Discussion guide – session 3
This discussion guide was used by Ipsos MORI facilitators to guide assembly members’ conversations in breakout groups.
Session 3: Saturday 10 October, 10am to 1pm
Plenary 1: Welcome and introductions - 10am to 10.15am (15 minutes)
10 new break-out groups to be pre-allocated during intro - up to 5 minutes waiting for participants to join/settle.
Chair to introduce self, Ipsos MORI, facilitators, note-takers and observers.
Chair to welcome participants back and cover:
- Re-cap of stage one introduction
- Re-cap of the process – focussing on the key objectives for each stage
Agenda, housekeeping and ground rules.
Plenary 2: active travel - presentations - 10.15am to 10.30am (15 minutes)
Two x 5-minute expert presentations:
- Cllr Clyde Loakes, Walthamstow council – liveable neighbourhoods
- Rachel Aldred, Westminster council – cycling schemes
Break-out 1: active travel - discussion - 10.30am to 11.15am (45 minutes)
10 minutes
- What stood out from those presentations?
- Why was that important to you?
- What questions does this raise?
- What makes that question important to you?
As you will have read in the information pack sent to you, the council are exploring a few options. Nothing is in place yet and they’re open to your ideas too.
Let’s talk about each of them in turn and we can reflect on any questions we want to ask the speakers at the end.
10 minutes
Display on screen and read out the summary of 'low traffic neighbourhoods'
- What do you think is beneficial about this intervention?
- How would this impact you, your friends and family?
- Would you support this being implemented? Why?
- What concerns you about this intervention?
- What would be the barriers to you, or others, adapting their behaviour to accommodate this?
- What would need to be in place so that this could work for residents?
Display on screen and read out the benefits and drawbacks of 'low traffic neighbourhoods'
- Is there anything here that surprises you?
10 minutes
Display on screen and read out the summary of 'strategic cycling networks'
- What do you think is beneficial about this intervention?
- How would this impact you, your friends and family?
- Would you support this being implemented? Why?
- What concerns you about this intervention?
- What would be the barriers to you, or others, adapting their behaviour to accommodate this?
- What would need to be in place so that this could work for residents?
Display on screen and read out the benefits and drawbacks of 'strategic cycling networks'
- Is there anything here you hadn’t thought of?
10 minutes
Display on screen and read out the summary of 'active travel behaviour change campaign'
- What do you think is beneficial about this intervention?
- How would this impact you, your friends and family?
- Would you support this being implemented? Why?
- What concerns you about this intervention?
Display on screen and read out the benefits and drawbacks of 'active travel behaviour change campaign'
- Is there anything here you hadn’t thought of?
5 minutes
- What questions do you want to ask?
Plenary 3: Q&A - 11.15am to 11.30am (15 minutes)
Facilitators to give their table's key question/s - 30 seconds each.
2 to 3 minutes for each expert to address a question or 2.
Comfort break - 11.30am to 11.40am (10 minutes)
Plenary 4: accessibility and inclusion – presentations - 10.40am to 10.55am (15 minutes)
Two 5-minute expert presentations:
- David McKenna – accessible and inclusive street design
- Nichola Khan – migrant and refugee communities
Break-out 2: accessibility and inclusion - discussion - 11.55am to 12.40pm (45 minutes)
10 minutes
- What stood out from those presentations?
- Why was that important to you?
- What questions does this raise?
- What makes that question important to you?
As a final stage of the learning and consideration process, we’re going to explore issues we might not have thought about through scenarios.
These are designed to help you consider what implementing some of the potential interventions we’ve discussed could mean for disabled and migrant citizens.
10 minutes
Display on screen and read out case study 1.
Alex is physically disabled and can only walk very short distances on good days, usually relying on her wheelchair to get around. She has always used her car to travel to the city.
Low traffic measures have been put in place in her local area and the city centre. She is no longer able to park near to the shops or have her friend pick her up from home.
