Joint Transport Executive Committee

Transcription

1 Agenda item 6 Draft minutes of meeting of the Joint Transport Executive Committee Friday 21 January 2011, 10.30am 13.00pm, BAWA, Filton Present Cllr Charles Gerrish Cllr Gary Hopkins Cllr Elfan Ap Rees Cllr Brian Allinson Bath and North East Somerset Council (Chair) Bristol City Council North Somerset Council South Gloucestershire Council In Attendance Justin Davies Tony McNiff Julian Crow Peter Dawson Peter Mann Colin Medus Barbara Davies Daniel Moore James White Pete Davis Terry Wagstaff First Group First Group First Great Western Bath and North East Somerset Bristol City Council North Somerset Council 1. Apologies for absence There were no apologies. 2. Declarations of Interest There were none. 3. Chair s update There was no update. 1

2 4. Member and public forum Statements: David Redgewell on behalf of the South West Transport Network: David Redgewell cited a letter from a stakeholder regarding the overbalance of aerospace representatives on the LEP Interim Board; He was very concerned about concessionary fares; It was important that the LEP and the Partnership made contact with the RMT about bus cuts; Ultralight rail would be more suitable for communities, and the Partnership must lobby hard for ultralight rail from Ashton Gate to Temple Meads; Cuts to services in adjacent authorities would affect commuters across the whole of the Greater Bristol Area; He highlighted that bus wars would be damaging and that jobs in the bus industry needed to be protected; The Bath bus network needed to be upgraded; The Local Enterprise Partnership must hold local transport powers; Investment for Keynsham station improvements should be protected. Amanda Leon on behalf of the Radstock Action Group (RAG) The rail link between Radstock and Frome needed to be re-instated; the Somer valley was isolated without it; Re-instating this line would be beneficial to travelers and have a high potential patronage going in both directions; They requested a dialogue, advice and support to help stakeholders to move the project forwards; It was essential that the Partnership took this and other similar lobbying on board. Questions: Ian Crawford submitted questions on behalf of Transport for Greater Bristol Alliance (TfGB) relating to Smartcards. The questions and accompanying, tabled officer responses were noted. Ian Crawford also made a statement, raising the following points: Ian echoed Amanda Leon s statement about taking the views of local stakeholders on board, adding that they have both expertise and a wealth of experience that could be drawn on for free; He congratulated the WEP/JTEC for pursuing electrification and stressed that we now had a chance to make rail the backbone of public transport in the West of England; The emerging LEP presented a real opportunity for us to take local transport powers; Plot 6 should be clearly identified in the JLTP3 as an essential transport interchange. Cllr Hopkins advised that the possible sale of Plot 6 would be accompanied by conditions imposed by Bristol City Council to protect its potential role as a public transport interchange. 5. Standing items Barbara Davies presented a report summarising the minutes of the Joint Scrutiny Committee on 7 January 2011 relevant to the Joint Transport Executive Committee. Cllr Gerrish thanked Barbara for the report. There were no further comments. 2

3 6. Minutes of meeting held on 10 December 2010 The minutes were agreed as a true record of the meeting on the 10 December Matters arising from the minutes, not on the agenda Item 7: A36 Claverton Speed Limit. Peter Dawson reported that he had been in further contact with the Highways Agency who he described as being very reluctant to introduce a speed limit to Claverton. They didn t see the value for money justification for the work in isolation from a wider scheme on the A36. Peter Dawson suggested escalating the issue with the Highways Agency, perhaps citing the Memorandum of Understanding and raising the issue at the next JTEC, to which the Agency would be invited to attend. Members endorsed this proposal. 8. Bus Improvement Plan Barbara Davies provided an update on the delivery of the programme for improving bus services. Quality Partnership Scheme (QPS) The Joint Committee welcomed Justin Davies and Tony McNiff of First Group. A summary of the key discussion points follows: Tony McNiff told the Committee that First remained in discussion with UAs regarding the QPS. There were some concerns but dialogue was ongoing. There was a specific issue over maximum fares, but First had submitted a written proposition on this and were awaiting a response from the UAs. Cllr Hopkins stressed that the maximum fares issue was crucial. The public needed trust in fares both now and in the future. Cllr Gerrish said the Partnership was in active conversation for future corridors but the QPS document for the A367 was being published that week. Subject to issues in the democratic process, that should be formally agreed in the next 3 weeks. Tony McNiff re-emphasised that the issue of maximum fares was ongoing. It was the UA s prerogative to publish the scheme but First remained concerned about the principle of maximum fares. He agreed that the public should have confidence that investment in GBBN was appropriate. Smartcards A summary of the key discussion points follows: Cllr Hopkins stated that all operators needed to be on board with Smartcards. Progress on Smartcards would be hampered if operators did not have the relevant technology on their buses. He pressed for a firm indication of a date for First s completion of the procurement of the necessary on-board equipment. Cllr Gerrish stressed that importance of making the scheme work and also asked when First would make a decision on the issue, and if this area would be the first for implementation when the scheme was rolled out. 3

