Meeting Minutes Portsmouth January 2014 - PDF - (172

Meeting Minutes
Meeting Title Customer Panel Meeting Chaired by Julian Osborne, Bus Users UK Date of Meeting 23 January 2014 Start Time 18:00 – 20:00 Location Frank Sorrel Centre, Southsea Prepared By N Tagholm Attendees Apologies Distribution Julian Osborne, Bus Users UK (JO) Natacha Tagholm, First (NT) Dave Williams (DW) Derek Jones, Hampshire County Council (DMJ) Jon Crossland, First (JC) Dave Foot, First (DF) Bill Sprake, First (BS) Rev. David Stephen Butler (DSB) Danny Johnson, Portsmouth City Council (DPJ) Terry Moore (TM) Peter Cairns (PC) Stephanie Cokeley (SC) Ian Woodcock, First (IW) Glenn Jones, First (GJ) Sharon Smithson (SS) Luke Stubbs, Cllr for Eastney (LS) David Attrill, First (DA) John Gordon (JG) Graham Keeping (GK) Mark Woodgate (MW) Terry Bryant (TB) Chris Bainbridge, First (CB) Keith Manship (KM) Marc Reddy, First (MR) Matthew Callow, First (MC) Alison Henderson, First (AH) Vicky Williams, First ((VW) Steve Hobbs, First (SH) Nick Sutton, First (NS) Minutes Type Description 1. Confidentiality & Panel Code of Conduct 1.1 The panel was reminded of the code of conduct and the need for confidentiality. The panel was reminded that the panel is for invited members only and is not an open forum. Minutes of the last meeting 2. 2.1 3. 3.1 3.2 4. Who Accuracy Section 4.1 should refer to HCC (Hampshire County Council) not PCC (Portsmouth City Council). Customer Service Update Customer Service Summary NT distributed a summary of comments. DSB asked about the increase in comments for October and November. BS explained the reliability comments are due to the number of roadworks affecting the city at the time. NT added there has been a lot of work done on customer service training for drivers and this is shown in the decrease in December. NT also explained that comments also go up when there is a change to the network as people’s routines change. Bus Users UK There are currently no First Portsmouth complaints referred to Bus Users UK. Network Update Meeting Minutes
Type Description 4.1 Several changes will be made to the Solent network from Sunday 26 January 2014. These changes are a combination of new tender arrangements for the Gosport and Fareham area, as well as changes aimed at improving the financial performance of the network. The following is an overview of these changes: Service E1‐E2 (Eclipse service Gosport‐Fareham) The Sunday daytime frequency will be increased to every 10 minutes through the busway. This increase will occur between about 1000 and 1710. On Monday to Saturday evenings there will be an extra late night journey (at 2328) from Fareham Railway Station to Gosport and two extra late night journeys from Gosport (at 2341 and 0011) as far as Hoeford. Service 2 (Gunwharf‐Paulsgrove) The service will be withdrawn from Hillsley Road, and will instead terminate at Allaway Avenue at Paulsgrove Shops. The route will also be diverted to serve Ludlow Road instead of Allaway Avenue between Paulsgrove Shops and Upper Wymering. Both of these amendments reflect the low usage of the service. However, Hillsley Road will continue to be served by a revised 18 service. There will be consequent changes to the timetable throughout the day. Service 4 4A (Southampton‐Gosport/Fareham) The 4B variation will be withdrawn. However, one bus will continue to start and finish at St Anne’s School in Southampton, but will instead operate via the current 4A route. Service 5/5A (Fareham‐Gosport) The service 5A between Fareham, Stubbington and Hill Head will be withdrawn, as the service is financially unsustainable. (But note that the County Council is currently tendering for a replacement service). The service 5 between Fareham, Stubbington, Lee‐on‐the‐Solent, Cherque Farm and Gosport will be increased to operate every 30 minutes. Additionally, the 5 will be diverted to serve Stokes Bay Road and Jellicoe Avenue in line with requests from bus users. The route will also be simplified between Stubbington and Fareham College to operate on a more direct basis. Instead of Greyshott Avenue and Longmynd Drive, the bus will run via Longfield Avenue and Bishopsfield Road. Service 6/6A… (Fareham‐Gosport) The entire service 6/6A will be withdrawn, because of poor financial performance. The service around Highlands will, in the future, be provided by routes F1 and F2, services between Lee on the Solent and Gosport will be provided by the new service 5, whilst that the County Council the County Council has awarded a tender to First to operate revised route 21 linking Fareham, Newgate Lane, Cherque Farm, Lee‐on‐the‐
Solent and Stubbington on Mondays to Saturdays (see 21 below). Service 7/7C (Wecock Farm‐Portsmouth) The morning peak will see additional journeys between Portsmouth City Centre and South Downs College/Oaklands School to accommodate the huge demand for travel at this time. Several service 7C journeys operating exactly the same route will operate as normal service 7 journeys. Who Meeting Minutes
Type Description Service 8/X8 (Clanfield‐Portsmouth) The service will be amended to operate between Clanfield Drift Road and Portsmouth only. The section of route between Clanfield Village and Drift Road will be withdrawn because of low patronage. The service X8 (one journey only at 0725 from Clanfield) will also be withdrawn, but an equivalent journey will operate as a normal 8 service. There will be consequent timetable changes to morning and afternoon peak journeys. Service 9/9A (Gosport‐Fareham) The service will be amended to run between Fareham, Bridgemary, Rowner, Stoke Road and Gosport only. It will continue to operate every fifteen minutes during the daytime. The service will be withdrawn from West End, but alternative services are available in Bishopsfield Road (the revised service 5) and in Redlands Lane (the present E1/E2 service). There are currently no plans to have a service in Longfield Avenue between the junction with Bishopsfield Road and St Michaels Grove. At the southern end of the route, all buses will operate from Rowner to Browndown, Gomer Lane and operate via Stoke Road to Gosport Ferry. The section of route between Rowner, Brockhurst, Elson and Gosport (operated as the 9A) will be withdrawn, as will the diversions via Alverstoke. Monday to Saturday evening services will finish at about 1930, reflecting the low usage of the current evening service. Service 10 (Gosport‐Fareham) The service 10 will be withdrawn from Royal Clarence Yard after the cessation of external funding. It will also be diverted to serve Spring Garden Lane and Creek Road following customer requests. Although the service will remain hourly and run on Monday to Saturday, it will cease after about 1630 in line with current passenger usage. Service 11 (Gosport‐Fareham) We have successfully bid for the operation of this tendered service. The new service will operate direct between Fareham, Fleetlands, Brockhurst, Forton Road and Gosport Ferry, and will additionally serve Alverstoke Village and Haslar. The service will continue to operate on Monday to Saturday on a two‐hourly basis. Service 15 (Hayling Ferry‐Portsmouth) There will be a revised morning timetable, allowing hourly departures from Hayling Ferry between 0705 and 2000 on Mondays to Fridays and between 0800 and 2000 on Saturdays. Service 17/18 (Tipner‐Southsea‐Paulsgrove) Service 18 will be extended to start and finish at Paulsgrove Hillsley Road. Additionally the route will be amended around Queen Alexandra Hospital in Cosham to allow common stops to be used at the main entrance. Instead of running via London Road and Southwick Hill Road, the new route will run via Southampton Road, past the main entrance to the hospital and Sevenoaks Road, before returning to Southampton Road. There will be consequent changes to the timetable of both the 17 and 18 routes. SC asked if the 18 go have a better frequency as it goes to hospital so people in wheelchairs won’t be able to get on. Who Meeting Minutes
Type Description Service 20 (Fareham‐Wickham) We have successfully bid for the operation of this tendered service, which remains unchanged from the current timetable and route. Service 21 (Fareham‐Stubbington‐Hill Head) In common with the service 5A, the 21 has been withdrawn because of continuing poor financial performance. Subsequently we have been advised that we are the successful tenderer for the County’s replacement service. The new 21 will operate from Fareham and run via Redlands Lane, Peel Common, Stubbington, Hill Head, Stubbington, Lee‐on‐the‐
Solent, Cherque Farm, Peel Common, Redlands Lane and Fareham. The service will operate between about 0630 and 1900 on Mondays to Saturdays. Service 22 (North‐Portchester‐Cosham) This service between North Portchester, Portchester, Paulsgrove and Cosham High Street will be withdrawn, because of poor financial returns. However, see F3 for details of a service linking North Portchester with Fareham. Service 26 (Fareham‐Hedge End) We have successfully bid for the operation of this tendered service, very much based on the current timetable and route. The only amendment is that the late afternoon service from about 1630 from Fareham will operate about fifteen minutes later than at present. Service 28 (Warsash‐Fareham) We have successfully bid for the operation of this tendered service, mainly based on the current timetable and route. However, daytime services will be diverted to serve Fareham College, Longmynd Drive, Greyshott Avenue and Wild Ridings to allow a day‐
time shopping service. Additionally, the 07:00 departure from Fareham will be extended to serve Tesco at Whiteley, and the current 17:04 from Whiteley Parkway will be started instead at Whiteley Tescos at 17:02. Services SD4 SD5 SD6 and 52 These special services for South Downs Colleges (from Gosport, Warsash, Bishops Waltham and Fareham) will be diverted between Cosham and South Downs College, to run via Portsdown Hill Road and College Road instead of via London Road and Ladybridge Road. This is at the request of the College New Service F1 (Fareham‐Highlands) A partial replacement service for the withdrawn 6, this bus will run between Fareham Bus Station, Fareham Railway Station, Blackbrook Road, Highlands Shops and Thorni Avenue. It will operate on a daily, half hourly basis New Service F2 (Fareham‐Frosthole Crescent) A partial replacement service for the withdrawn 6, this bus will run between Fareham Bus Station, Trinity Street, Maylings Farm Road and Frosthole Crescent. It will complete the entire loop of Frosthole and then return to Fareham via Maylings Farm. The service operates every hour, which reflects the actual usage of the service. New Service F3 (Fareham‐Portchester) A partial replacement service for the withdrawn 22, this bus will run between Fareham Bus Station, North Portchester Dore Avenue and Portchester Precinct on a two hourly basis on Monday to Saturdays. Running times Who DA Meeting Minutes