Alex is encouraged to get on public transport, either travelling to the park and ride and getting on the bus or by catching the bus from nearer to home and making one or two changes.
Alex tries this, but finds she is often left waiting for buses she can’t get on due to limited space for wheelchair users and parents with pushchairs. She finds it stressful and struggles to stand up for herself.
Her friend encourages Alex to call the council and let them know, which she does. The council have heard the same from others and start a pre-booking scheme that means Alex can guarantee a space on a bus at a certain time.
Alex prefers this to waiting around and feeling anxious, but also feels she’s lost the ability to spontaneously meet up with friends or go out to the shops when she realises she needs something.
- How does Alex’s experience affect your views on what we’ve already discussed?
- What measures do you think need to be in place, with this in mind?
10 minutes
Display on screen and read out case study 2.
Molly is deaf and has a mild visual impairment in her peripheral vision. She lives near the seafront and really supports the recent messaging about getting more active.
She has always enjoyed a stroll by the beach but since hearing more about the benefits of physical activity has taken to doing this every day.
Cycling is being actively encouraged too, and Molly usually has to share space with cyclists. She often has difficulty in navigating which part of the street is supposed to be for pedestrians and which bit is for cyclists, especially because cyclists enjoy being nearer to the seafront and sometimes cycle in the pedestrian area of the pavement.
Molly has a particularly stressful incident where, as she’s strolling along the seafront part of the pavement, a cyclist loses their balance and falls into her.
They had clearly been shouting at her and were very embarrassed and frustrated she hadn’t heard. Molly isn’t injured but this has put her off going to take her walks and she chooses not to most days.
- How does Molly’s experience affect your views on what we’ve already discussed?
- What measures do you think need to be in place, with this in mind?
10 minutes
Display on screen and read out case study 3.
Mo has been living in Brighton for about 3 years. He moved here as a migrant, which his family supported by lending him all the collective money they had.
When he arrived, he took a job as a delivery driver and stayed in a small flat share with other migrants who he knew from his childhood. During this time he got to know the rest of the migrant community they spend time with.
Like many of his peers, Mo has now become an Uber driver. His friends told him he should be able to move up to be a taxi driver and own his own taxi soon enough. This is the trajectory into society for lots of people in their community.
Since the residents of Brighton & Hove have been encouraged to reduce car use, Mo has found he has much less work.
He can no longer sit in a taxi rank in the city centre as it has become car-free. He can sit at the park and ride, but finds people often get the bus or drive their own cars.
His income has reduced significantly, and he is starting to feel sick with worry. Having given him everything they had so he could get here, his family are dependent on him sending money home.
- How does Mo’s experience affect your views on what we’ve already discussed?
- What measures do you think need to be in place, with this in mind?
5 minutes
- What questions do you want to ask?
Plenary 5: Q&A - 12.40pm to 12.55pm (15 minutes)
Facilitators to give their table's key question/s - 30 seconds each.
2 to 3 minutes for each expert to address a question or 2.
Plenary 6: next steps and close - 12.55pm to 1pm (5 minutes)
Chair to thank everyone for their contributions, remind assembly members of next session (date and time), and outline what will happen next time.
Note to assembly that questions generated will be amalgamated and posed back to experts – we’ll share an FAQ document addressing key questions before we reach stage 3 in November.
Remind participants that materials from today will be available online soon for those that wish to revisit anything.
Ask participants to keep going back to FAQ documents and the information pack sent out. This is very much the learning phase so they should be reflecting on everything they’ve heard and starting to form an idea of what they may recommend.
Stimulus slides - session 2
These slides were used to stimulate assembly members’ thoughts during breakout groups in session 3.
