Agenda item

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Prior to considering the following item the following members declared an interest in the matter by reason of their involvement with the North East of Scotland Transport Partnership (Nestrans):- Councillor Boulton as Board members of Nestrans, Councillor Kevin Stewart as Chair of Nestrans and a resident of the Middlefield area; and the Convener and Councillor Yuill as substitute Board members of Nestrans. None of the members involved considered it necessary to leave the meeting during the Committee’s deliberation on the report before it.

With reference to article 17 of the minute of the meeting of the Enterprise, Planning and Infrastructure Committee of 26 November, 2009, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Enterprise, Planning and Infrastructure which advised of recent progress in undertaking evidence based assessments to identify areas on the City’s road network where adjustments might contribute to the reliability and punctuality of buses, thereby encouraging greater use of this more sustainable mode of transport. In addition, the report identified the need to progress the identification of a new location for the Bridge of Don Park and Ride facility. 

By way of background the report reminded members that the Council had been successful in securing NESTRANS funding for 2010/11 to investigate reports of delays to buses on the routes 1 and 2, particularly at the north and south ends of this route at Bridge of Don and Holburn Street, respectively. The problems were identified by First Aberdeen as significant in reducing their ability to achieve appropriate reliability and punctuality as required by the Traffic Commissioner for all scheduled bus services. The locations and nature of the most concerning problems to the bus operators were as follows:

1. Balgownie Road / The Parkway (Northbound)
2. Scotstown Road / The Parkway (Northbound)
3. North Donside Road / Ellon Road (Eastbound)
4. Holburn Street (Northbound)
5. Broomhill Road / Holburn Street (Eastbound)
6. Holburn Street / Bridge of Dee roundabout (Southbound)

The King Street/Castle Street/Union Street section of the route had previously been identified as an area for potential bus priority measures and was the subject of a separate study., the findings of which are detailed below.

The findings of the study in relation to each of the above 6 routes as well as proposed alterations to the existing layouts were outlined.

In summary, it was advised that it had become apparent that, as a result of the current road geometry, carriageway width, residents’ parking and the proximity to buildings, there was little that could be done in terms of implementing meaningful bus priority at the Broomhill Road/Holburn Street junction.  It was also the view that there would be significant difficulties in extending the existing bus lane on North Donside Road and that initial consideration should be given to improvements at the other four locations (1,2,4 and 6 above), where it was considered that there was greater scope for implementing improvements. The proposed improvements and potential benefits at each of these locations were listed within the report. It was also advised that further reports on each of these would be submitted to the next meeting of the Committee.

Separately, in relation to the King Street/Castle Street/Union Street Bus Punctuality Improvements, the report advised that a recent study commissioned by the Council prior to the start of the Bus Punctuality Improvement Partnership (BPIP) corridor study had identified opportunities for public transport improvements through the East North Street / King Street junction. The report provided an overview of the characteristics of traffic behaviour over this area in both the AM and PM peak periods, as had been identified by the traffic model. From the model it was clear however, that there was significant queuing and congestion over the model area, as well as significant variability of bus journey times.

A range of possible options were identified and tested and evaluated on the model, with the following two options providing significant benefit for public transport, and no adverse impact on all other traffic:

1.        Creation of a peak time bus lane – King Street/Castle Street

This proposal sought to introduce a peak time south bound bus lane from south of the King Street/East North Street junction, within the existing kerb line to Castle Street, then localised widening as the bus lane turns into Castle Street, terminating on Union Street prior to the lane splits in advance of the junction with Broad Street.  A provisional design for Option 1 was attached as Appendix A.

2.        Union Street/Market Street Bus Lane Reduction

In this proposal, the west bound bus lane on Union Street would be curtailed before Adelphi Lane rather than close to the junction with Market Street. This was to provide more capacity for lane interchange which was perceived to cause inefficiencies at the junction for all traffic, including buses, trying to get into the appropriate lane.

In conclusion, the report advised that both options provided significant benefits to bus journey times and reliability at what were known key congestion hotspots. All bus companies operating on this corridor would benefit, including park and ride services as well as taxis and bicycles.  It was also important to note that the model results showed no net detriment to other traffic as a result of these measures, in fact it shows that the average journey times for all traffic routing from King Street to Union Street were slightly improved with the bus lane scheme in place. Other than a localised widening around the corner at Castlegate, these options could be physically undertaken by simple adjustments to on street lining and signing, with no impact on bus stop locations.

In support of the options identified above, it was also proposed that work include the appropriate signing and road marking improvements required to support the improvements identified and the re-affirmation of the existing banned right turn out of Marischal Street.  This was already in place, however road markings and signage here require refreshing. It was proposed that monitoring of any implemented scheme would take place over the period of a year and if improvements to bus journey times were confirmed then officers would expect the bus operators to provide matching improvements to services, such as increased service frequency.      Based on the initial design, the estimated cost of options 1 and 2 detailed above and shown in Appendix A was approximately £200,000. 

Councillor Yuill raised a query on behalf of Councillor Reynolds regarding the benefits of the works in relation to queuing buses at Castle Street.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         to acknowledge the assessments undertaken to date on bus Routes 1 and 2 and instruct officers to report back to the Enterprise, Planning and Infrastructure Committee as soon as the remainder of this work was concluded;

(ii)        to agree, in principle, that there were journey time, punctuality and reliability benefits to be achieved by the installation of a new peak hour bus lane on the King Street/Castle Street/Union Street corridor (as indicated on the appended plan) and reduce the length of bus lane on Union Street as recommended in Section 2.10;

(iii)       to instruct the appropriate officials to commence the necessary legislation for the required Traffic Regulation Order to implement the proposals referenced in resolution (ii) above, and if no objections were received at the Initial Statutory stage then instruct officers to continue with the public advert;

(iv)       to acknowledge the lack of progress to date of possible development opportunities to deliver a new location for the Bridge of Don Park and Ride facility and the need to accelerate this;

(v)        to instruct the appropriate officers to commence the necessary work to identify a preferred location for a new Bridge of Don Park and Ride site, subject to the successful allocation of future Non-Housing Capital funding through the budget process;

(vi)       that none of the works listed within the report take place at the time of the Walker Cup and Offshore Europe; and

(vii)      to request officers to contact Councillor Reynolds regarding his queries in relation to the queuing of buses at Castle Street and the potential benefits of the works in that regard.