Archived decisions

Contact: Geoff Topps, ext 7959

1. Summary

1.1 This report provides Members with an update on the progress of this scheme.

2. Steering Group

2.1 The A3 Bus Priority Corridor Steering Group continues to meet every two months to enable the project partners Hampshire County Council, Portsmouth City Council, Havant Borough Council, Hampshire Constabulary and First Group to discuss and agree the principles to be employed for the route. The most recent and significant issues considered are shown below.

Closed Circuit Television

2.2 The County Council has investigated the opportunities for closed circuit television as a feature of the corridor. It was agreed that pole-mounted, pan and tilt traffic surveillance cameras would be provided to give coverage of most of the route and bus shelters. Details of how the images will be shared between the Councils and the Police are being clarified.

2.3 Small, fixed in-shelter cameras were considered but are not to be pursued for the time being, due to the high installation cost and doubts over responsibility for monitoring the images or reacting to any events shown.

Branding and Marketing

2.4 The correct branding and marketing (B+M) of the corridor and its services is essential if the maximum benefit is to be achieved. It is necessary to promote the links with the South Hampshire Rapid Transit (SHRT) network until a network-wide B+M strategy is in place, and the roll-out of B+M features for the corridor is linked with the five year programme and creation of a recognisably new service.

2.5 It has been agreed that short and long term B+M strategies will best cater for this situation: the short term work will involve linking the new infrastructure of the early phases with the services while the long term work will involve customer research, targeting audiences and specific B+M, so the costs for delivering it should be shared proportionally.

Quality Bus Partnership

2.6 The County Council already has a general county-wide quality partnership with First Hampshire and many of the principles within its schedule are being developed on the A3 corridor. Now that the scale and detail of the commitment of the County Council's infrastructure proposals have become apparent, it is appropriate to prepare a route-specific Quality Bus Partnership for the A3. Initial ideas have been prepared and the Steering Group will develop these early in the new year, to include any partners who have a stake in the project.

2.7 A meeting between the Executive Member for Environment and representatives of First Hampshire has been arranged for mid-January 2002, to further promote partnership arrangements between the two parties in South East Hampshire.

3. Passenger Facilities

Section 1 Bus Shelters

3.1 Adshel, the bus shelter maintenance contractor for Havant Borough Council, has agreed to provide and freely maintain new, high quality bus shelters for the route, on the understanding that these will be self-financing from advertisement revenue. This is a significant capital and revenue saving and demonstrates how partnership can be mutually beneficial. Some existing bus shelters already have illuminated advertising but Adshel has had to apply for planning permission for six of the shelters on Section 1 to cover the extra advertising or new shelter locations. Havant Borough Council has refused four of these. Discussions will be held with the Borough Council to see if the grounds for objection can be overcome, but ultimately failure to deliver sufficient advertising sites at the bus shelters will undermine this arrangement. Increased capital and maintenance costs will result, since the new shelters will still be installed but at a cost to the project.

In-Shelter Public Access Computer Terminal

3.2 One of the quality features for the busier bus shelter 'stations' along the route has been the intention to include public access computer facilities, which allow waiting passengers access to route planning, reference material, local reporting and recreational information, etc. This was to have been provided by Portsmouth City Council donating two 'iplus' terminals to the project from the number of free terminals it would receive through an arrangement with an electronic advertising board supplier. This deal has now been abandoned just before completion and the free terminals lost. The County Council is unable to undertake a similar deal and to pay for their use would have high capital purchase cost and revenue maintenance implications. Investigations are now underway by the County Council to develop its existing Trip Planner terminals for incorporation into the new stations. These will now include enhanced passenger facilities and meet both public transport and public IT requirements to combat social exclusion. The details and costs of this replacement are still being defined.

4. Progress and Programme

4.1 The Project Term Contract has been prepared to cover the construction of the whole of the route and so gain economies of scale and continuity by using one contractor. The tenders have been returned and the financial and quality assessments are underway to determine the successful contractor. Recent global events may have implications to the certainty of future funding and the potential repercussions for this innovative contract are being investigated as part of this process.

Section 1 Widley to Purbrook

4.2 British Telecom should have completed its diversionary works in October but has grossly underestimated the task and will not be finished until the end of December. This will delay the start of the main highway works until February 2002 but will have little effect on the overall project programme.

Section 2 Purbrook

4.3 The public exhibition for this section of the route was held on Friday 26 and Saturday 27 October. The event was well attended and, while responses were generally favourable, the results are still being collated.

Section 3 Purbrook to Waterlooville

4.4 The detailed design has commenced now that the Project Term Contract has been completed. Additional consultation will be held with residents close to the proposed bus gate and traffic regulation orders for the bus lanes will be advertised early in the new year.

Section 4 Waterlooville Town Centre

4.5 The preliminary design of the new layout for the bus interchange in Swiss Road is underway. Further negotiations will be held with key stakeholders early in the new year before public consultation is held in March 2002. The scheme is being developed in tandem with the Waterlooville Urban Centre Study and associated environmental improvements planned to complement the project and its development process.

5. Portsmouth City Council

5.1 Proposals for north and southbound bus lanes at London Road, Hilsea are expected to be determined by the City Council Traffic and Transportation Committee at its meeting on 13 November. The proposals have generated considerable interest, with significant representations both in support and opposition; those in support broadly representing the more strategic aspirations of promoting and facilitating greater public transport usage whilst those objecting often reflecting more local issues of loss of on-street car parking and possible effects on property values. Even at this early stage of the project these proposals have highlighted the difficulties inherent in introducing comprehensive bus priority measures in densely developed urban areas such as Portsmouth.

5.2 Elsewhere on the route, approval has been given to relocate the grade 2 listed historic tram shelter from Cosham Compound to a new location on Southsea seafront. Formal quotations will now be sought to undertake the relocation and any necessary renovation, which will be funded as part of the Portsmouth part of the project. Agreeing an appropriate relocation site has been essential to providing improved passenger waiting facilities at this interchange site, one of the routes' `stations' and work is now expected to commence in this area in the spring.

5.3 Works in Winston Churchill Avenue to provide bus lanes in each direction feeding into and out of the city centre are nearly completed. The anticipated start date for the extensive works between the civic offices and the railway station that will provide enhanced accessibility to the city centre for buses is February 2002.

6. SHRT Development Panel

6.1 Members are asked to note that the first meeting of the SHRT Development Panel will take place early in 2002. The South East Hampshire Transportation Strategy Joint Members' Panel will be kept informed of future developments and progress.

Recommendations

1. That it be a RECOMMENDATION to the Executive Member for Environment that the proposed next stages be approved.

2. That progress on this scheme and that the South Hampshire Rapid Transit Development Panel will meet early in 2002 be noted.

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