

Yes

There is general support from local bus operators for the development of a multi operator ticket and once established the Enhanced Partnership will work to develop this and bring forward an appropriate scheme. We will introduce through ticketing between rural services and the core network.

MAKE IMPROVEMENTS TO THE BUS PASSENGER EXPERIENCE

HIGHER SPEC BUSES

Invest in Improved Bus Specifications Yes

There is ongoing investment in new high specification buses by our main operator East Yorkshire and high standards for minibuses operating DRT services. Our core network aspirations include vehicle specification standards including minimum emission standards, WiFi and audio-visual information provision.

Invest in Accessible and Inclusive Bus Services Yes

We will develop standards for vehicles used on DRT and community transport services, arrange driver and assistant training and continue to financially support transport provided for vulnerable groups by our local community transport providers.

Protect Personal Safety of Bus Passengers Yes

Operators to fit all vehicles with CCTV. ERYC to investigate including CCTV at busier bus stops and improve lighting and visibility as part of the review of bus stop infrastructure.

Improve Buses for Tourists Yes

We plan to develop new leisure bus services and strengthen branding and frequency on our coastal services. This will improve connections or through links from major urban settlements to allow access to the coast and improve sustainable transport options for those staying at coastal camps and resorts.

Invest in Decarbonisation Yes

Our core network aspirations include vehicle specification standards, including the potential for ZEV operation. We will work with operators and neighbouring authorities to seek investment for charging infrastructure. Our chief objective is to decarbonise through modal shift.

IMPROVEMENTS TO PASSENGER ENGAGEMENT

Passenger Charter Yes

The Passenger Charter is currently under development in conjunction with the operators. It will outline aims in relation to quality, safety, reliability, cleanliness and presentation, environmental targets and accessibility. It is also likely to include some form of refund promise or mechanism following failure to deliver and a ‘get you home’ promise if last journeys fail to run.

Strengthen Network Identity Yes We will develop an Enhanced Partnership brand and a central point

of contact for all bus matters within the East Riding.

Improve Bus Information Yes

We will continue to roll out our real time information programme (see section 4.8). The review of bus stop infrastructure will include timetable provision at stops and printed timetables and publicity will be widely available.

IMPROVEMENTS TO PASSENGER ENGAGEMENT

Other Yes

We plan to audit all bus stop and shelter infrastructure in our towns and implement priority improvements. We also intend to establish a coherent programme of bus stop and shelter improvements and rebranding and we will create a new post of Bus Infrastructure Officer, tasked with overseeing this programme of activity.

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