York 'wasting' much of its £17million of bus funding - claim

Former Green councillor Andy D’Agorne, who was the city’s executive member for transport until he lost his seat at the last election, said York’s ‘Enhanced Bus Partnership’ was ‘failing to deliver on key measures’ more than a year after it was set up.

He also hit out at ‘secrecy’ in the way the funding was being spent – with decisions being made at Operational Board meetings which were effectively a ‘private conversation between bus company representatives and council officers’.

York's Green former transport boss Andy D'Agorne (Image: Supplied)

“So far the majority of funding agreed has effectively been handed back to the companies to continue to run loss making services,” he said.

"The operational body in charge is failing to deliver key measures as we pass the half way point in the three year project, and risks wasting a large part of the £17 million government funding."

But Cllr Pete Kilbane, the authority’s new Labour executive member for transport, has dismissed the claims.

He admitted that some Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) funding had had to be used to ‘shore up the bus network we inherited’.

Current York transport chief Cllr Pete Kilbane (Image: Supplied)

But he insisted Labour would bring ‘stability’ to the city’s bus network. And he pointed out that, less than six months after taking office, the new Labour administration already had a detailed Local Transport Plan ready to go out to public consultation next week.

This was something the Green former transport chief had failed to deliver during four years in power, he said.

Mr D’Agorne said that in September last year the previous Lib Dem/ Green Executive had approved an ambitious three-year plan which set key targets to improve and increase bus use.

These included:

• a 25 per cent increase in passenger numbers
• a 40 per cent increase in journeys by young people
• a 30 per cent increase in park and ride travel
• shaving two minutes off bus journeys at peak travel times.

But so far, at the half-way point of the three-year plan, these targets were not being met, he said – with much of the money being spent instead on propping up bus services which operators themselves admit are no longer viable.

“These are ambitious targets, that require much more than a poorly-promoted discount offer here and there,” he said.

But Cllr Kilbane said: “Unlike the previous administration, this council is determined to deliver a joined up, integrated, transport system for York.

“Although we have to use Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) funding to shore up the bus network we inherited, we are determined to bring stability to the network.

“Since coming into office we have worked hard on the Local Transport Plan which should have been delivered by the Greens during the four years they were in office.

“This will now go out to full consultation next week, less than six months since we took office.

“We will listen to what residents and businesses tell us about how we can help them travel easily, safely and sustainably around the city and we will use their feedback to deliver a joined up, integrated Transport Plan for York by spring next year.

“This includes strategic use of the BSIP funding to provide a bus service fit for a modern city.”

How has the city’s bus improvement funding been spent?

A First York bus (Image: Supplied)

The Press asked City of York Council for a detailed breakdown of how York’s £17.3 million of government bus improvement (BSIP) funding had been and was going to be spent.

This is what the council told us:

About £900,000 of BSIP funding has been spent so far to ‘develop and deliver’ bus improvements, a council spokesperson said.

This money has been spent on:

• reopening Poppleton Bar Park&Ride
• upgrades to bus infrastructure, such as bus-stops, shelters and information screens
• a half-price summer family bus ticket offer which was taken up by 37,000 families over the summer holidays
• an ongoing scheme lowering the cost of young people’s fares (free travel for accompanied under 16s and £1 single fare for those aged 16 and under travelling alone)
• equipment to enable a tap-on-tap-off ticketing system
• support to keep bus services that are not commercially viable
• setting up a new ‘Enhanced Partnership (EP) Forum’ to forge better relationships between key stakeholders
• a bus accessibility day attended by nearly 200 people with a range of disabilities

Future plans include:

• upgrading Park & Ride sites to provide Transport Hubs enabling a wider range of services, including overnight parking, more cycle lockers, and pick up points for e-bikes and e-scooters
• improving bus priority on high frequency bus routes and in the city centre.
• further improvements to bus stops and ’real time’ information systems
• more reduced fares, targeted at younger people and those suffering hardship not covered by existing concessionary fares.

More details are available at www.itravelyork.info/enhanced-partnership