Active travel 1: low traffic neighbourhoods including School Streets
- Low traffic (or 'liveable') neighbourhoods are about creating more attractive, safe and healthy places for people, not cars
- Either temporary or permanent 'modal filters' like bollards or planters at key entry points to streets - allow people walking and cycling, not cars
- Can include 'School Streets' which temporarily restrict motor vehicle access to streets near school entrances during school opening and closing times
Benefits
- Encouraging more people to walk or cycle to school, to the local shops or park, and so on, helping reduce problem parking
- Improved local environments - cleaner air, quieter streets, and more social spaces for local residents to enjoy
- Support local economy, with more people able to access shops and services safely
- Makes school environments safer and healthier
Drawbacks
- Longer journeys for some vehicles
- Parents may not be able to drop their children off directly at school by car (other initiatives, like park and ride locations at nearby car parks could help solve this)
- Doesn't necessarily address the wider transport needs of secondary schools as they are not covered by School Streets and require better cycle network, safer walking routes and good public transport
Active travel 2: strategic cycling networks
- The city currently has around 40km of designated (permanent) cycle routes, although few meet modern standards
- Just under 5% of the city's residents cycle to work
- Up to around 1,500 trips are made every day using BTN BikeShare, the Brighton & Hove bike share scheme
- The Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan will include high quality, segregated cycle networks connecting key locations within the city
- Government has recently produced new guidance setting out higher standards for councils in delivering cycling schemes
Benefits
- Enables families and local businesses to use larger and cargo bikes, reducing car dependency
- Other than the cost of the bike, cycling is a free form of transport
- Reduces carbon emissions and air and noise pollution
- More opportunities to combine cycling with driving or public transport for longer journeys
- More options for cycling within the city with fewer gaps in provision for cycling
- Addresses road safety concerns, which are a key barrier to many people choosing to cycle in the city
- Improves quality of life and independent mobility for children and young adults
Drawbacks
- Reallocation of road space from cars and other vehicles with potential impacts on loading/servicing and bus services
- Segregated cycle tracks can easily attract debris and litter so need regular cleaning
- Not everyone will be able to cycle, including some residents with mobility impairments or disabilites
- Adapted bicycles and e-bikes could support some with mobility impairments and anyone who struggles with the uphill parts of the area
Active travel 3: active travel/public health behaviour change campaign
- Improved travel options to residents should be supported by information and promotion raising awareness of the full range of travel options, how to use them, and the relative benefits
- The council works with employers, schools and individuals to support information provision on alternatives to the car and help them to develop ways to minimise car use
- Often referred to as 'travel planning,' this can be very effective since many school children and employees make the same journey on a daily basis, and therefore can easily form a habit
- It is important to understand what is driving people's behaviour - future measures, and the messaging around these measures, must account for the factors influencing behaviour
Benefits
- Relatively low cost measure which can be put in place quickly and changed easily
- Can be put in place alongside infrastructure
- Will potentially improve quality of life by supporting individual health and wellbeing and by improving carbon neutrality and local air quality
Drawbacks
- Impact on carbon emissions may be very localised and small scale
- Requires continued support and buy-in from external organisations like schools and workplaces
- Behavioural campaigns may be less successful if attractive facilities and messaging that addresses the barriers to active travel is not already in place
Case study 1
- Alex is physically disabled and has always used her car to travel to the city
- She is no longer able to park near to the shops or have her friend pick her up from home
- Alex is encouraged to get on public transport
- Alex tries this, but finds she is often left waiting for buses she can’t get on due to limited space for wheelchair users and parents with pushchairs
- Alex calls the council, who start a pre-booking scheme that means Alex can guarantee a space on a bus at a certain time
- Alex prefers this to waiting around and feeling anxious, but also feels she’s lost the ability to spontaneously meet up with friends or go out to the shops
Case study 2
- Molly is deaf and has a mild visual impairment in her peripheral vision
- She has always enjoyed a stroll by the beach but since hearing more about the benefits of physical activity has taken to doing this every day
- Molly usually has to share space with cyclists
- She often has difficulty in navigating which part of the street is supposed to be for pedestrians and which bit is for cyclists, especially because cyclists enjoy being nearer to the seafront and sometimes cycle in the pedestrian area of the pavement
- Molly has a particularly stressful incident where, as she’s strolling along the seafront part of the pavement, a cyclist loses their balance and falls into her
- Molly isn’t injured but this has put her off going to take her walks and she chooses not to most days
Case study 3
- Mo has been living in Brighton for about 3 years. He moved here as a migrant, which his family supported by lending him all the collective money they had
- When he arrived, he took a job as a delivery driver
- Like many of his peers, Mo has now become an Uber driver, his friends told him he should be able to move up to be a taxi driver and own his own taxi soon enough - this is the trajectory into society for lots of people in their community
- Since the residents of Brighton & Hove have been encouraged to reduce car use, Mo has found he has much less work
- His income has reduced significantly, and he is starting to feel sick with worry - having given him everything they had so he could get here, his family are dependent on him sending money home
Frequently asked questions (FAQs) - sessions 2 and 3
These questions were taken from the transcripts of breakout groups, and from questions posed to expert speakers during session one and provided to expert speakers who responded.
They were compiled in the following document and provided to assembly members before session 4.
Questions from the local bus service presentation, answered by Martin Harris, Brighton & Hove Buses and Metrobus
What is the average price of a weekly bus pass?
£21.60 for a 7-day adult citySAVER on mobile app or key card online. On average these tickets are used 12.7 times a week, making an average cost of £1.70 per journey. This is around the same price as London, where buses are heavily subsidised.
Young people aged 18 and under get a 50% discount and travel for just £1 per journey off peak or 50p with an adult. Student discounts are typically around a third lower than the adult prices.
We recognise that if buses are to remain a key part of the battle against climate change, they have to be priced as attractively as possible.
That is what we currently set out to achieve, without the benefit of fares subsidies as in London.
Are the emissions used to create the zero emission buses offset?
(Not entirely clear if I’m correctly interpreting the intention of the question, as this may alternatively be about the way the extended range electric hybrids work.)
The emissions are not directly offset, but the ambition and target to reduce our emissions is set within the Go Ahead Group (who own Brighton & Hove Buses) environmental corporate strategy. and we are exceeding our predicted goals.
We are also measured against this through our ISO500001 attainment. We are ahead of our targets due to the many proactive control measures we have in place to monitor and manage the efficiency of the energy that's produced through the reduced usage of fuel.
What will enable bus operators to reduce fares?
The biggest single thing would be if buses could flow more smoothly through the city. Over the past 10 years, bus journey times have increased by up to 30% due to increased congestion and changes making progress for buses more difficult.
This means 30% more buses and drivers are needed just to run the same level of service, forcing up the cost of operation and therefore affecting ticket prices.
Improving the flow of buses would have the opposite and very positive effect, as well as making buses more attractive to use with shorter journey times, thereby also enabling further improvements.
Most importantly this would reduce greenhouse gas emissions both from buses and car users.
Is the bus subsidy for elderly people paid by for by national or local government?
It is funded locally through a national scheme, but the government provide some funding for it.
Legally, the amount paid ensures that bus operators do not benefit financially from the scheme. It covers the revenue lost through providing the free travel reduced by the extra trips generated because it is free.
Typically, this means that about 50p in the £1 of the equivalent adult fare is returned to the operator for each concessionary journey.
This free travel is an essential social and environmental tool, it enables many active carers to support friends, relatives and to volunteer for a range of valuable duties, saving the state millions.
Are bus lanes operated by the council or are they privately owned?
They are owned and maintained by the council as the highway operator.
How many tourists use the buses?
Unfortunately, we don't have the data that enables us to split this information out, but pre-Covid around 50 million journeys were made a year in the city - 172 per person.
This is the highest of anywhere in the UK outside London and has more than doubled in recent decades.
Clearly this combines some of the many tourist trips to our city but to make further inroads on carbon emissions we need to encourage (using both carrot and stick) more visitors to the city out of cars and into cycles, buses and trains.
