9. PUBLIC TRANSPORT STATEMENT NORTH SPROWSTON AND OLD CATTON

OUTLINE PLANNING APPLICATION

OCTOBER 2012

1. INTRODUCTION The provision of frequent, reliable and affordable bus services to and from North Sprowston and Old Catton (NS&OC) is essential if future residents, and neighbouring communities, are to be enabled to travel by sustainable modes rather than the private car. Bus services will complement efforts to minimise the need to travel by providing a mix of uses within NS&OC and to maximise the number of journeys on foot and by bike.

This Public Transport Statement, prepared by SKM Colin Buchanan (SKM CB) for Beyond Green, accompanies the Outline Planning Application for North Sprowston and Old Catton, a sustainable urban extension on land within Broadland District, north of Norwich. It sets out the proposed public transport network for NS&OC, including the phasing strategy for implementation of bus services in relation to both the layout and phasing of development. It has been developed in consultation with local bus operators, including Anglian Bus and First Norwich.

Figure 1: Site Location

Proposals for NS&OC include approximately 3,520 residential dwellings and the schedule for construction is planned to be completed in 6 phases, as outlined in Table 1.

Phase 1 2 3 4 5 6 Total

Housing units 590 610 577 588 575 580 3,520

Table 1: Residential Development Phasing Schedule

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The proposals also include 16,800sqm of commercial development and 8,800sqm of retail and service development. The proposed public transport strategy has been based on the residential element of the development only. It is assumed that the spare capacity generated by this strategy could accommodate the demand for the employment and retail, providing additional revenue.

The first section of the statement sets out the estimated demand for bus services serving NS&OC. The second section sets out how NS&OC could be served in relation to the phasing o development including infrastructure provision. The final section provides details on the implementation of the strategy.

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2. DEMAND ANALYSIS

2.1 Public transport demand

The following demand analysis sets out the bus patronage that is likely to be generated by NS&OC. This is important as it provides a benchmark to enable an estimate to be made of the number of additional vehicles that could be economically purchased to provide services and of the likely service provision that could be provided.

The completed development will contain approximately 3,520 homes. It is assumed that there will be 2.5 residents per dwelling and that each resident will undertake 4 single trips per day by all modes. This means the development will generate 35,180 trips per day and if it is assumed that a 15% bus mode share can be generated then almost 5,300 single trips per day will be made on buses.

The key determinant of delivering the required frequency is the morning peak period. It is assumed that 12.5% of these trips will take place during the busiest hour, which is equivalent to approximately 660 trips.

2.2 Bus capacity

It is assumed that the average bus capacity is 75 passengers and bus operators would work to loading at up to 75% of capacity to allow for variation in arrivals at bus stops. This is equivalent to approximately 56 passengers per bus.

This means that in order to cope with demand at least 12 buses will need to depart from NS&OC during the peak hour once the development is fully completed.

2.3 Bus revenue

In order to calculate the estimated additional revenue that will be generated by the development it is assumed that the average revenue per single trip is £1.20. This takes into account the impact of concessionary, child and season ticket fares. Based on approximately 5,300 trips being made this would generate revenue of approximately £6,360 per day.

It is assumed that there are 300 days per year (taking into account lower usage on weekends) so annual revenue would total approximately £1.9 million. Buses cost approximately £150,000 per annum to operate so this level of revenue would be enough to support the operation of 13 buses on a commercial basis.

2.4 Development phasing

Table 2 below shows the minimum number of buses per hour that would be required as the development progresses. A higher frequency of service is proposed to ensure that when new residents move into houses a level of service is provided that makes the bus a practical option. For example if an hourly service is provided for the first occupants then it won’t be seen as a viable choice and it is likely they will get into the habit of driving.

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Number of houses completed Minimum buses per hour required Proposed buses per hour

1 – 300 1 2

301 – 600 2 3

601 – 900 3 4

901 – 1,200 4 5

1,201 – 1,500 5 6

1,501 – 1,800 6 7

1,801 – 2,100 7 8

2,101 – 2,400 8 9

2,401 – 2,700 9 10

2,701 – 3,000 10 11

3,001 – 3,300 11 12

3,301 – 3,518 12 13

Development completed 12 13

Table 2: Proposed Bus Service Provision

It is estimated that the cost of providing this front loading of bus services will be approximately £225,000 (2011 prices) per annum assuming an even pace of development. This would apply regardless of the length of development build out. It would be possible to reduce this funding by phasing development to ensure that the number of houses does not exceed trigger thresholds and building out as quickly as possible once thresholds are breached.

