Agenda and minutes
Venue: Virtual
Contact: Democratic Services Email: democraticservicesteam@somerset.gov.uk
Media
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Welcome and Apologies for Absence To welcome attendees and receive any apologies for absence. Minutes: Apologies were received from Sunita Mills, Somerset Council and Darren Hewlett, Dartline Coaches.
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Minutes of the Previous Meeting PDF 106 KB To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 30th April 2024 as an accurate representation of the meeting. Minutes: The minutes of the meeting held on 30 April 2024 were approved.
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Public Question Time To receive any public questions or statements submitted three clear working days in advance of the meeting. Minutes: Questions were received from William Green and David Redgewell. The questions submitted and responses provided are as follows:
Question 1 I live in Coxley and frequently catch the 374 and 375 services. I've noticed many of them seem to show the wrong destination on the front of the buses. I often see Glastonbury or Wells written on the front of buses going to Bristol or heading off to Taunton/Bridgwater. Can this please be changed as people are finding it very confusing with some thinking they have to change bus?
Response 1 We have raised this with First West of England and asked them to review their destination displays.
Question 2 Can you please update the Public Transport stakeholders in Somerset and Dorset on the promised portable toilet facilities that Councillor Adam Dance told us the council was going to install including disabled access toilets and baby changes facilities.
Yeovil is a very important public transport hub in South West England for the bus network in Somerset and Dorset by all the following: First Group plc, South Buses Division, Wales and West Buses, South West Coaches Rail link, the bus service to Yeovil Pen Mill for First Group plc, Greater Western Trains Company Ltd, GWR First Group plc, MTR South Western Railway Company, Yeovil Junction railway station, coach services by Berry's Coaches to London Hammersmith and Taunton for Megabus, Scottish City link coaches and the Flixbus coaches network.
Are there any plans to reopen the bus and coach station cafe as a community café, working with bus and coach operators, First Group plc, South West Coaches Group and community groups similar to the Yeovil Pen Mill Railway station café?
Response 2 The toilets had to close due to the Council’s financial position, following a decision taken at Full Council, and the town council not being able to take this on. We are not aware of any funding for temporary facilities at present.
Question 3a In view of the issues of reliability and Punctuality on Somerset bus and coach Network, what discussions are taking place with the Somerset Highway Authority, North Somerset Council, Highways Authority BANES Council, Highways Authority West of England, the mayoral combined transport Authority and Bristol City Council Highways Authority, over road works and divisionary routes for bus and coach services and shuttle buses service to serve villages cut off from the bus and coach network?
An example being the Bristol bus and coach station to Bristol Temple Meads station, Totterdown, Knowle, Hengrove, Whitchurch, Pensford, Clutton, Farrington Gurney, Chewton Mendip, Wells bus and coach station, Glastonbury, Street, Walton to Bridgwater railway station and bus and coach station, Taunton Town Centre services 374 and 375 and connections at Wells bus and coach station for Glastonbury, Street, Somerton, Ilchester and Yeovil bus and coach services 77.
Response 3a Each Highway Authority should be publishing a list of forthcoming planned works which can be used to identify any works or road closures of concern. Within Somerset all planned road closure routes are ... view the full minutes text for item 60. |
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Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) Update To receive a verbal update. Minutes: The Service Commissioning Manager for Passenger Transport, Natasha Bates advised that following approval via the Council’s internal governance, the final version of the BSIP for 2024 was submitted to the Department for Transport (DfT) to meet the 12 June 2024 deadline and a copy would shortly be available on the Council’s website. Local Transport Authorities were also required to submit a Bus Connectivity Assessment (BCA) by this date and having met both targets, the final tranche of the BSIP funding would now be released.
She thanked everyone who had engaged in the process and who had provided very useful feedback. She also acknowledged that the operators had had to provide a large amount of data in a short period of time. Going forward, it is expected that that the BCA is likely to be an annual process so the plan will be to build the data requirement into the quarterly requests, making it a more manageable task.
Councillor Dave Mansell queried whether the definition of “core network” had been addressed in the final version of the BSIP as without it, it would be difficult to understand what the plan was trying to achieve and the routes covered. In response, the Service Commissioning Manager explained that the core network would be established as the Local Transport Plan(LTP) was developed as it is supposed to reflect the LTP. |
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Timetable Changes proposed for 2nd September 2024 Operators to present their proposals. Minutes: Rebecca Mantyk of First South West provided an update. With the aid of a PowerPoint presentation, some of the points made included the following:
Terrance James of First South West provided an update on the timetable changes proposed for September 2024:
The Chair requested that where bus services were less frequent, ie, a couple of hours between them, could the more reliable buses be used on these routes to avoid breakdowns on these less frequent services. Terrance James responded that this could be given consideration. Councillor Dave Mansell requested that as the change to Service 25 did not involve a timetable change, could it be implemented right away? In response, Terrance James advised that they hoped to implement some of these changes sooner rather than later as it will be a benefit to passengers. In response to questions, First South West advised:
Dan Ashworth from First West of England provided an update as follows:
· Services 171, 173 & 174 – Departure times changed on most journeys. Some early and late trips on Services 173 & 174 and will be replaced by Service 171 due to low demand.
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Update from Operators on £1.50 fare, National £2 fare and any other relevant updates To receive any updates from operators. Minutes: The Service Manager for Transporting Somerset, John Perrett advised there were no further updates at the moment regarding the £1.50 fare and are managing to maintain the number of people travelling on this fare. The government £2 fare continues to December and all operators in Somerset are continuing to offer this fare and there has been an increase of approximately 19% in patronage.
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Update from the Chair of the Bus User and Stakeholders Group To receive a verbal update. Minutes: The Chair of the Bus User and Stakeholders Group, Peter Travis, provided an update. He made the following comments:
At the conclusion of this update, the following comments were made:
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Any Other Business To raise any other relevant issues from the Chair or Board members. Minutes: There was none. |
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Date of Next Meeting To note that the next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday 15 October 2024 at 10.00am. Minutes: The date of the next meeting was noted as being Tuesday, 15 October 2024 at 10.00 am.
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