Why have we invested in hybrid buses rather than electric ones? What’s the cost to have a fully electric fleet compared to a hybrid fleet?
Electric buses, like electric cars, have a limited range which is also worsened by the fact that the city has often full double deck buses (see heaviest used buses point above), heavy congestion and steep hills, meaning that most would run out of charge by lunchtime on our services.
This means having to have so many extra buses to allow them to keep recharging during the day, making the services simply unviable with those hugely increased costs of the extra buses, extra drivers and extra maintenance. Each one is also around double the price.
In addition, our buildings and premises do not have adequate electricity supply to charge vehicles. Our small Waterloo depot in London needed a new electricity substation of its own just for 34 buses.
We don’t have any garages as small as that so the requirements are multiplied and, at present, there is no public funding available for such energy infrastructure.
We are working with suppliers and stakeholders on plans for future zero emissions through hydrogen fuel cell buses and the funding currently available to assist there.
These buses have a better range and can cope with the demands on buses in Brighton & Hove.
Would it be more carbon effective to have trams instead of buses?
Delivering a zero-emission bus fleet using hydrogen technology could be delivered at a small fraction of the cost of a tram system and would deliver more flexibility to a much larger number of users.
The issue with trams is not just the desire to be carbon free (which they wouldn't be because trams run using electric power delivered through overhead electric cables), it also means that we would need to put back lots of unsightly infrastructure such as rails in the roads and metal towers with trailing cables all over the city to power the trams.
There is also currently a huge shortage of available electricity in local power grids so they would require millions of pounds worth of upgrades to the grid to power them.
This again would not work with the current locations the city has or the local road infrastructure.
This would not only be costly and not carbon free but also leave us unable to flex to meet future customer needs with changes to routes that can easily be much more easily and cost effectively done with buses.
Our preferred solution of hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles would deliver zero emission movement, with hydrogen generated by clean green renewable energy.
If the city is prepared to relook at the allocation of road space to provide improved bus and active travel priority, we could speed up bus journey times significantly.
The walking and cycling that can take place alongside new active travel greenways while retaining the flexibility to continue to change and meet differing future needs.
Are there already plans to bring in new vehicles and routes – and if so, where is the money going to come from other than prices going up?
24 new Extended Range Electric Buses which run in zero emission mode through the Ultra-Low Emission Zone in the city centre will be introduced in November on route 1.
These have been fully funded by Brighton & Hove Buses. See above for our ambitions for hydrogen buses to deliver zero emissions in Brighton.
The money comes from customers’ fares and sometimes there is public funding support to help.
The government has been talking about a significant new investment in zero emissions buses.
We would hope to take advantage of such an opportunity to reduce the impact on finances and therefore the demand on customers’ fares.
Fares go up in most years to reflect rising costs, sometimes reflecting high fuel costs in some years but more usually, the largest part of our costs which are the total salaries paid to our employees.
It is only right that we offer competitive earning opportunities and good terms and conditions of employment as a fair and responsible employer.
Who runs the bus companies?
Brighton & Hove and Metrobus is based and managed locally in Conway Street, Hove and owned by The Go-Ahead Group, a UK PLC.
The Big Lemon is a Community Interest Company based in Brighton.
Compass Travel is a limited company based in Worthing.
Stagecoach South is based in Chichester and is owned by Stagecoach, a UK PLC.
Brighton & Hove and Metrobus has local directors who live and work in the region and in many cases, along with the vast majority of the management team, long associations with the company and the area. The managing director began his 40-year career with the company here in Brighton.
How are hydrogen fuel cell buses made?
The fuel cell buses are made in much the same way as other buses though with far fewer mechanical moving parts, just as you would expect from an electric vehicle.
The fuel cell element is bought in as a unit from specialist suppliers and fitted as part of this production process, much like batteries in electric buses.
The hydrogen is produced when a charge is introduced to water, so the raw ingredients for the fuel cells are much less demanding on the environment than batteries for electric buses in terms of heavy metal mining, for example.
