Agenda item

Updates from the Transport Operators

 

1)    First Group

 

2)    Stagecoach

 

3)    South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive

 

4)    Rotherham Community Transport

 

5)    Northern Rail (report at pages 5 and 6)

 

6)    Robin Hood Airport - Consultative Committee meeting - minutes of the AGM on 14 January, 2016 (pages 7 to 11) and the ordinary meeting, also on 14 January, 2016 (pages 12 to 16), together with a report about the new link road to the airport (pages 17 and 18)

Minutes:

(1) First Group – with effect from Sunday. 15th May, 2016, various changes would be made to services operated by First in South Yorkshire, including services in Bramley, Maltby and Wath upon Dearne. The X78 service will run every 15 minutes between Rotherham and Doncaster, but remain every 10 minutes between Rotherham and Sheffield. Roadworks in the Rotherham area was contributing to some service delay and disruption. The First company had recently made a significant investment in some new double-decker buses.

 

(2) Stagecoach – There have been some timetable changes to services 108 and 109 (affecting services on Sundays) and service 228 might eventually be withdrawn. The Stagecoach company has also invested in some new vehicles. The traffic congestion in the Parkgate area of Rotherham continued to be the cause of some service delays.

 

(3) South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive (SYPTE) – no report.

 

(4) Rotherham Community Transport – no report.

 

(5) Northern Rail / Arriva Rail – Members welcomed Alison Bell (of Northern Rail) to her first meeting of the RMBC Transport Liaison Group. Members were informed of the new franchise arrangement, beginning on 1st April, 2016, for the operation of train services in South Yorkshire and in the wider North of England region. The Arriva company will offer a wider range of ticketing, especially in respect of advance bookings. Currently, there were many positive aspects of rail services operating locally : employee engagement and customer satisfaction are good; service performance timings and rolling stock fleet reliability are good. New customer information screens had been installed at nine railway stations in the South Yorkshire area, as part of the significant improvements made to stations during the current rail franchise. In the next franchise, Arriva Rail North will operate more trains. There will be new trains and refurbished rolling stock to and “as new” standard. The outdated Pacer trains will be phased out of use by the end of 2019.

 

Members noted the contents of the submitted report, from the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive, concerning car parking at the two Kiveton stations.

 

(6) Robin Hood Doncaster Sheffield Airport – Consideration was given to the minutes of the two most recent meetings of the Robin Hood Airport Consultative Committee, both held on 14th January, 2016 : (i) an ordinary meeting; and (ii) the annual general meeting.  The contents of these minutes were noted. Additionally, Members noted that the new link road had opened in the south of Doncaster, from Junction 3 of the M18 motorway. The official opening ceremony had taken place on Monday 29th February, 2016. To be known as ‘Great Yorkshire Way’, the new road had been constructed as part of the Finningley and Rossington Regeneration Route Scheme (FARRRS) and would serve the area near to the airport.

 

The RMBC Transport Liaison Group was informed that the Civil Aviation Authority was currently reviewing surface access to UK airports to better understand how they are operating and how that affects consumers, focussing primarily on road-based access to airports, including transport-providers’ access to the airport forecourt in a recently published Consultation on ‘issues affecting passengers’ access to UK Airports: A Review of Surface Access’.   As part of this consultation process, views on the issues affecting passengers’ access at the Robin Hood Doncaster Sheffield Airport were being sought, specifically in relation to various questions (which set out on pages 50-51 in the consultation document).

Supporting documents: