West Midlands ALLIANCEIssue 2 BUS Members of the West Midlands Bus Alliance Board with the UK Bus Award and the National Air Quality Award WEST MIDLANDS BUS ALLIANCE WINS LOCAL AUTHORITY BUS PROJECT OF THE YEAR! The West Midlands Bus Alliance (WMBA) is celebrating after being crowned winner of the Local Authority Bus Project of the Year at the UK Bus Awards. A judging panel of industry experts praised the fact that collaborative working is at the heart of bus services in West Midlands and that the region-wide partnership between Transport for West Midlands, bus operators, highways authorities, Local Enterprise Partnerships, the Safer Travel Partnership and other stakeholders impressed with a comprehensive and well-supported project where integration exists at all levels. The Bus Alliance was described as a good model which could be reproduced elsewhere and they were also delighted that there is one single body acting in the interests of bus passengers. the judges and they were also encouraged by the investment and improvement in regional bus services that has been made by what is a unique concept and an industry-leading partnership. They also felt that the involvement of the highways authorities has been key, with council partners investing hundreds of thousands of pounds to deliver road improvements which ensure that buses on key routes can rival private cars for journey times. Whilst partnership working is nothing new, the level of collaboration within the West Midlands Bus Alliance is believed to be unprecedented, where all partners speak with a single voice on all bus-related issues in the region. The West Mildands Bus Alliance is unique in the UK and provides formal governance to support bus operations in the region, ensuring there is greater buy-in from the diverse bus companies in the region as well as the highways authorities and Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) by providing shared ownership of objectives and delivery. The intention of the Bus Alliance is that by working closely together we can achieve all of the benefits that might otherwise be achieved through franchising, but without the need for contractual relationships and associated costs. The WMBA was established in November 2015 to further strengthen partnership working between stakeholders, drive patronage growth, increase passenger satisfaction and provide a bus network to support economic development in the region. These principles impressed In addition, the West Midlands Safer Travel Partnership came runner-up in the Putting Passengers First Award category. The judging panel described this initiative as being a very good example of partnership working with a number of agencies. The scheme has been very successful in reducing anti-social behaviour and making bus passengers feel safe using a combination of traditional methods and new technologies. This truly demonstrates that close partnership to deliver bus service improvements can be achieved in a competitive and commercial operating environment.
Comedian Hugh Dennis (far left) and Sir John Armitt, NX Chairman (far right) present Laura Shoaf and Pete Bond (TfWM) and members of the team with the award TfWM WINS TRANSPORT OSCARS West Midlands Combined Authority was celebrating further success after Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) picked up the City-Region Transport Authority of the Year title at last month s National Transport Awards. TfWM was highlighted as an example of good practice after delivering important projects including the Swift smartcard - the most advanced of its kind outside of London - and the innovative West Midlands Bus Alliance (WMBA) which works with bus companies to encourage investment in the network, increase standards and improve bus links. TfWM triumphed over tough competition from other regions including Greater Manchester, Merseyside and the North East. There was even more success for the Bus Alliance as TfWM was also awarded a Highly Commended in the Improvements to Bus Services Award for the Platinum bus project. Cllr Roger Lawrence, transport lead on the WMCA, said: This is the industry s most coveted award so it s a real testament to the hard work and expertise of our staff at TfWM. The projects they have delivered are helping to drive economic growth and new jobs right across our region while bringing real benefits to the travelling public. But this is just the start and I know that everyone at TfWM is ready to deliver the next tranche of tram extensions, rail improvements and enhanced passenger services. West Midlands Bus Alliance Board member and TfWM Managing Director, Laura Shoaf, commented: It s a tremendous achievement and it marks the start of what will be an exciting time for transport in the West Midlands. Our goal is to build a fast and efficient transport network of rail, tram, bus and cycle routes so people can get to the new jobs being created, reach health, education and training facilities and visit leisure destinations.