Type 4.2 4.3 5 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 Description Who Many busier services have amendments to the various time bands during the day, and in particular running times for the afternoon peak period are extended until 18:45 in the evenings. The aim is to roll this principle out to all services in the Solent area. Fare increases JC gave the reasons for the fare increases. SC asked if all the increases go to the shareholders. JC explained that it is mostly reinvested into new buses. SC expressed concern that many of the ramps don’t work. Fleet update DPJ asked for an update on new buses. BS mentioned there are new vehicles coming in over the next 12 months. SC believed that the low floor buses (without the ramp) are not accessible if the platform or the pavement is slightly higher. DPJ suggested this might be because the bus cannot access the bus stop correctly and added that the kerbs in Portsmouth have been built to meet the bus floor. SC suggested DPJ try the stop outside the school on Albert Road (Napier Road). DF said that nearly all Portsmouth low floor buses could deploy a ramp if there was a pavement alignment issues. JC to look into these issues. Panel members issues/comments DF DPJ JC Service 2 (DSB) DSB and PC expressed concerns at the reliability of service 2 but feels he has to leave to an extra 20 minutes for each journey. This is such a regular issue but he does not feel that the customer promise compensation actually does anything to address the operational issues. JC explained there will be a new control system for Solent which will include RTI. The supervisor at The Hard will also be able to make some change decisions. JO asked if the controllers will have the ability to put messages on RTI. JC said this is not possible at present. Customer services will have access to the screens so will be able to give live information in the case of heavy congestion. DSB finds the seats next to the drivers cab higher than before. Service 18 (DSB) This is often early in Campbell Road– it goes too fast up Fawcett Road (which has traffic calming measures) and then waits 5 minutes at Fratton Bridge. It would seem the drivers are racing between timing points so they can have a break at the timing point. BS to monitor the services on the 18. Driver attitude (DSB) DSB mentioned that most drivers are absolutely fine but there seems to be a hard core who have attitude. NT explained the work which is being done behind the scenes. Monthly bus pass (DSB) The bus pass is too big for the white wallet. When he called to complain, he got attitude. The tickets are sealed so actually don’t require a wallet. As the business is reviewing a smartcard system, it will not be buying new wallets at the moment. Buses curtailing service (TB) TB expressed concern (via email) about the number of buses going out of service before the end their trip, e.g. on service 3 to Portsdown Inn, drivers are ending their trip at King Richard School. TB to provide exact time and drivers so First can take action. Breakdowns and missing buses. (TM) TM expressed concern at the number of breakdowns and curtailments recently. DF to look into details provided by TM and reported back via NT. Service 2 ‐ new vehicles (CB) BS TB DF Meeting Minutes
Type Description 5.8 CB asked the panel (via email) for feedback on the new vehicles. PC fed back from the Portsmouth Disability Forum who met this afternoon and the members seem very happy. However, the lack of audio announcements is disappointing. JC to check the dates of implementation of this and report back to the panel via NT. DW added that the new buses are really nice. However some of the place names on the Star are bizarre (e.g. Health Centre, King George Playing and Southsea‐a‐shops). BS explained these are being addressed but there is a limit to the number of characters. First Bus website & APP (PC) There are a lot of old things still on there going back to last March. Service changes should go under service updates. The website is not user friendly on tablets. Service updates should have an area specified as part of the heading. Disability issues (PC) 5.9 5.10 5.11 PC has had to replace his bus pass twice and it is still not working. BS has put a staff notice to all drivers saying that bus passes should not be confiscated simply because they don’t scan. DPJ explained that there have been some problems in Portsmouth with the blind persons all day pass. This is due to a technical issue with the pass. Portsmouth is working with ITSO who provides the back office security management system which enables ITSO‐compliant smart ticketing systems to be set up. This system guarantees high security surrounding the data it processes. PC mentioned that many drivers do not allow people to alight before boarding other passengers. BS to issue a staff notice. PC asked why some audio announcements are correct and some are not (especially service 7). JC