The first Statutory Quality Partnership Scheme in England and Wales comes into effect.
Better bus services will start running along Barnsley Road in North Sheffield from Sunday, 18 November when the first Statutory Quality Partnership Scheme (SQPS) in England and Wales comes into effect.
The SQPS was signed in January by South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Authority and Executive (SYPTA/E) and Sheffield City Council. It is another example of innovation and leadership from SYPTA/E and Sheffield City Council in partnership to improve public transport for the people of Sheffield.
The scheme covers a significant area in North Sheffield, following the A6135 between Spital Hill and Chapeltown, including Firth Park centre.
The new facilities provided for in the SQPS include:
- a new bus lane on Burngreave Road to improve journey times;
- raised kerbs at almost 100 bus stops to enable level boarding onto accessible buses for all passengers including those in wheelchairs;
- bus stop clearways (no parking) so that buses can pull right up to the kerb;
- new bus shelters;
- better information, including some Real Time displays showing when your bus is due;
- new traffic detection technology to improve the management and flow of traffic.
In return for introducing the above, SYPTA/E and Sheffield City Council have specified minimum standards for buses using these facilities.
These include:
- more than 100 low floor vehicles meeting national accessibility standards; First Group is providing 70 buses for the route and Stagecoach 35
- low emission Euro III engines
- CCTV cameras for passenger safety
- high standards of presentation and cleanliness
- NVQ qualifications for all drivers for improved customer care
All operators were formally consulted and agreed to improve their services for passengers by meeting these stretching standards. Key bus services which will be improved include 47/48, 75/76, 83, 88, 97 and 98.
Councillor Bryan Lodge, Cabinet Member for Transport and Streetscene at Sheffield City Council said: “The Statutory Quality Partnership Scheme will provide passengers with a higher quality of service, improved reliability and better punctuality. In Sheffield we are by far ahead of the rest of the country in providing our citizens with improved public transport facilities through regulation. We hope that the Statutory Quality Partnership Scheme will encourage more people back onto public transport in the city by giving them real choice. These measures will reduce the great variation in journey times caused by congestion at peak times.”
This will be managed through the use of a Real Time Intelligent Detection system that can detect buses at key junctions, making bus services more reliable and attracting more people to use them.
More than 14 million bus passenger journeys are made every year on bus services covered by this SQPS already and raising the quality of bus services will benefit all these existing passengers, as well as offering new passengers an attractive alternative to the private car for some journeys.
David Brown, Passenger Services Director for SYPTE, said: “This ground-breaking scheme is part of our strategy to improve bus services across South Yorkshire. We want to make bus travel more attractive for customers and potential bus users.
“The Statutory Quality Partnership Scheme for North Sheffield, the first of its kind in England and Wales, will help deliver a step change in quality and reliability of bus services and this improvement will make buses an even better option.
“Statutory Quality Partnership Schemes form part of the Local Transport Bill recently introduced into the House of Commons by the Government. We hope to build on the North Sheffield SQP by developing more schemes to demonstrate the commitment of SYPTE, Sheffield City Council and all the operators involved.”
Bob Hamilton, Managing Director for First in South Yorkshire, said: “I am extremely pleased that all of us with an interest in providing first class bus travel in North Sheffield have come together in partnership.
“This is a new and innovative scheme that will initially benefit the passengers in North Sheffield and will also hopefully lead to further partnership agreements across the rest of Sheffield and South Yorkshire”
Paul Lynch, Managing Director of Stagecoach Yorkshire, said: “Stagecoach has long supported the use of Statutory Quality Partnerships to enhance bus travel and we would encourage local authorities to introduce them where helpful and appropriate.
“We are pleased to be delivering on our commitments under this North Sheffield Partnership and will be happy to support further schemes that assist buses to beat congestion and run punctually.”