This assumes that Beyond Green would in effect pump prime the service with two additional vehicles at the set trigger levels to provide a higher level of service than would otherwise be the case. This means that revenue would increase from £0 to £150,000 following deployment of each vehicle and assuming an even pace of development and therefore revenue growth, the average additional revenue over each period would be £75,000. The cost of the two additional vehicles required to cover the service would be £300,000 so the net additional cost would be £225,000 per annum.

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3. CONSULTATION

3.1 Introduction

Meetings were held with Norwich City Council, First and Anglian Bus on 25 January 2012 to determine their views on how commercially successful bus services could be developed. The meetings with the operators were attended by Duncan Ellis from SKM Colin Buchanan and Neil Murphy from Beyond Green. This section summarises the discussions and how they informed proposals for NS&OC.

All meetings began with a summary of the development plan that proposed the phased construction of approximately 3,300 homes and creation of approximately 800 jobs (both subsequently modestly increased). A number of measures are being taken to try and maximise the mode share of bus services in the development including limiting and potentially charging for car parking spaces and designing the scheme to make walking and cycling the privileged modes of local movement.

Funding through a Section 106 agreement and potentially other sources is likely to be available to pump prime bus services that have commercial potential in the long term. The primary connection would be to Norwich City Centre and any direct connections that can be provided to Broadland Business Park, Norwich Airport, the University of East Anglia and the Hospitals would be viewed positively. Although none of the radial routes through NS&OC is designated as a Bus Rapid Transit corridor, there may be some scope to improve bus infrastructure in the area depending on the timing and nature of development brought forward elsewhere to the north east of Norwich on which proposed BRT corridors are predicated.

3.2 Norwich City Council

Bruce Bentley stated that the Norwich Area Transport Strategy (NATS) seeks the development of a number of rapid transit and core bus services on radial routes in and out of Norwich. It is expected that any measures proposed for NS&OC would assist in the delivery of these objectives. Norfolk County Council was recommended as the primary contact in relation to any further detailed enquiries regarding optimum bus service routing.

3.3 First Norwich

Steve Wickers and three colleagues highlighted that First are well placed to provide a cost effective solution by integrating their existing network into the development. They asked if dedicated bus ways could be provided although if this was not possible then priority at junctions would be vital in giving buses a competitive advantage over private cars.

In principle First would expect that two principal services would serve the development, one along Wroxham Road and one along North Walsham Road. It is likely that they would want flexibility to turn buses round using secondary roads to improve accessibility between houses and the development.

It was noted that the Park & Ride site may not be operational in the future as a result of funding cuts so should not be relied upon to provide transport links. Service 11 from Sprowston has recently been extended so journeys operate every half an hour to the Hospitals to the west of the City Centre. First could explore whether direct cross city services might be provided to key developments.

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3.4 Anglian Bus

Andrew Pursey from Anglian Bus stated that they operate 75 vehicles and as they have a depot located on Wroxham Road to the north of the development they are well placed to provide a cost effective solution. They have recently trialled operation of a gas powered vehicle and believe there is a strong economic case for using these vehicles to serve NS&OC, particularly as it fits in with the sustainability principles of the development.

Andrew believed that subject to provision of stops to enable buses to wait a few minutes the existing layout would enable bus services to provide a good level of service to the development. Anglian could also look into linking any new service into existing services to provide cross city connections to key destinations and any costs would recognise that business would have to be generated along existing corridors.

A smart card has recently been introduced and the product range will shortly be extended to offer season tickets, a stored value facility with discounts on regular fares and scholar tickets. It was suggested that a smart card could be offered as part of a welcome pack to new residents.

3.5 Norfolk County Council

The proposed public transport strategy was issued to NCC for comment.

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4. EXISTING SERVICES There are numerous existing bus services that operate within close proximity or pass through the NS&OC site, providing good links to and from the city centre and neighbouring areas. Figures 2 and 3 show the existing bus routes within Norwich.

Figure 2: Existing Norwich First Bus Routes

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Figure 3: Current Norfolk County Council P&R

Table 3 details the services, typical weekday peak hour frequency and approximate journey times (from site to city centre) for the bus routes which pass through or close to NS&OC.

Service No. Route Peak Hour Frequency

Journey Time

5A Norwich - North Walsham 1 25 mins

13 Spixworth – City Centre - Attleborough 2 20 mins

11/11A Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital - City Centre – Sprowston - Tesco

6 5 min walk + 25 mins

21/22 Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital – City Centre – Old Catton – White Woman Lane

4 15 min walk + 20 mins

Sprowston P&R Sprowston Road – Whitefriars – City Centre

4 20 mins

210 Norwich - Frettenham - Buxton - Walsham

1 20 mins

Total 18

Table 3: Existing Bus Services

As Table 3 shows, a total of 18 buses in close proximity to NS&OC operate during the weekday peak hour. However, the journey times for these services vary depending on proximity to the local bus stops.

The Sprowston P&R is the only service within an acceptable walking distance to any part of the early phases of the development. Therefore only the 4 buses an hour from P&R site are considered as existing actual services servicing the development.

The Sprowston P&R and the Postwick P&R share services. The 605 runs from Postwick to Sprowston and 606 run from Sprowston to Postwick.

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Service No. 13 serves Buxton Road, White Woman Lane and North Walsham Road and operates at a frequency of one every 30 minutes. The service operates between Spixworth, Old Catton, City Centre and Mulbarton through the proposed development site using Buxton Road. This service is extended to Atteborough, south of Norwich.

Service No. 11/11A operates between the Sprowston Tesco, City Centre (via Wroxham Road), Eaton and Cringleford every 10 minutes during the day Monday to Saturday. During the evenings and on Sundays, the service operates every 30 minutes. Service 11A serves Cozens Hardy Road and Church Road. . This service is extended south of the city centre to provide a direct connection to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital via Cringleford.

Service No. 21/22 operates along White Woman Lane, Lodge Lane and St Faiths Road to Old Catton and the City Centre every 60 minutes Monday – Saturday during the evenings only. On Sundays, this service operates every 30 minutes throughout the day. This route will now provide a direct connection to Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (21) and the University of East Anglia (22).

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5. SERVICE DEVELOPMENT

5.1 Introduction

The development plan schedule is to build out the total development in six construction phases starting around the two main mixed use centres – the Main Square located on the diverted North Walsham Road and Wroxham Road Square on the Wroxham Road.

Development around the Main Square will not be served by any existing bus services, and will require a new service to be established by the time the first house is occupied. Initial development at Wroxham Road Square will be within walking distance of the Park and Ride, as a result a new service is unlikely to be required until the east-west route connecting the Main Square to Wroxham Road is established (early in Phase 3). A high quality pedestrian and cycle route will be created to the Park and Ride, and the potential to extend the Park and Ride service to serve Wroxham Road Square will be explored.

The key principle for the Public Transport strategy is to establish a service from Wroxham Road that will extend to western edge of the development, and provide a bus link down the new Main Street through the development, and new service that runs from Spixworth through the central part of the development to the City centre. This will improve the penetration within the development and reduce walking distances north and south of the High Street. On this basis:

• New bus services will be procured with a level of service as set out in Table 1. Agreements in principle with a preferred operator could be put in place as part of the Section 106 although this would need a certain level of flexibility to adapt once the service is actually ready to be delivered.

• Tenders will set out the level of frequency required for a bus service between NS&OC and Norwich City Centre. Operators will then be free to come up with and price proposals for service operation with variable payments based on the number of completed residences.

• Operators will be responsible for taking revenue risk associated with the service although credit will be given for innovative proposals that meet sustainability objectives. Tenderers will also be given credit for any additional direct links to key destinations that can be leveraged using their existing networks.

The remainder of this section analyses how services could be provided along the three primary radial routes that connect NS&OC with Norwich City Centre. It should be noted that operators are currently coming up with proposals for how they could serve NS&OC so this statement provides an initial assessment of likely provision based on discussions to date.

It is envisaged that under all scenarios the frequencies on core bus routes would gradually be increased from every 30 minutes to at least every 10 minutes. With all of these options it is envisaged that some may be connected with cross city services to provide links to key destinations to be agreed with the operators, such as Norwich railway station.

5.2 Wroxham Road corridor

The current Park & Ride service 605/606 operates every 15 minutes and is linked with the Postwick Park & Ride site near Broadlands Business Park. New pedestrian and cycle connections will need to be provided to enable residents to access the park and ride bus stop. It is envisaged that the frequency would be increased from every 15 to every 10 minutes to cater for additional demand. This provides an additional two services per hour and will be implemented during Phase 1 of development. This could be staggered so that the service frequency is increased to every 12.5 minutes in Phase 1 (1 additional bus per

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hour) and every 10 minutes in Phase 2 (2 additional buses per hour). This will cater for the rising demand and reduce the funding requirements.

The option to connect this service with the Broadland Business Park should be explored to provide access to employment. This will require the 606 service to divert in the AM peak, and the 605 service to divert in the PM peak. This will enhance the revenue stream on the less busy direction in the peaks. However, further consultation with NCC is required to explore this option.

From phase 2 it is envisaged that a new service (NCOS 11) will need to operate along Wroxham Road at a frequency of 2 buses per hour to serve the demand from the new development.

In order to provide for construction access, the main street will be constructed early and provide an opportunity to extend the bus service through to North Walsham Road.

The following are considered the most likely bus options:

• service 11/11A extended into the development from existing terminus at Tesco (from phase 2 onwards);

• the reinforced service 11/11A split so that half the buses operate to Sprowston Tesco and half operate to NS&OC;

• a new service, potentially running as a limited stop ‘express’ once it reaches the Wroxham Road; and/or

• the extension of service 11/11A will provide a direct connection to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.

It is anticipated that a complete east-west link from Wroxham Road to St Faiths Road will be built during Phase 5. Once this link is in place this new service NSOC 11 would be extended to serve the Old Catton area of NS&OC with the potential for a further extension to serve the Airport Industrial Estate.

5.3 North Walsham Road corridor (local bus service)

Once phase 1 development starts around North Walsham Road a new bus service (NSOC 1) will be required as there are no existing services operating along this route.

After consultation, the preferred option is to provide a totally new service (NSOC 1) from Spixworth through the development to the City Centre. The option to extend this service via the Norwich Railway Station to Broadland Business Park during peak hours should be considered.

The frequency and penetration of this service will increase as the development progresses. The initial service will run every 30 minutes and it is anticipated that by the beginning of Phase 6, the service will run every 10 minutes. However not all services will need to run north to Spixworth from NS&OC since Sprixworth is already served by service 13.

The service 21/22 which terminates at White Woman Lane could be extended into the site to serve the main square. This would provide direct route to Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and UAE for NSOC residents. This could be provided without any requirement for funding since it could be commercially attractive for the operators to consider the extra distance travelled against the increased patronage.

5.4 Spixworth /Buxton Road (local bus service)

Service 13 currently serves Spixworth/ Buxton Road and operates at a frequency of every 30 minutes. When the development approaches Buxton Road in Phase 5 and 6, the revised service 13 should be

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diverted into the site to increase patronage. Given the number of houses being constructed towards the Spixworth Road end of NS&OC (from phase 4) it is considered that this level of service will be sufficient so no funding should be provided for additional coverage. Operators would be free to enhance frequencies if they believed that there was a business case for improvements without additional funding.

5.5 Orbital service

At present no commercially viable bus services provide orbital connections around Norwich and this pattern is repeated in similar sized towns and cities around the UK. This is because the competitive advantage buses can enjoy on journeys to City Centres such as limited/ costly parking and bus priority lanes are not available on orbital journeys. Instead buses are often forced to use secondary routes through populated areas rather than main roads meaning that journey times are considerably extended.

Orbital services can only be commercially successful when there is a strong attractor that provides demand for bus services throughout the day. Examples of this sort of demand include shopping centres and strong district retail centres. Major employment sites such as Business Parks are notoriously difficult to serve due to heavily peaked demand meaning a high level of resource (vehicles) need to be provided during peak hours that can then not generate revenue for 22 hours per day. There will no doubt be demand from future residents at NS&OC for an orbital service to Broadland Business Park, however such a service is likely to require long term subsidy, at least until it is able to serve other developments within the Growth Triangle. Provision of this service will be dependent upon a demonstrable business case for the service backed up by a long term funding source to avoid the danger of withdrawing a service and creating instability and lack of confidence in public transport availability.

In order to minimise the need for subsidy our proposals focus on providing a route that can generate some revenue during off-peak periods and exploring the potential to extend other services to serve Broadland Business Park. This service will run along the new orbital route once this is established by development elsewhere in the Growth Triangle, prior to completion of the route it will follow the most direct route between NS&OC and Broadland Business Park. There is potential to extend this service to also serve the Airport Industrial Estate.

It is proposed that from Phase 3 onwards a direct service between NS&OC and Broadland Business Park will run every 30 minutes during peak hours (0700-0900 &1600-1800). This would require an additional two vehicles. The potential for these vehicles to be used during off-peak hours (0900-1600) for services to other destinations will be explored.

