Bus-priority relaxation is last straw for First

01 April 2009

First South Yorkshire has pulled out of the Sheffield bus agreement, claiming the council has broken its terms.

The organisation has opted to give notice to withdraw from the partnership, which is up for renewal in May, and cites Sheffield City Council’s proposals to relax bus-priority measures at Hillsborough bus and tram gate as a key reason.

The council revealed plans to cut the gate’s enforcement hours to peak times for a trial period, starting in September (Surveyor, 27 November 2008).

However, Brandon Jones, deputy managing director for First in South Yorkshire, said the local authority had agreed not to do this.

‘First could not – and would not – have given notice to terminate the Sheffield bus agreement if the council had met its commitments that we agreed were necessary to promote and improve public transport for the people of Sheffield,’ he said.
‘In failing to meet its obligations, Sheffield City Council has undermined the whole basis of the agreement.’

Jones added that the local authority had agreed to enforce existing bus gates, yet failed to install cameras on some locations, including Glossop Road.

He claimed the council had failed to meet its obligations, despite First meeting all its commitments, including some £15M investment in new buses, CCTV and driver training.

Les Sturch, director of development services at the council, said: ‘This is a real step back in our efforts to try to improve bus services. I am disappointed and fear that pulling out of the agreement will serve only to provide inadequate and unstable bus services.’

Cllr Mick Jameson, chairman of the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive (SYPTE), said: ‘I just hope this doesn’t mean we are going back to the bad old days of regular fare rises and cuts to services.’

First is now reviewing a number of ‘poor-performing’ services due to a passenger downturn caused by the economic climate.
First signed the voluntary agreement with SYPTE in March 2007, committing to not make service changes without the PTE’s permission (Surveyor, 3 May 2007). It was designed to enable residents to use bus services with ‘greater confidence’.

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