Which buses are hybrids?
When you look at our current fleet, the true hybrids are the 13 x Volvo B5H (were on service 7, now on service 2) and the new 54 x ADL E400ER vehicles (extended range electric buses on service 5 and about to operate service 1).
All the Wrightbus Streetdeckers (services 7, 12, 49) are micro hybrids which is slightly different, where the energy savings are made by intelligent electrical components that run when needed, like alternators and compressors along with the obvious start-stop technology.
These systems do reduce the amount of energy required and reduce the amount of fuel used, and therefore reduce carbon impacts and help with air quality improvements.
How much funding [for new technology in public transport] is from the council and how much is from fares? Has funding come from anywhere else?
New technology such as all new buses including the 54 new Extended Range Electric Buses, new ticketing technology, free WiFi on all buses and USB charging points have been fully financed by Brighton & Hove Bus company through fare revenue without third party funding.
However, retrofitting exhaust treatments to older buses to improve air quality has attracted some government funding.
Such schemes also work though the councils so we work closely together to try to attract funding for advances in air quality and other tech.
Sharing tech is also an important theme here in Brighton. We opened up our ticketing system so that people all over the city, regardless of which operator they use, could benefit from joining the same discounted ticketing deals offered by us.
Through the council, the Department for Transport contributed £85,000 to help the city achieve this multi-operator ticketing scheme that many areas talk about spending millions on to achieve.
We’ve done it on shoestring, and it’s been in place for several years now to everyone’s benefit.
Could we ensure that dedicated buses to the city centre are linked to rail travel? For example, if someone is travelling to London and needs to get a bus to the train station, could we offer combined tickets – like PlusBus?
Plusbus integrates bus and rail travel into a rail ticket or smartcard in the city as part of a national scheme.
In addition to this, the Southern keyGo smartcard can be used for Pay As You Go travel on buses in the city as well as throughout the GTR network, and through rail tickets to and from London can be bought on Brighton & Hove Buses.
We have also investigated other forms of joined up payment systems – or ‘Mobility as a Service’ solutions as the jargon refers to them.
We believe joining up transport options effectively and easily for the customer is an important part of the fight against climate change by making it easier for people to travel without using a car.
What are the bus routes that are most and least effective/used? If there were more buses, would they be travelling the same routes or new ones?
Some routes are more viable than others, but we believe in the importance of operating a comprehensive network across the city as best we can, resulting in one of the least reliant on public subsidy but most comprehensive bus networks in the country.
On existing routes, 85% of our customers have a frequency of every 10 minutes during the daytime or better.
Additional buses would be deployed in the areas of most demand, to give the greatest benefit, in some cases offering new faster journeys, in other cases, some new links might be created, but in many cases, improving frequency would point to the highest chances of success based on everything we have learned so far.
This is all in a pre or post Covid scenario of course; in the shorter term the recovery of the network remains a little more uncertain and will need to build back on strengths to get to a new solid and sustainable network.
If more people don’t start using public transport, will those who do use it have to pay more?
The vast majority of the cost of operating the city's transport network is paid for by users so the level of fares and level of service depends on the use that is made of it.
If more people use the service, then it can become more efficient, helping pressure on fares, as well as more frequent, further encouraging growth.
This has been the story of success in the city's bus network in recent decades.
Could we have a group bus pass, like a family pass but for a group of adults, like friends, to make bus travel more attractive in terms of price? If splitting a cab fare is cheaper than paying four bus fares, people will choose to take a taxi.
The Quattro citySAVER ticket on our mobile app already allows 4 people to travel around the city for an hour for just £6.
Could we have a minibus system like in Oxford, where they’re on demand and go around the streets where people need them?
While we are open to trying new things, on demand buses struggle to be viable financially as their cost outweighs their income so they need to be subsidised.
Our sister company in Oxford tried operating this kind of service as the largest ever in the UK but it was withdrawn due to the high cost of operation not being possible to meet from revenues, even after some business sponsorship revenues.
