Agenda item

The Director of Planning, Development and Transportation submitted a report to provide the Commission with an update on the city’s bus priority and bus lane networks.

The Director of Planning, Development and Transportation introduced the item highlighting that bus lanes have been a feature in the city for up to fifty years. It was noted that lots of cities have introduced bus lanes over many years as they are an integral part of strategies for public transport and in responding to climate change by way of reducing congestion and improving air quality.

The City Transport Director presented the item. It was noted that:

·       Bus priority comprises of bus gates and bus lanes. The bus lane network comprises of thirteen key routes across the city serving all 44 main bus services.

·       The purpose of bus priority measures is to improve punctuality and reduce journey time, therefore increasing patronage by becoming an attractive alternative for modal shift. This allows for more efficient usage of road space and the management of traffic flow on the network.

·       Many improvements have been seen following the introduction of bus lanes as data included within the agenda pack indicates for Groby Road, Abbey Park Road, Aylestone Road and Melton Road.

·       Leicester is the eleventh highest for bus journeys outside of London, with 33% of households not having access to a private vehicle.

·       The majority of bus services in the city are commercially operated which enables the Authority to subsidise strategic routes such as Park and Ride, Hop and Orbital.

·       Research by the Department for Transport suggests service reliability and cost are the key barriers to bus usage. Local surveys have also found that people want punctual buses, they believe bus lanes help reliability and want more frequent day time services. The £2 bus fare cap is helping with affordability and the role of the Authority is to improve service reliability.

·       The Enhanced Leicester Bus Partnership was established with a vision to improving five key service areas: electric, frequent, reliable, easy and great value. Bus lanes support the frequent and reliable areas. The Partnership has enabled strong investment from bus operators within the city.

·       Increasing use of cars on the transport network is creating congestion and pollution. Modal shift is therefore important to encouraging bus use, preventing congestion, and improving pollution with carbonised buses.

·       There is no evidence that bus lanes cause pollution, and the use of 24/7 bus lanes cause less confusion. Some existing bus lanes that operate during specific times will therefore require review.

·       All monies received through enforcement of bus lanes is reinvested into the transport network. When new cameras are installed, contraventions of a bus lane will initially receive a warning before fines become operational. The appeals process follows national guidance.

·       Conclusions by the Bus Lanes Scrutiny Review in April 2016 outlined within the presentation remain true today regarding increasing car usage, bus punctuality, journey time and patronage.

·       Congestion is mainly caused at junctions reaching capacity and this is likely to worsen as car usage increased. Bus lanes end before junctions to allow vehicle to queue and traffic to flow which was demonstrated via a video.

The Director of Planning, Development and Transportation highlighted that further guidance is anticipated following the Government’s recent announcement on the ‘Plan for Drivers’ which includes reference to bus lanes. It was noted however that the timeframe for additional guidance for transport authorities was unclear presently.

In response to questions and comments from Members, it was noted that:

·       The use of 24/7 bus lanes provide clarity as they restrict unauthorised vehicles at all times. Signage can also be clearer and does not need to list additional information to avoid confusion and possible contravention.

·       The infographic contained with the agenda pack shows that a full bus is equivalent to thirty vehicles using the transport network. This can be seen regularly during peak times but the average for Leicester is around17, although some routes have less and others more.

·       A comprehensive survey was conducted with bus users as part of developing the Leicester Bus Partnership where a large response was received identifying reliability, cost and frequency as key priorities. This is reflected in the overall vision to make the bus network electric, frequent, reliable, easy and great value.

·       The 18% increase in bus usage on Aylestone Road is indicative of the years following installation in 2013. There has been changes following the pandemic that make it difficult to compare.
It was agreed that information will be circulated to Members on this. 

·       Sequencing of signals at junctions are not automatic but rely on various algorithms. This means junctions will not have a set time before changing but a time range depending on load of a junction. Area Traffic Control monitor traffic flow in the city and will manually adjust sequencing if congestion is increasing, for example if there has been an accident, roadworks or a junction is underperforming.

·       Every street in Leicester is very different and each scheme is therefore unique and has a specific design as opposed to implementing a national standard approach. Each scheme is also subject to consultation with the public, stakeholders and scrutiny to understand the local context and consider possible changes before implementation. 

·       Over 95% households are within walking distance of a bus stop – defined as 400metres. The density of our city and bus network with bus stops enables good access to routes compared with other cities.

·       The frequency of buses was a priority for most people when surveyed and therefore the base standard contained within the Bus Plan is to ensure 24 core corridors are served every 15 minutes during the day and 30 minutes during evenings and Sundays.

·       Earlier services would be beneficial to some. More people need to use buses to become commercially viable for operators to increase services but to do that it is important to ensure they are reliable, punctual and attractive.

·       Bus operators are commercially driven and do not receive subsidies on commercial services. They do however provide family tickets, costing £10 for a family all day on one operator or £12 all day for multiple operators, this is usually reduced to £10 during school holidays. This is deemed reasonable when compared with individual £2 fares per journey.

·       Automated ticketing now involves less interaction with bus drivers, but the latest survey of bus satisfaction shown an increase in satisfaction associated to bus driver behaviour.

·       Zebra funding was received for electric buses only and matched by commercial operators. No funding was attributed from the Authority. We bid and secured funding based on the plan for improving bus priority, including bus lanes, ticketing, real time information boards etc. Leicester has over 90 e-buses currently and expected to be over 150 by next summer. This is way ahead of most other cities and demonstrates the good partnership with operators.

·       Bus lanes are designed and implemented where key pinch points are identified to ensure suitability of the network and not a matter of installing long lengths of bus lanes that are not required.

·       During off-peak periods where buses may be ahead of time, layovers are required to adhere to timetables which are legal requirement for bus registration. It can be difficult to calibrate timetables for different times throughout the day to match running times and traffic flow as congestion at junctions are variable.

·       Bus lane enforcement data is contained on the open data platform, and it was agreed that this would be made available to Members. Monies received through enforcement are redirected on the network. The appeals process complies with national guidance and cases are considered.

Cllr Osman proposed the Commission establish a Task Group to look in further detail at 24/7 bus lanes. This was seconded by Cllr Porter and was carried following a vote. The Chair noted a discussion would take place with lead officers concerning inclusion of this in the annual work programme.

AGREED:

·       The Commission noted the report.

·       The Commission be provided with the additional information requested.

·       The Commission recommended a Task Group be established to look in further detail at 24/7 bus lanes.