Agenda and minutes

Consideration was given to the minutes of the previous meeting held on 11^th February, 2026.

Agreed:-  That the minutes of the meeting held on 11^th February, 2026, be approved as a correct record of proceedings.

There were no matters arising.

The Transportation Advisory Group noted the questions and answers on transport matters that had been submitted in advance of the meeting that had been included in the agenda pack.

Further to question 2 from Councillor Baggaley, he had also requested that a map be provided of the diversion route and that a meeting was arranged between SYMCA/First Bus/Treeton Parish Council and Ward Councillors to ensure that the bus diversion route was for the best. 

In response, Andrew Simpson had provided a map.  He also stated that the route of the shuttle bus service for Treeton would run from Treeton to Aughton crossroads, then along Pleasley Road to Whiston Crossroads, along West Bawtry Road to Canklow and then Canklow Road and Westgate into Rotherham Town Centre.  The map showed the route compared with the usual route of service 95.  Anyone wanting to travel between Treeton and Catcliffe would need to change to service 95 at a bus stop between Canklow and Rotherham.  A route for the shuttle bus, which also served Brinsworth and Catcliffe, following the route of service 95, had been investigated but this would add 15 minutes to the journey time between Treeton and Rotherham increasing the through journey from around 25 minutes to around 40 minutes.

Further to questions, 2, 3 and 4 relating to the closure of Mill Lane, Treeton, Councillor Adair asked if SYMCA could provide more information with regard to the timetable for the revised bus service.

Further to question 7 from Councillor Bennett-Sylvester, he acknowledged the response that had been received from Rotherham Community Transport, however, he had received further communication from the Gateway Club.  Apart from the last minute cancellation of service, there was the matter of lack of communication with service users which, given the nature of the service users, was a real issue.  From third party reports, Socialise was also experiencing the same problems. 

The Service was felt to be focussing on its school transport contracts and the others losing out which raised the issue of overall sustainability of the service.  It was noted that the Interim Transport Service Manager was carrying out work on alternative provisions for it. 

Sarah Loy, SYMCA, reported that regular meetings were held with all the community transport operators across South Yorkshire as they were SYMCA funded.  Any issues around Rotherham Community Transport should be forwarded to Sarah so that they could be raised them at the meetings.

Agreed:-  (1)  That Rotherham Community Transport be requested to attend the next meeting to give an update on this matter.

(2)  That the Interim Transport Services Manager be requested to keep the Transport Advisory Group informed of any progress made on finding an alternative provision.

(3)  That any issues regarding Rotherham Community Transport be forwarded to SYMCA  and they be raised in their meetings with the community transport operators.

Further to question 8, Councillor Bennett-Sylvester raised concern with the answer provided by First Bus as he had been there and it did not match the experience on the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 60.

(1)  General Update

(2)  Franchising Update

(3)  Demand Responsive Transport Pilot

Andrew Simpson, Assistant Director Projects, SYMCA, gave the following updates:-

Bus Network Update

Recent Changes to the Network

-        Service 114 (First Bus) Rotherham-Stag had had additional journeys introduced during the evening on Mondays to Saturdays and during the day time and evening on Sundays starting Sunday, 12^th April, 2026

-        Service 207 (First Bus) Sheffield-Brinsworth-Rotherham had been re-routed in Attercliffe on journeys towards Sheffield due to a one-way temporary road closure of Attercliffe Road starting Monday, 12^th January 2026 and expected to be until Monday, 12^th October 2026

-        Service X3 (First Bus) Sheffield-Rotherham-Doncaster had been re-routed in Attercliffe on journeys towards Sheffield due to a one-way temporary road closure of Attercliffe Road starting Monday, 12^th January 2026 and expected to be until Monday, 12^th October 2026

-        Service X20 (Globe) Barnsley-Doncaster had been re-routed to serve Wath upon Dearne with changes to the time starting Monday, 13^th April 2026

Forthcoming Changes in Rotherham

-        Services 26 and 26A (TM Travel) Crystal Peaks-Thorpe Salvin will have minor changes to the times to assist with punctuality starting Monday, 27^th July 2026

-        Service 70A (TM Travel) Sheffield-Woodhouse-Meadowhall will be run by First Bus instead of TM Travel starting Sunday, 26^th July 2026

-        Service 71 (TM Travel) Sheffield-Harthill will have additional journeys introduced during the early morning and during the evening, daily from Sunday, 26^th July 2026

-        Service 226 (Stagecoach) Barnsley-Thurnscoe will have minor changes to the times from Saturday, 25^th July 2026

School Bus Service Changes

-        Service 620 (Stagecoach) Maltby-Dinnington (Dinnington High School) will have minor changes to the times from Tuesday, 1^st September 2026

-        Service 664 (L.L.Travel) Low Valley-Wath upon Dearne (St. Pius X High School) will be run by Wilfreda Beehive instead of L.L. Travel starting Tuesday, 1^st September 2026

General Update

-        SYMCA had secured agreements to stabilise the network until September 2027

-        Free School MiCard Travel Update

·        18,514 of young people have a MiCard – 110% of the target uptake

·        Over 1.7m journeys had been made with a Barnsley MiCard

·        64% of the journeys were being undertaken by residents from 3 of Barnsley’s most deprived deciles

·        Total child travel in Barnsley was up 63% compared to the same period last year

·        17 year olds made up the largest age group of those with a MiCard reaching 2,723

·        Sheffield was considering going live in 2027

Bus Franchising Update

Rollout 2027-2029

-        The rollout was in 3 tranches Sheffield and Doncaster in tranche 1 (September 2027, Barnsley and Rotherham were tranche 2 and the latter part of Sheffield in tranche 3

Areas of Focus: Main Workstreams

-        People

-        Tap and Go Cards

-        Increasing safety

-        Networks

-        Quality of the bus – for tranches 1 and 2 in the process of procuring a new EV fleet

Procurement Timeline

-        Phase 1 - 2027

-        Phase 2 - 2028

-        Phase 3 – 2029

Where we are today

-        The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 61.

