Plans to ban private traffic from a York city centre route could herald cheaper bus fares – although concerns were raised it might also increase illegal driving manoeuvres.
City of York Council is to press ahead with the experimental 18-month Rougier Route bus priority scheme designed to combat congestion and speed up public transport.
An executive meeting yesterday (Tuesday) agreed to spend £2.35m on the project, which will see private traffic barred from driving from Rougier Street along George Hudson Street to Micklegate.
Rougier Route scheme
The £2.35 million Rougier Route aims to speed up bus journeys and free up roads for those who need to drive.
It is set to see private traffic barred from driving from Rougier Street along George Hudson Street to Micklegate.
The route would remain open to buses, cyclists and emergency services vehicles with restrictions in place from 7am to 11pm daily, with Blue Badge holders and hackney carriage drivers exempt.
Measures would also be in place to ensure Bishophill residents can drive to and from their homes.
A new one-way loop would send private traffic from Rougier Street and along Tanner Row, Toft Green and Micklegate to the junction with George Hudson Street.
A bus lane would run southbound along George Hudson Street with a ‘bus gate’ in place from the road’s junction with Micklegate to the latter’s junction with Skeldergate and North Street.
The problem
Congestion is getting worse in York city centre. City of York Council wants to tackle it by getting more people to use the buses, but they too are hit by the jams.
“In some cases, the average speed of the buses trying to get across the city centre is less than 4mph and it’s faster to walk for those who can,” Cllr Kate Ravilious, the council’s transport lead, told the meeting.
To get more people using the buses they need to be quicker and more reliable.
With 1,000 buses travelling over Ouse Bridge every day, the Rougier Route is the city’s busiest bus corridor and that’s why it’s been chosen.
Speeding things up
Andrew McGuinness of the Confederation of Passenger Transport told the meeting reducing traffic on the Rougier Route would make a difference: “Buses would operate more reliably through the week, with journey time savings of almost six minutes, Monday to Thursday peak, and nearly seven minutes on a Friday between Clifford Street and the railway station.”
Doreen Magill of York Bus Forum said: “I found a Coastliner timetable from 2015. Comparing two journeys at similar times of the day in 2015 from York College through the city to the other side of Heworth took 30 minutes.
“Now it takes 45 minutes on their current timetable. So you can do the maths.
“The Rougier Route won’t solve the problems, but it will help, and I do see it as a first step to encourage people to use the buses, which will free up space and let us all move around more easily.”
Residents’ views
People living in the area of the Rougier Route generally supported it, said John Iredale of the Bishophill Action Group.
He said the decision to modify the scheme to allow residents access through Victoria Bar, enforced by numberplate cameras, “will prevent drivers from using this route as a short cut, which over the years has been a major concern for Bishophill residents”.
Mr Iredale added: “Similarly, an automatic number plate recognition on Fetter Lane will allow residents on the Micklegate side of Bishophill to exit onto Skeldergate.
“Prior to this amendment to the scheme, there was a very convoluted route for certain people to take to get out of that part of Bishophill.
“Clearly, these restrictions will have an impact upon the entrance and exit to Bishophill, particularly from Cromwell Road, from Skeldergate, as they will almost certainly be increased traffic flows on the inner ring road.
“We believe that the junction are from Skeldergate onto Bishopgate Street could be enlarged slightly.”
Blue Badge access
Diane Rowarth, of York Access Forum, told the meeting: “The principle I wish to applaud is that of allowing Blue Badge holders and hackney carriages to use the bus gate alongside emergency and other essential vehicles.
“This proposal recognises the important principle that a vehicle carrying a Blue Badge is an essential vehicle for its user.”
Illegal driving worries
York Green Party leader Andy D’Agorne supported the broad plan, but raised specific worries.
He said: “The scheme’s operation until 11pm is likely to lead to illegal right turns from Nessgate at Spurriergate corner into Coney Street, inappropriate speeds along pedestrian areas, and then further illegal turning from Lendal onto Museum Street.
“The solution could be an amendment to a footstreets order to enable the HVM barriers at this point to remain closed between five and 11pm.”
Traffic jams moved?
Lib Dem Cllr Stephen Fenton raised concerns about displacing traffic to other routes, which could have a knock-on effect
Tom Horner, the council’s head of policy and travel behaviour, told the meeting: “We do expect there to be some. The modellings identified an impact between Museum Street and Blossom Street, but there are opportunities with less traffic going into Rougier Street to change the signals there.”
He said they’d be working with First Bus to monitor the effect on other bus services, such and the 1 and 5 buses that go over Lendal.
Enforcement
Bus gates will be installed and automatic number plate recognition cameras used to enforce it.
There will be no fines for anyone transgressing the traffic ban for the first six months, just warning letters.
It will launch in January, a traditionally quiet time of the year. This worried Mark Venables of the York Civic Trust, who said: “We are concerned that the further delay in introducing the scheme – which was originally planned for implementation in 2025 – delaying implementation until four months before the council elections, runs the risk that the scheme will become a political battleground.”
Cut bus fares
Transport lead Cllr Kate Ravilious said they wanted to change the vicious circle of congestion into a virtuous circle.
“It cuts the congestion, it reduces your bus journey times, it increases the reliability, reduces your bus operating costs, enable operators to add more services to reduce ticket costs, and to increase our passenger numbers, and that’s what we’ve got to do for our city.”
