Agenda and minutes

Consideration was given to the minutes of the previous meeting held on 9^th July, 2025.

Agreed:-  That the minutes of the meeting held on 9^th July, 2025, be approved as a correct record of proceedings.

There were no matters arising.

In relation to question No. 1 submitted by Parish Councillor Croxton, Nathan Broadhead, Bus Partnership and Development Manager (SYMCA), reiterated SYMCA’s disappointment with the reduction to hourly services on some routes during the summer.

Summer frequency reduction was something that the operators were entitled to do across the network.  It was a choice for operators and used to be quite extensive prior to Covid.  First Group had chosen to reintroduce it to some services during the summer.

However, SYMCA would pick this up with First and ascertain what their plans would be for summer 2026.  The No. 95 service had now been reinstated. 

With regard to question 2, the Council’s Transportation and Planning Team had been assisting SYMCA with this issue.  Waverley was still unadopted highway in the majority. There was some Section 106 funding to put bus stops and shelters in and some bus stop locations had been approved.  The design was awaited for the stop locations as well as confirmation from Haworth Estates that they would install hardstandings as required. 

Councillor Baggaley requested that Ward Councillors be kept informed of the proposed sites for the bus stops as there was some concern within the community regarding the locations.  Nathan confirmed that consultation would always take place with properties adjacent to bus stops.

Councillor Adair raised an issue of a resident who had been refused a Zoom Zero Fare travel pass as their child’s school was now nearer to their new property. 

The Home to School Transport Policy was explained.  All the information was available on the Council’s website.

Councillor Adair was advised to raise this as a casework issue where he would receive a formal response.

Nathan Broadhead, SYMCA, gave the following updates:-

-        Brian Edwards would attend future TAG meetings as Nathan had moved teams within SYMCA

-        There had been a fairly small September scheduling change but nothing of significant note

-        Work had taken place with Rotherham officers around enhancements to the network.  An increase in the Bus Grant had been received from Central Government for South Yorkshire for the 2025/25 financial year.  SYMCA had worked with the local authorities, each of which had received an allocation and had done slightly different things with the funding.  Rotherham’s focus had been around access to employment resulting in SYMCA introducing the new X11 service linking Sheffield to Waverley, Moorgate and the Hospital through to Hellaby industrial estate, Doncaster through to the Iport.  It would be an hourly bus service intending to link the employment sites.

      Also, issues of people accessing jobs especially shift working had been taken into consideration.  Work had taken place with Stagecoach and Globe resulting in the reintroduction of evening bus services to Blackburn, Kimberworth and Oakes Lane.

      The Central Government funding was until the end of March 2026 but indications from the DfT were that there would be a similar allocation for the next financial year and, if so, the contracts would be extended. 

Agreed:-  (1)  That the update be noted.

(2)  That the Group’s thanks be placed on record for Nathan and his attendance and contributions to the Group.

(1)       First Group

(2)       Stagecoach

(3)       Rotherham Community Transport

First Group

Nathan Broadhead explained that the First Group had undergone a major restructure over recent weeks.  He would pick up attendance at the Group with the company but in the meantime if there were any issues he would feed them back.

Councillor Baggaley raised concerns regarding diversion of routes and the public not being fully informed of such.  There had been issues regarding the No. 95 service that was regularly missing parts of the Waverley housing estate with members of the public waiting for buses not knowing they were diverted.

Nathan undertook to feed the issue back to the Customer Experience Team at First Group.

Stagecoach

John Young reported that Stagecoach continued to enjoy high performance figures – 99.87% of all mileage from its Rawmarsh depot operated in the last 4 week period.

Service punctuality was consistent at around 88% of all journeys at all timing points on time (running on time was no more than 5 minutes late).

There had been a very small service change with some improvements to the evening services No. 135 and 137 tendered routes. 

The new Parkgate Relief Road continued to have major beneficial impacts on the bus service.

However, patronage was in decline across all Stagecoach depots in South Yorkshire and Chesterfield.  It was a similar position for other operators elsewhere in the region.  A key issue affecting the numbers was the fare cap when it had increased from £2 to £3.  Not everybody bought a single fare; a lot of people bought a weekly ticket and sales of them had increased since the fare cap. 

A second factor was the local economy with many of the town/city centres facing challenges. 

Rotherham Community Transport

No representative was present at the meeting.

Richard Isaac, Northern Rail, gave the following performance update for period 5:-

Time to 3                 78.4% (target 80.9%)

Cancellations           4.4% (target of 5.4%) – improved position

There was currently a restructure underway.  The stakeholder team had written out to all stakeholders informing them of the new structure.

Northern Rail’s target moving forward over the next few years as it moved towards GBR (Great British Railways) was 90 + 2 with a lot of effort going into improving the performance picture.

In terms of South Yorkshire, real patronage had increased 14% in total probably reflecting the good weather and more people taking advantage of the opportunities available particularly the offers on the coastal routes.

As reported at the last meeting, the outstanding work carried out by students at Calderdale College on promoting the Yorkshire coast as a tourist destination had formed part of a major exhibition at Scarborough station.  There was to be an event on 30^th September which the students would be attending.

Northern Rail would be working with Rotherham College again to promote destinations for leisure traffic for the summer next year focussing on Sheffield and Hope Valley.

Vacancies continued to be shared with Northern’s higher education partners so that young people across South Yorkshire could have sight of them. 

The Friends of Swinton Station had been recognised for their achievements with a new mural kindly supplied by partners and Northern to promote the station and the work of the community volunteers there.

The Chair drew attention to the forthcoming annual jobs and careers fayre should Northern Rail be interested in attending.

Richard stated that Northern Rail were a little challenged in attending all the events across the region and preferred to work with the individual higher education providers to get to those people who were particularly interested in a career path and get them to visit Leeds Station and meet the team. One of the young people who Northern had engaged with through the youth engagement programme was now the national counsellor for rail apprenticeships.

Nat Porter, Interim Head of Transportation Infrastructure, gave the following verbal update on the work of the Transport Infrastructure Service:-

Local Neighbourhood and Road Safety Fund Programme

-        Of the Tranche 1 schemes, 3 remaining schemes, except Boston Castle, now issued to Highway Delivery Teams

-        Whilst there were no precise dates for construction of schemes, indication received that all of the schemes should start on site before the end of the calendar year

-        Tranche 2 – designs were in commission for 9 of the 12 schemes and working through procuring designers for the 3 remaining schemes

-        Still on track to get those designs hopefully completed during the current municipal year

Minor Works Project

-        Nat would be taking a tour of all the Ward briefings to provide a briefing on how the Team considered/prioritised/funded minor works and provide clarity on the programme/how it operated to ensure everyone was clear what could be done and what the processes were

Transport for City Region Funds 2027-2032

-        Currently in the early stage of discussions with SYMCA around what the programme may look like at regional level and what the Rotherham part may look like

-        Still no update received on guidance from DfT that provided any more detail than what had previously been shared

There was no other business to consider.