1. Current Government Position.
2. Public Transport.
3. Roads.
4. Active Travel .
5. Clean Air Zone Programme.
6. Members’ Questions
Minutes:
Nat Porter, Transport Officer, provided an update. He reported on a number of public transport purchase schemes in the Transforming City Programme including Doncaster Road, Dalton and Maltby. The service were currently preparing consultation on those projects and would be out to public consultation on Doncaster Road in late March and later during April in Maltby.
Prior to this consultation going live Ward Members would be advised accordingly.
In terms of Active Travel Proposals the design of these were ongoing and being finalised as public consultation came to an end for Frederick Street and the proposed changes to the town centre pedestrian zone. Consultation on whether to permit public 24 hour cycling on Frederick Street had now closed and the service were currently in the process of reviewing the responses.
In respect of the Clean Air Zone at Wortley Road much of the signage was now in place, but currently obscured with grey spray paint until all the signage was in place. Whilst there may be some concerns that the signs had been vandalised, this was not the case as there had been some issues with the availability of the variable signage that needed to be in place so it was anticipated that the “go live” date would be mid-April. The prohibition could not be effected until all the correct signage was erected.
In respect of the other Clean Air Zone areas, the junction of Rawmarsh Hill and Bellows Road was ongoing with discussions taking place with the operators and the MCA in respect of requiring changes to bus services.
The service had also reached agreement with Sheffield City Council to deliver the funding for managing the Clean Air Zone problems for the improvements to the bus fleet to reduce their emissions and for buses on that particular corridor to be upgraded.
There were no planned changes to bus service on Rawmarsh Hill in the short term, but a framework had been agreed in terms of how the required change was achieved and aligned with the transition in bus services. This would be part of the emergency support to buses in September.
Further information would be made available as this progressed to achieve outcomes for effective air quality in a manner that minimised disruption to passengers.
Questions were invited and an update sought on the bus lane at Wickersley and why it had not progressed.
The Transportation Unit confirmed that following consultations with Ward Members the decision was taken for this to not be progressed. The bus lanes at Maltby and Hellaby had progressed along with the changes to extend the bus lane at Wickersley School and improvements to the bus stop at Brecks Crescent.
The importance of bus lanes and bus priority were pointed out as key by operators as this affected costs and level of service that could be offered. A description of the effect of congestion, frequency and slowing the service down making the use of a bus less attractive to customers was provided.
As a further update the Transport Officer reported on commentary about reductions in traffic with the increase of cycling and walking practice since restrictions were lifted. In fact traffic levels had returned to 95% before the pandemic level and around the same as at 2018. Therefore, there was no significant sustained reduction in traffic, but reduced bus priority.
Councillor Bennett-Sylvester asked about the A630 consultation on Doncaster Road which was designed at easing congestion and assumed this included operators. It was confirmed that operators had been engaged with and could respond directly through the consultation or through the discussion at he Bus Partnership Operations Group.
Agreed:- That the Transportation Unit updates be received and noted.