NATIONAL EXPRESS WEST MIDLANDS CROWNED UK S BEST On a great night for the region, National Express West Midlands (NXWM) also won Bus Operator of the Year at the National Transport Awards. After the resounding success, National Express Group Chief Executive, Dean Finch, commented: This is a great accolade for the whole team. From leading the industry on partnership working, investing in new premium Platinum vehicles that are proving so popular with passengers and being way ahead of other city-regions on smart, integrated transport, this award is very well deserved. NXWM Managing Director, Peter Coates, added: These are the most prestigious awards in our industry, so this is a great credit to everyone s hard work. It also demonstrates that the way we work in partnership as part of the UK s first - and best - Bus Alliance to improve journeys is delivering great results for our passengers. Bus driver Dave Gerrard from Pensnett garage in Dudley was also commended in the Frontline Employee of the Year category for raising thousands of pounds for local charities. Bus driver Dave Gerrard (l) and NXWM Managing Director, Peter Coates, about to receive the prestigious award NEW POWERS SOUGHT AGAINST ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR Working with key industry partners including the Bus Alliance, Transport for West Midlands is seeking to gain further powers to enable the Safer Travel Partnership to more effectively deal with issues of Anti-Social Behaviour and moving traffic offences. Key to this initiative will be the introduction of a series of new bye laws similar to those already in place on the Midland Metro and the heavy rail network. The bye laws will cover a range of aspects such as smoking, loud music, feet on seats, rowdy behaviour, ticketless travel and many other instances of nuisance behaviour that drives the fear of crime. In addition to this, the increase in powers to enforce moving traffic offences including blocking yellow box junctions or unauthorised use of bus lanes, will all support making bus travel quicker and more reliable.
SUCCESS IS IN THE AIR AS LOW EMISSION PLAN WINS GOLD! In another example of how the West Midlands Bus Alliance is leading the way from an environmental point of view, the West Midlands Low Emission Bus Delivery Plan won the National Air Quality Awards this month. The Plan was developed by Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) as part of its ambition to deliver low emission buses to help address the region s significant air quality problems. It highlights areas where deployment of low emission buses should be prioritised and sets out a timeline for achieving a reduction in NOx emissions by over 90% by 2035. The plan has already formed the basis of three successful funding bids and by demonstrating our commitment to improving air quality in the region, it will support many more bids and also give bus operators confidence to invest. Pictured (l-r): Steve Eminton (Editor of Air Quality News), Vic Duddy (NXWM), Steve Hayes (TfWM), Celine Cluzel (Element Energy - consultants who helped pull the plan together), Andrew Chen from award sponsors Heathrow Airport Poor air quality is a major issue in the West Midlands. Most of the region is designated an Air Quality Management Area and it is estimated that road transport emissions account for almost 1,500 premature deaths in the region each year. Buses can play a key role in addressing this. By encouraging more people on to bus services we can reduce polluting traffic, but to have the greatest impact we need our buses to be as clean as they can be. The Alliance is committed to ensuring that all buses in the region are a minimum of Euro V by 2020. Recently, we have had success in bidding for funds to clean up the bus fleet. We have 49 electric-diesel hybrids and three electric buses operating, supported by successive Government Green Bus funding. We have also had three successful bids to the Clean Bus Technology Fund and significant private investment from operators into new Euro VI buses most notably National Express West Midlands who have committed to purchase 300 new Euro VI buses by 2020. Each of the seven councils in the West Midlands monitors air quality differently and there was little understanding of where the regional priorities should be and no mechanism for deciding to which routes the cleanest buses should be allocated. Because there was nothing to demonstrate what our regional priorities for addressing air quality were and how we were working to deliver improvements, it was decided a plan was required to set out our ambitions and how we would work with stakeholders to achieve them. TfWM commissioned the West Midlands Low Emission Bus Delivery Plan which sets out a long-term vision for reducing bus emissions across the region by over 90% in the next 20 years. It identifies key milestones and a timeline demonstrating how this vision can be achieved. It identifies opportunities and challenges in bringing forward new technologies and it identifies where the air quality hot-spots are that should be prioritised when deploying low emission buses. Throughout the development of the Plan we engaged closely with all of the region s main bus operators and district councils to understand their aims, ambitions and challenges and this helped secure very strong buy-in and ownership of the plan and over 50 people attended the launch of the plan in June 2016, including the media. The Plan has been very well received. By articulating our region s ambitions so clearly it has already acted as a supporting document, helping to secure two successful bids in the region for over 5m of OLEV funding (by West Midlands Travel and by Birmingham City Council) and a further successful bid to the Clean Bus Technology Fund towards the installation of Selective Catalytic Reduction Traps on 150 West