Realistic Expectations for Franchising

[mattb7tl]

I firmly believe that we stand a better chance of making substantial improvements to bus services compared to any other authority opting for franchising. However, I also want to ensure that my expectations remain grounded in reality.

In the lotting strategy document, the WYCA assessed areas based on their service commerciality. Surprisingly, the best-performing areas are all under FirstGroup's dominance, yet these services often operate with outdated fleets (with Leeds being an exception), shorter service hours in many cases, and notably poor off-peak frequencies, often reduced to an hourly schedule even in densely populated areas.

Considering the fact that First West Yorkshire is one of FirstGroup's top-performing and most profitable divisions, is it reasonable to assume that once we transition to franchising, we can significantly reinvest these substantial profits to finally give services a fully fledged timetable?

For instance, in areas like Huddersfield, can we realistically expect that successful routes like the 372 or 328 will have more extensive timetables, perhaps extending from 5 am to 11-12 pm, or even at a push achieving an off-peak 30-minute frequency for such crucial services?

On the other hand, could we anticipate fewer service improvements in areas dominated by Arriva, as Arriva, in comparison to First, have already allocated a more significant portion of their profits to maintain a better service?

[Deleted]

I'd say looking at GM should be a hint of what early improvements you might see. In the whole I Would say:

- More early morning/later journeys with possibly last buses moving from 11pm to 12pm. I would say it's realistic for areas with large employment hubs to see improved evening buses especially where they've been axed (the Wakefield/Normanton/Whitwood areas spring to mind) Possibly on some routes moving morning starts from 5am towards 4/4:30am.

- Better connections with trains in the evenings. Huddersfield is a good example with it having 2-3 trains arrive between :50 - :05 the hour between 9pm & 11pm, whilst the majority of buses depart at :00, moving the bus departures to around :10 - :15 would allow more trains to connect with the buses plus allow passengers more time to change between the 2 stations.

- Better connections between buses in the evenings as well, such as Heckmondwike where currently it seems alot of buses are timetabled to just miss each other after 8pm (:21 200 Leeds :36 (268 Bradford) :39 (201 Leeds) :56 268 (Wakefield) :57 (229 Hudds) :59 (229 Leeds)) A 268 timetable change to meet the 229 in each direction would be a big step in the right direction.

- Simpler timetables & frequencies rather than some of the messes we've seen recently (372/X63 spring to mind), possibly with less interworking between routes E.G 372 runs a flat 15 minute Almondbury - Lindley rather than the current thing where half the journeys swap with 371 at Huddersfield bus station.

- I have wondered if we might see some restructures/reductions on shared corridors. For example I noticed in the proposal that the 202/3 are to increase to Every 10 Mins & I Did wonder if it might affect 3/A, as would they be needed on the White Rose - Leeds corridor alongside a 10 Minute 202/3,the 200/1,service 2 for the majority of the route plus the train station.