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6. CONCLUSION

6.1 Bus service provision summary

The phasing of bus service provision is summarised as follows.

• Phase 1 o Provide a new bus service (NSOC 1) along North Walsham Road at a frequency of 2 buses per hour. o Re-inforce the P&R service 605/606 to every 12 minutes (an additional 1 bus/hr).

• Phase 2 o Re-inforce the P&R service 605/606 to every 10 minutes (an additional 1 bus/hr). o Extend the service 11/11a (NSOC 11) from Wroxham Road into the development at a frequency of 2

buses per hour.

• Phase 3 o Increase the frequency and penetration of the service NSOC 1 to every 20 minutes (3 buses/hr). o Note that the service to Spixworth is capped at 2 buses/hr. o Increase the frequency and penetration of the service NSOC 11 to every 20 minutes (3 buses/hr).

• Phase 4 o Increase the frequency and penetration of the service NSOC 1 to every 15 minutes (4 buses/hr).

• Phase 5 o Increase the frequency and penetration of the service NSOC 1 to every 12 minutes (5 buses/hr). o Increase the frequency and penetration of the service NSOC 11 to every 15 minutes (4 buses/hr).

• Phase 6 o Increase the frequency and penetration of the service NSOC 1 to every 10 minutes (6 buses/hr). o Divert Service 13 into development from Buxton Road (but only west of North Walsham Road).

 

6.2 Bus service provision timeline

In order to provide an overall picture of how service provision could develop based on the current development construction schedule, Table 4 sets out a timeline for service introduction based on the number of dwellings within each phase. It is intended to be a guide and if anticipated demand or development phasing changes from that projected then the level of service may also change.

Figures 4 (phases 1 and 2), 5 (phases 3 and 4) and 6 (phases 5 and 6) below show how these services will implemented along the various routes.

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Units completed

Phase Recommended BPH provided

Additional BPH

provided

Cumulative additional

BPH

Actual BPH serving

development Bus service enhancement

0 0 0 0 0 4 Sprowston Park & Ride Services every 15 minutes

1 – 584

1 3

1

3 7

Enhance Sprowston Park & Ride to every 12 minutes

2 New service NSOC 1 North Walsham Rd every 30 minutes

585 – 1,180

2 5

1

6 10

Enhance Sprowston Park & Ride to every 10 minutes

2 New service NSOC 11 along Wroxham Rd every 30 minutes

1,181 – 1,764

3 7

0

7 11

Extend Service NSOC 11 West

1 Enhance North Walsham Road service NSOC 1 to every 20 minutes

1,765 – 2,358

4 9

1

9 13

Enhance extended Wroxham Road service NSOC 11 to every 20 minutes

1 Enhance North Walsham Road service NSOC 1 to every 15 minutes

2,359 – 2,930

5 11

1

11 15

Enhance North Walsham Road service NSOC 1 to every 12 minutes

1 Enhance extended Wroxham Road service NSOC 11 to every 15 minutes

2,931 – 3,518

6 13

2

14 18

Divert & reinforce service 10/10A (13) to enter the development site

1 Increase North Walsham Road service NSOC 1 to every 10 minutes

Development completed

13 14 18

Table 4: Phasing for Commercial Bus service provision

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15

16

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6.3 Supporting measures

In order to maximise the chances of bus services being successful the following measure will be provided:

• a peak time bus priority lane in Wroxham Road Square to avoid the need for buses heading out of NS&OC to queue in traffic;

• minimising delays to buses by fitting traffic lights within NS&OC with transponders and working with Norfolk County Council to add transponders at key off-site intersections;

• parking to be restricted and managed to prevent obstruction to bus services; • high-standard walking routes provided to the Park & Ride; • a permeable street network that provides direct and safe walking routes between bus stops and homes

and businesses; • bus stops to have raised kerbs, shelters, seating and space for information; • if feasible, real time information will be provided through mobile devices; • terminal point with stand space/ alighting for two buses and a road layout that enables buses

approaching from both directions along the east-west route to turn once they reach their destination; and

• the establishment of the east –west route between the Main Square and Wroxham Road Square relatively early to enable buses to serve as much of the development as possible at an early stage.

Beyond Green will continue to liaise with bus operators and Norfolk County Council to utilise local knowledge and confirm that all bus service provision proposals are logical and acceptable and that appropriate interim arrangements can be provided to enable buses to serve NS&OC from Phase 1.

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