(1)    First Group

(2)    Stagecoach

(3)    Rotherham Community Transport

Michael Moore, First Group, reported that punctuality for Rotherham Town Centre services was good at 85-90% and the other services, which ran in and out of Sheffield and Doncaster, which had a lot of variability, was 78-92%. 

Michael shared John’s comments with regard to the height of the vehicles and the challenges of some of the road network.  First Group had first generation electric vehicles which had battery packs on the back of the bus but they were no longer manufactured.  There had been various discussions with local authorities but it came back to the point of low bridges.  The only real option was to lower the height of the road.

There had been some challenges in terms of the X3 service which ran from the Doncaster garage.  First Group colleagues in Doncaster had been taking industrial action that was still progressing.  Currently extended dialogue was taking place with the trade union with the strikes currently suspended.  It was hoped it would soon be resolved.

In order to minimise some of that impact in terms of the uncertainty to the customer, First had taken the decision to move all the X2 services into Sheffield.  The X2 from Sheffield to Maltby and Rotherham had been split between Sheffield and Doncaster but everything was now in Sheffield and added to that all the Rotherham work had been relaunched on a rota for Rotherham drivers.  It was hoped that it would attract more staff from South Rotherham which had been a struggle to recruit since the closure of  the Midland Road garage.

First was working with SYMCA in terms of protecting and maintaining the network.  There would not be any fundamental changes to service patterns.

Councillor Fisher asked whether there was any appetite in South Yorkshire  for a smaller fleet or whether it was the standard model and capacity of  single and double decker buses?

Michael replied that First would continue running its fleet until franchising but understood that SYMCA was under consultation for fleet suggestions, model etc.  Clearly one of the challenges was the number of authorities which were progressing with franchising plans, some more aggressive on fleet renewal/new fleet than others.  However, that did create a challenge as there were only so many vehicle manufacturers and their capacity to create vehicle numbers in the space of a year.

Andrew stated that it may be that the anchor fleet would never fit the infrastructure; this was where the small-medium operators could possibly come in and it may be a consideration that they picked up the gaps. There were factors that needed to be taken into consideration e.g. commerciality, access, cost effectiveness of lowering the workload in relation to demand and realistically look at where the niche market could be and how the gaps could be filled.

Stagecoach

John Young, Stagecoach Rotherham, reported that service delivery continued to show strong performance.  In the last period the operator mileage was 99.85%, lost mileage at 0.15% (290 miles) and punctuality was between 85-88%.  These figures  ...  view the full minutes text for item 62.

(1)  General Update

(2)  Swinton Station and Rotherham Central Station Update

Richard Isaac, Northern Rail, had contacted the Governance Advisor advising that, due to circumstances out of his control, he was unable to join the meeting.

Lucy Hudson, Head of Transportation Infrastructure, gave the following verbal update on the work of the Transport Infrastructure Service:-

Consultations

4 consultations had gone live:-

-        Rotherham East/Fitzwilliam Road  27^th April-5^th June

      2 consultation events – 13^th May at the Clifton Learning Partnership 2.30-4.30 p.m. and the Unity Centre 5.30-8.00 p.m.

      Mowbray Library 1.00-4.00 p.m.

      This was the second round of consultation on this issue

-        Broom Road/Wickersley Road

      12^th May-22^nd June

      A consultation event had taken place the previous day which had been very well attended.  The next was on 26^th May 2.00-6.00 p.m. at Broom Methodist Church

-        A6022 Proposed Improvements

      13^th April-5^th June

      Maps and diagrams were available on the website.

-        A633 Broad Street

      13^th April-22^nd May

Transportation Capital Programme

-    Report had been approved by Cabinet

-    Set of pedestrian crossings had been funded for design and build

Minor Works Programme

-        Added an extra £80,000 for minor works across Rotherham

-        Collating of the information minor works would be stored in a centralised electronic data base which would help to report on issues and collate the information provided

Treeton Main Crossroads

-        Funding had been secured for a study

-        A working group had been established of interested/concerned people so the study would be on the actual problems being experienced and a scheme devised for what was actually wanted and needed

-        The working group met monthly

Ward Road Safety Plans

-        Funding to develop 2 tranches over 2 years

-        An All Member Seminar was to be arranged to describe each of the Ward Road Safety Plans and which Wards were in which tranche

Structures Repairs

-        Fleet Bridge and Old Flatts Bridge – the DfT had recently released a funding opportunity so currently going through the process to try and secure extra money to do more work on Fleet Bridge

There had been feedback that some areas had not received letters/leaflets regarding the consultation.  Some had been delivered by hand and others by Royal Mail.  It was planned to carry out another hand delivery of leaflets.

Councillor Bower had attended the Broom Road/Wickersley Road consultation event the previous day which had been very well attended.  It was a big scheme that residents like some bits of and realised that there were issues in the area that needed to be dealt with.  However, the overwhelming majority did not see the benefit of the cycle lane expansion and there was an element of resignation that it would get built any way and that they would be completely ignored.

The Chair reiterated his statement made at Council that no decisions had been made with regard to the cycle lane extension and it was not a far gone conclusion.  He urged Members to emphasise that the consultation was a meaningful process and encourage residents to take part and give views on particular aspects of the scheme.

Lucy echoed the Chair’s statement and encouraged residents to submit  ...  view the full minutes text for item 64.

There was no other business to consider.