Midlands Travel Buses. The plan also gives private sector operators confidence to invest in innovative technologies, knowing they will be fully supported by Local Authority partners. Together, we will be able to ensure that the vehicles benefiting from this technology are used on routes where they have the greatest impact on improving local air quality. With a Clean Air Zone proposed for Birmingham City Centre and continuing challenges with Air Quality across the rest of the region the value of this Plan will continue to grow. It demonstrates we are serious about tackling the challenges of poor air quality and its impact on quality of life and have a credible plan in place to achieve our ambitions. The plan is available at: https:// westmidlandscombinedauthority.org. uk/media/1289/west-midlands-lowemission-delivery-plan_elementenergyfor-transport-for-west-midlands_july2016. pdf
TV celebrity Steph McGovern (far left) presents Jack Grove, General Manager of Central Buses (third from left) with the award CENTRAL BUSES THE UK S BEST SMALL BUS OPERATOR In the Route One Awards, the coach and bus industry s premier awards event, there was fantastic news for Central Buses as they picked up the Small Bus Operator of the Year (1-50 vehicles) Award. This coveted accolade was presented at a glittering ceremony in September at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole Hotel and confirms that Central Buses, a leading member of the WMBA, is among the best in the country. After collecting the award from celebrity Steph McGovern, Jack Grove, General Manager of Central Buses said: Being recognised as the best small bus operator nationally in this hard fought competition is a huge accolade and well deserved recognition for all our drivers, supervisors, engineers and managers. We are very proud of our success. Commending Central Buses, the Route One Awards judging panel of five highly experienced industry experts said: To win Small Bus Operator of the Year an operator in this category must be punching above its weight, demonstrating that excellence is the road to success. Our winner has been on a journey that has seen it grow and prosper since it was founded in 2003. What s more, as it continues along that road, the past year has seen yet more passenger growth and route expansion. Though at no point has it lost sight of the need for profitability or its mission of delivering world class customer service. In addition to Central Buses achievement, there was yet more success with NXWM receiving the Operator Training Award and Cedric Dalton, of Arriva Midlands was named Engineer of the Year (Small/Medium Operator- up to 150 vehicles).
TRANSPORT MINISTER JOINS THE BUS ALLIANCE BOARD FOR SPECIAL MEETING In September, Andrew Jones MP, the Transport Minister with responsibility for buses, visited the region and attended a special meeting of the Bus Alliance Board in Birmingham City Centre. The minister played an active part in discussions around some of the challenges facing bus operators in the West Midlands. Professor David Begg and Claire Haigh from the transport lobby group Greener Journeys, spoke passionately about the impacts of congestion and our ambitions to reduce emissions from the region s bus fleet were discussed. The minister explained how the Bus Service Bill, currently going through parliament, would help Local Authorities and bus operators work together to deliver Enhanced Partnerships and was very impressed with the level of collaboration between partners in our region. their swift cards on all bus, tram and rail services in the West Midlands, which is a first outside London. Prior to the meeting, the minister visited New Street Station to launch Swift on to the rail network. Customers can now use BOXING DAY BUS SERVICES Boxing Day bus services in the West Midlands have proved to be a resounding success story, with this year being the fifteenth continuous year of operation. For many years until 2002 there had not been any Boxing Day bus services in the West Midlands. Following requests from customers around the region that year, we worked with bus operators to examine what demand there could be and decided to run a very minimal network of services. Even with hourly frequencies this confounded all predictions with many more passengers using the buses than had been expected. Without any trains operating on Boxing Day and the day now a very popular date for Christmas sales shopping, the bus services provide a real alternative to the car for those who want - or need - to travel. During the intervening years, Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) has worked with the bus operators to expand the network coverage year-by-year and by 2013 we were running a daytime service on virtually all bus routes in the West Midlands that normally run on a Sunday. Many of the busier routes are now running until 2300 in the evening. Last year, First Midland Red ran their service 144 from Worcester to Birmingham, a service that had never run on Boxing Day before. As no trains were operating, it was extremely well received by people heading into Birmingham City Centre and the operator will be repeating the service again this year. Also for the first time this year, Diamond Bus will be running their 002 routes from Weoley Castle to Merry Hill and Johnson s Coach and Bus will be operating their service X20 from Stratford to Birmingham. All this adds to the extensive network of bus services National Express West Midlands and Coventry, Diamond Bus and Arriva will be operating in order to provide the people of the West Midlands with the most extensive network of bus services on Boxing Day than ever before The success of Boxing Day bus services can be seen in the numbers of passengers that are being carried. Only 6,600 customers boarded buses back in 2004. This figure rose to more than 276,000 in 2015.