explained that a member of staff has just been made a ‘champion’ for these issues and will be travelling every route to check out the problems and report back for them to be fixed. PC reiterated that the colour of the poles is not helpful to partially sighted people. DF will feed back to the design meetings. DipTac regulations to be checked. On service 7 and 8 the rear display in on the offside which is difficult for people to see. DF to feed back. Service 700 sometimes cannot get on to the stop at The Hard as service 8 waits out time. BS explained there has been some rejigging of the stops which should alleviate the problems. The timetable book will have to be updated. The new timetable book also does not link into local attractions despite being previously requested. Service 1 and 7 (PC) PC expressed concern at the bunching on these services also. The same resolutions as per 5.1 should help address these concerns and also not going via Hilsea Road. Tipner Park and Ride DPJ gave an update on the new Park and Ride. It is anticipated that the new service will start w/c 30.03.13. The service will be operated by First. It will go to The Hard Interchange via Bishop Crispian Way and Queen Street. Cost and ticketing has not yet been finalised. Cost will be per car of up to 8 people. There will be smart ticketing system. The buses will have leather seats, media screens and audio announcements. They will be distinguishable from the regular buses. Walk‐up passengers without a car will also be able to travel. Route Description Tipner – City Centre – Hard Interchange / Gunwharf Quays Who JC AH VW AH BS DF DF VW Meeting Minutes
Type 5.12 5.13 Description From Tipner Park and Ride via M275 (bus lane), Mile End Road, Commercial Road, Marketway, Unicorn Road, Bishop Crispian Way, Queen Street to The Hard Interchange / Gunwharf Quays. Returning from the Hard Interchange / Gunwharf Quays via Queen Street, Bishop Crispian Way, Unicorn Road, Marketway, Hope Street, Mile End Road, and M275 to the Tipner Park and Ride. It is envisaged that the park & ride service will serve the following bus stops:  Tipner P&R  Mile End Road/Portsmouth International Port inbound  Mile End Road/ Portsmouth International Port outbound  Mile End Road inbound Charles Dickens for the Trafalgar Gate  Mile End Road outbound Prospect Road for Trafalgar Gate  Bishop Crispian Way inbound  Bishop Crispian Way outbound  Hard Interchange Stand A Days of Operation:  Monday to Sunday, including 6 Bank Holidays. (Not Christmas Day or Easter Sunday) Monday to Friday Frequency:  Peak: Minimum of every 12 minutes between 07:00 & 09:30 – 15:30 & 18:00  Off‐peak: Minimum of every 20 minutes Monday to Friday Hours of Operation:  Between 07:00 and 19:30 Saturday Frequency:  Minimum of every 15 minutes throughout the operational hours Saturday Hours of Operation:  Between 08:00 and 19:00 Sunday Frequency:  Minimum of every 15 minutes throughout the operational hours Sunday Hours of Operation: Between 09:00 and 18:00 Portsmouth Real Time Information System As part of the Local Sustainable Transport Funding (LSTF) Portsmouth has started to introduce a Real Time Passenger Information system across the local bus network. By way of gaining public support for the system Portsmouth City Council has installed 8 displays at various sites in the city. The displays provide real time predictions for services 7, 8 and the 700. The stops that predominantly serve these routes have been chosen so as to maximise the amount of real time predictions available. A further 65 sites will be fitted with RTI during 2014/2015. Displays will be installed at strategic shelters and interchange points along the corridors. 100% of the buses operating within the city will be fitted with Automatic Vehicle Location units making the entire fleet 'intelligent'. The information available to the public transport user will include bus, rail, ferry and road network information. The output will primarily be through on‐street displays, the MyJourney website and the development of mobile applications. These displays will complement those already in operation along the Star routes throughout Hampshire and should be considered an extension of the existing, proven system. Portsmouth Bus stop flags DPJ explained that all the bus stops flags are being changed over the next few Who Meeting Minutes
Type Description Who months. 5.14 6. Change tickets (TM) TM asked about change tickets and how they work. NT explained they are given if the driver has run out of change and can be redeemed either in the travel shop or on bus. Hazleton Junction on A3 (DMJ) DMJ confirmed these should now be working and HCC has had someone check the bus triggers on the green phase. Bus shelters in East Hampshire (DMJ) JG asked about these at the last meeting. DMJ gave the update that Horndean Parish Council is looking at the funding to get these moved. There is no timescale for this. Complaints process (BS) BS explained that one of our revenue inspectors was approached by a member of the panel whilst off duty and inundated by complaints. BS asked if anyone has a complaint they should be logged via customer services and not intimidate staff. AOB Date of the next meeting – 24 April 2014 5.15 5.16 5.17

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