Technical note - PSA target 3

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By 2010, increase the use of public transport (bus and light rail) by more than 12% in England compared with 2000 levels, with growth in every region.

Coverage

The target applies to England.

Definitions

Local bus services are defined for the purposes of this target as those using one or more public service vehicles for the carriage of passengers by road at separate fares where the stopping places, or journey length, are less than 15 miles (24 kilometres) apart.

"Light rail" is a broad term used generally to refer to any public passenger-carrying railway system using rolling stock which is lighter in weight or strength than used on mainline railways or the London Underground. There are eight existing schemes - Manchester Metrolink, South Yorkshire Supertram, Tyne & Wear Metro, Docklands Light Railway, Midland Metro, Croydon Tramlink, Nottingham Express Transit and the Blackpool tram.

Use is defined as the number of passenger journeys undertaken each year, which we call patronage.

Region means Government Office region.

Growth in every region means that growth in patronage will occur in every region throughout the last three years of the target period (1 April 2008 - 31 March 2011).

Statistics, baseline and targets

Bus and light rail patronage are measured annually using data from the DfT's annual surveys of bus and light rail and operators.

Bus and light rail patronage is now published in DfT statistics bulletins in mid-June (provisional figures)/early September (final detailed figures) for the year to the previous March. The last Statistical Release can be found at:
http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/statistics/datatablespublications/public/

The baseline for the patronage target is the 2000/01 financial year figure of 3,966 million passenger journeys a year in England. This comprises 3,842 million local bus passenger journeys and 124 million light rail passenger journeys.

The target is to increase the overall figure by more than 12%. This will be achieved if combined local bus and light rail patronage is more than 4,442 million passenger journeys in the financial year 2010/11 (i.e. 12 months ending 31 March 2011).

There is no expectation that growth in all regions can be achieved during the SR 2004 period (April 2005-March 2008). However, we will expect year on year growth in every region during the final three years of the PSA target period (April 2008-March 2011).

Data sources

Bus patronage data collection is through an annual sample survey of Public Service Vehicle (bus and coach) operators. The sample is stratified to include all the largest operators and a representative sample of others of various sizes. Results are grossed up to regional and national totals using the local bus vehicle mileage data held by the DfT branch responsible for paying out the Bus Service Operator's Grant (BSOG).

Light rail patronage is collected from each of the light rail operators in a related survey.

Provisional estimates of patronage are based on quarterly data from:

  • Transport for London surveys on London bus and light rail systems;
  • on-board and other surveys carried out by the six English Passenger Transport Executives (PTEs);
  • and electronic ticket machine data from the 10 largest bus operators in GB outside London.

By 2008, we will consider publishing quarterly patronage figures for the "super-regions": Northern Way (NE, NW, Y&H); Midland Way (EM, WM); and the South and East (SE, E, SW), after taking steps to improve the robustness of the data received from operators.

The above sources of statistics comply with National Statistics standards laid down by the Office for National Statistics.

Accessibility, Punctuality and Reliability Appendix

Whilst not specifically mentioned in the target, Objective II, under which the target sits, includes delivery of improvements to the accessibility, punctuality and reliability of public transport. This appendix to the Technical Note sets out how these elements are monitored.

Physical accessibility

The Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT) has agreed with DfT a target of 50% of full size buses being accessible by 2010.

Accessibility of buses is measured by annual data on the percentage of vehicles with low floor wheelchair access. While the objective applies to England, data are available only for Great Britain.

The Disability Discrimination Act regulations mean that all new full size single-deck and all new double-deck buses used on local and scheduled services must be fully accessible to disabled people, including wheelchairs from 31 December 2000. Furthermore, by 2016 all single-deckers used on those services must meet those requirements and by 2017 all double-deckers must also be compliant. Although the regulations do not require vehicles to be of low floor construction it is generally acknowledged that most operators will opt for that solution.

Annual data are available from the DfT's survey of bus and coach operators on the percentage of local buses of low floor construction.

These show that in 2005/06 50% of full-size local buses were low floor vehicles- see Table A on page 3 of "Public Transport Statistics Bulletin GB: 2006 edition". It can be found at: http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/statistics/datatablespublications/public/

All new light rail vehicles and systems are required by regulations made under the Disability Discrimination Act to be accessible to disabled people, including wheelchair users. Systems and vehicles predating the Act were also all built to be accessible to wheelchair users. Physical accessibility will not therefore be monitored on a national basis as part of this PSA target.

Access to services

The Department together with the Central Local Working Group on Accessibility Planning has developed a range of local indicators of accessibility to services. This includes six 'core' accessibility indicators that each Local Transport Plan (LTP) producing local authority must report against as part of the LTP / Annual Progress Report (APR) process. These core indicators will be calculated centrally by the department using consistent data sets and a consistent methodology. They are all based on total journey time (walking, cycling, public transport) to a set of key destinations (schools, further education colleges, GPs, Hospitals, jobs and major shopping centres).

However, journey time is not the only determinant of accessibility, cost is also a significant factor as are a range of other influence - crime and fear of crime, availability of travel information, physical access etc. Data sets for these influences are not centrally available. Also the importance of the various influences on accessibility varies from area to area and group to group. Therefore establishing a national travel time accessibility target was felt to be inappropriate as it could lead to perverse incentives for authorities. Authorities are being encouraged as part of their LTPs to develop locally appropriate accessibility indicators and targets drawing on locally available data. These together with the core indicators will be used by the Department to build up a national picture of accessibility and monitor change.

Punctuality

In March/April 2005 the Department conducted a national punctuality survey. The results were published on 15 June 2006 and can be viewed at http://www.dft.gov.uk/162259/162469/221412/221535/224223/224231/bpsgb2005pdf.pdf.

Local authorities are now obliged to collect bus punctuality information, as this is now an LTP mandatory indicator (LTP5).

Punctuality is not currently considered to be an area of concern with regard to light rail, and will not therefore be monitored on a national basis as part of this PSA target at this stage. However, we will monitor and report annually on data collected by individual systems, particularly as more new services come on line, and keep this position under review.

Reliability

The industry body, the CPT, has agreed with DfT a target of 99.5% reliability. Performance during the baseline period 2000/01 was 98.2%. These figures exclude mileage lost outside the operator's control, for example due to unplanned or over-running road works and major traffic accidents. Bus reliability is measured through quarterly returns to DfT by a sample of bus operators in England, published in DfT statistics bulletins, "Bus and Light Rail Statistics GB". The latest available survey can be found at: http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/statistics/datatablespublications/public/buslightrail/

Reliability is not currently considered to be an area of concern with regard to light rail, and will not therefore be monitored on a national basis as part of this PSA target at this stage. However, we will continue to monitor and report annually data collected by individual systems, particularly as more new services come on line, and keep this position under review.