BUS AND RAIL INTEGRATION AND THE WEST MIDLANDS FRANCHISE The West Midlands Rail Franchise (services currently operated by London Midland) is due to be renewed in October 2017. The process is currently underway to appoint a new operator to run the services and stations covered by the Franchise. TfWM is a partner in West Midlands Rail Ltd (WMR), a collaboration of 14 authorities across the West Midlands region seeking greater control over local rail services. Through this we have had significant input into the specification for the new franchise and have been speaking to the two shortlisted bidders about our aspirations for rail services and the whole journey experience. As part of this work and the formation of the West Midlands Bus Alliance, we identified a unique and exciting opportunity to put agreements and measures in place to improve bus/rail interchange at stations in the region, with the potential to raise patronage and satisfaction for both bus and rail customers. We have worked alongside the Department for Transport to include specific requirements in the new franchise for improved bus/rail interchange using outputs which came out of a workshop held with the Bus Alliance earlier this year. The requirements include: A senior representative from the rail operator nominated to work alongside the Bus Alliance and relevant local authorities to improve bus/rail interchange Minimum standards for bus/rail interchange to be delivered at all stations, including the provision of: - Directional signage - Multi-modal ticketing initiatives - Bus stop facilities and safe/ secure pedestrian routes - Bus information For best in class pilot schemes for bus/ rail interchange to be delivered at: - Cradley Heath - Sutton Coldfield - Wolverhampton (also including Metro) - A station for Dudley town centre (Dudley Port, Sandwell & Dudley or Smethwick Galton Bridge) - Lichfield City - Bromsgrove Support for marketing initiatives aimed at supporting and promoting bus/rail interchange Sharing of planned rail timetable changes that impact on bus/rail interchange coordination ahead of the date of the New Working Timetable Sharing of data (where commercially acceptable) to help to improve bus/rail interchange We are seeking support from the Bus Alliance through a number of measures including the sharing of planned bus timetable changes impacting on bus/rail coordination two weeks prior to registration, investment in vehicles and infrastructure on key routes, enhancements to walking
CONGESTION HIGHLIGHTED AT CONSERVATIVE PARTY CONFERENCE Transport for West Midlands Managing Director Laura Shoaf made a compelling case for action on buses delayed by congestion to Andrew Jones MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport, and an audience of key stakeholders at the Conservative Party Conference held in Birmingham last month. Laura was a key speaker at the Transport Times fringe event entitled: Congested Society: Could Buses Drive Change? Congestion means bus operators need more vehicles to run the same timetable, adding to costs and fares and it makes services slower and less punctual. If passengers decide to drive instead, that means more congestion and a vicious circle of service reductions, higher fares, and falling patronage. Laura showed how, in 50 years, population growth, development, and car ownership had brought congestion to a point where bus trips now took 50% longer despite the building of the motorways. A good example was Aldridge to Birmingham where Dr Beeching cut the rail service 50 years ago because people chose the faster bus but if it ran today the same train would beat both bus and car. A range of industry speakers joined Laura, including Mr Jones, Professor David Begg of Transport Times, Dean Finch (Chief Executive, National Express),Claire Haigh, Chief Executive of Greener Journeys (a campaigning coalition of leading public transport operators, passengers and supporters) and David Brown, Group Chief Executive, Go Ahead. Claire further emphasised the importance the bus for local economies: Half of core city commuters get to work by bus, and bus commuters earn > 60Bn of UK GDP 10% of shopping, and 40% of High Street (where passengers spend > 20Bn/year) trips are by bus 125,000 bus industry staff, > 5Bn annual turnover, two-thirds of buses UK built Wider benefits were highlighted too for health (a walk to the bus stop could make up half your daily recommended exercise), and especially for young people (those aged 17-29 use buses more than any other group, and are far less able to afford a car to get around than in the past). All agreed that growing congestion which delays buses will undermine all these benefits, making it much harder for people to get to work in many of our cities, and risking future growth plans. Read more about the impact of congestion on buses at: http://www.greenerjourneys.com/ publication/impact-congestion-buspassengers-new-extended-version/ We want to hear from you! The West Midlands Bus Alliance is comprised of representatives from bus operators, local councils, Highways England and other partners - and we d be delighted to hear from you. This is your newsletter, so please let us know about any projects you are involved with so that best practice and successes can be celebrated and shared with all the partners. Projects could include new facilities for passengers, bus priority measures designed to increase punctuality and reliability, harnessing the latest technology to make integrated travel even more seamless, staff who have achieved great things or gone above and beyond in their day-to-day duties or new initiatives aimed at increasing patronage. They could also include innovative ticketing initiatives, cutting-edge solutions to reducing carbon emissions, network reviews and the introduction of new routes. Please contact Matthew Finn at the West Midlands Combined Authority if you would like any of the excellent work the Bus Alliance is doing included in future editions of the newsletter. MatthewFinn@centro.org.uk 0121 214 7157 SEP16001