4 Tony McNiff clarified that the decision was being made by First centrally and that it was his understanding that Bristol and the West of England was a priority area. Currently the introduction of new ticketing machines was going through a process of due diligence. Justin Davies added that the process of meeting suppliers of ticketing machines has been completed and confirmed that Bristol and Bath were priorities for implementation. He confirmed that the aspiration was to complete the procurement process and have buses and depots in service by the end of March Tony McNiff agreed to provide clarification to the Committee regarding which services could potentially be excluded from the roll out and would provide a timeline and programme. Cllr Allinson told the Committee that Government attached a lot of importance to both Smartcards and the QPSs. The West of England was under the spotlight and must move quickly. A recent visit by Norman Baker had confirmed the interest of the DfT. Justin Davies suggested that the Head of First nationally would be happy to meet with the West of England if suitable arrangements could be made. Concessionary Fares Discussion were ongoing to arrive at a rate that resulted in little or no financial impact for operators. Meetings were scheduled to progress the issue. Agreed The Joint Transport Executive Committee noted the progress of work within the Bus Improvement Programme Justin Davies agreed to: Provide clarity over which services could potentially be excluded from the rollout of the Smartcard programme Send a letter to the Chair of the Committee outlining a likely timeline and programme for Smartcard implementation. 9. Greater Bristol Bus Network (GBBN) Colin Medus introduced the item, providing an update on the delivery of the GBBN scheme. To date, 33 infrastructure task orders had been completed and a further 21 were in progress. That was 85% of all grant funded infrastructure task orders. Committee approval was sought for a series of change requests, details of which were included in the report papers. Tony McNiff stated that First understood the need to highlight the improvements in the GBBN corridors and those in the wider network. Cllr Hopkins requested a statement be added to the GBBN newsletter about the impending roll-out of Smartcards. Colin Medus suggested that the success of GBBN would be measured by reliability and punctuality of services. Agreed The Joint Transport Executive Committee approved the change requests. 4

5 10. Rail Update The Joint Committee welcomed Julian Crow of First Great Western (FGW), who updated the Committee on FGWs activities. Subsequent discussion raised the following points: Dips in Bristol train performance due to the bad weather mirrored the regional trend; It was the control office in Swindon that made decisions to miss out station stops on particular lines; Severn Beach line growth was very strong; Ticket machines have been installed on the Severn Beach line; Cllr Gerrish wanted to note the excellent work of the cashier in Keynsham station, questioning if automated systems were always preferable to paid employees; Cllr Allinson paid a similar tribute to the standard of staffing at Bristol Parkway station; FGW had revenue protection schemes in place; Current levels of service had been confirmed for 2011; Replacement trains were going to provide 40 extra seats per line; Help points (CIS Customer Information Systems) now had live information; FGW were expecting a positive announcement on London to Bristol and Bath electrification; Discussions were ongoing with the DfT for more rolling stock. FGW remain committed to getting extra capacity to Bristol areas (including appropriate revenue protection); FGW took almost a third of all awards nationally at the recent Community Rail Awards; The Committee formally recorded its appreciation for Keith Walton s hard work for the Severnside Community Rail Partnership; A scheme had been out to tender for the work needed at Keynsham station. Julian Crowe offered to produce a timetable for the completion of the work. James White explained that the letter sent to Theresa Villiers on West of England rolling stock and electrification had not yet received a response. Cllr Gerrish suggested that the draft letter from the Great Western Partnership (GWP) to Philip Hammond on electrification of the Great Western Main Line lacked sufficient strength to reflect the area s needs. The Committee resolved to sign up to the GWP. 11. Local Sustainable Transport Fund Further guidance had recently been issued by DfT regarding the Local Sustainable Transport Fund. Pete Davis offered to investigate with the authorities how opportunities may be maximised through WEP and individual authority bids. Government were keen to involve as many LAs as possible in this process. The 2-stage bidding process was due to end in June There was also an opportunity for those areas planning large (> 50m) projects to submit additional, smaller (< 5m) subsidiary bids. Cllr Hopkins suggested that larger work might be more successfully bid for at Partnership level. 5

6 officers were due to meet with Heads of Transport to discuss the issue and would feed back to members. Suggestions for possible joint bids included an extension of Bristol s Cycling City project and a possible area-wide Smartcard bid. It was important that individual authorities bids were complementary. The meeting ended at 12.40pm. 15. Next meeting Friday 4 March 2011, 10.30am 1.00pm at the Council House, Bristol. S:\WEP\WEP meetings\2. Joint Transport Executive Committee\2011\2. 4 March 2011\Draft JTEC minutes doc 6