It’s very costly to operate like a taxi but use buses that cost a lot more money and employing people paid decent rates whether they have any passengers or not.
Could we have buses that don’t have seats, like the ones at the airport that take you and your luggage to the plane?
The biggest concern with this is safety, ordinarily the average speed of a vehicle running airside or in the vicinity of an airport is very low and the number of passengers inside is quite high, limiting the amount of movement within the vehicle should the vehicle brake sharply.
Also those vehicles type operate mainly on private land where the movement of other vehicles is strictly controlled and so emergency braking is very rare. On the public highway, it’s very different of course.
Some people are happy to stand for short distances but there are also many passengers who prefer to sit and so the balance of space on our buses is allocated more towards sitting with some available and flexible space for standing.
Could we have articulated buses with the rear section dedicated to pushchairs and wheelchairs?
This could be possible, but only with the collaboration of manufacturers and the DfT policy makers, as PSV interior bus design is heavily regulated especially in regards to wheelchair spacing.
All our new double deck buses are designed with accessibility in mind and now include separate wheelchair and buggy spaces, dementia friendly floors as well as widened spacing for easier access for all including passengers with walkers, wheelchair users and double buggies.
There is no reason why any new articulated bus design shouldn't take accessible travel for all into account as we should always be mindful that the bus is for everyone and any new design should always reflect this.
Ideally accessible access should be near the front of the bus where there is access to the driver, if required, as well as being less distance for someone to walk with a mobility related impairment. There are many factors that would therefore need to be considered first.
Could we get add-ons to our buses so we can put our bikes on the front/back to take them with us?
If this was to be added to a vehicle as it is in the USA, it would not be certified in this country, as there is no legislation to encourage it.
This is mainly down to the crash tests, where a vehicle is designed to have minimal impact should the vehicle strike a pedestrian or other road user.
Also, many of our services operate in dense urban areas to timetables that would be undermined if there were repeated delays from putting bikes on and off from some sort of frame.
For some rural tourist services, the interior of buses has been modified to accommodate one or two bikes, but there is a real difficulty in re-allocating the scarce space within a bus for further uses such as this.
Questions from the presentation on local transport user experiences, answered by Andrew Boag, Brighton Area Buswatch
Car free policies sound good in principle, but there is a worry about how it will impact parents with children, people with mental health and those with disabilities. How do you think the council should go about navigating these issues?
Good question! I would suggest it could start with looking at how we make the city less dependent on car use before imposing big restrictions on cars.
Public transport improvements, new cycle lanes and better facilities for pedestrians need to be in place to discourage those who don’t need to use cars to change their habits.
Would people with disabilities have an exemption to use taxis if car-free areas, such as in the city centre, were implemented?
Possibly, but disabilities come in so many different forms, some hidden.
Many disabled people can and do use public transport which has become a lot more accessible over the past 20 years as DDA and Equalities legislation has taken effect.
All buses have step free entrances with ramps to enable wheelchair access. Low floors also help passengers with buggies or heavy shopping and older people.
Most local buses also have audible and visual next stop announcements.
As a disabled person I am concerned about how car free policies would impact me. How do we strike a balance so that people who rely on cars are still able to use them without being penalised?
I go back to my earlier points about making the city less car dependent and encouraging use of other modes.
Some disabled people will need to use cars so there will always need to be special arrangements with more spacious parking bays.
Where does the money generated from parking permits go?
To the council who can only use it for transport, for example free bus passes and infrastructure improvements.
Why are we not implementing innovative ticketing, like using credit/debit cards to tap in (and out) on public transport?
We are! Tap in and tap out has been available on Brighton & Hove Buses and Metrobus services for the past year and all local bus companies now accept contactless payments for other tickets.
How much would it cost to administer road charging?
That’s difficult to say offhand, it depends on how it is done and how big the area covered is.
Are we targeting leisure car use or business car use?
Both.
Could we implement a congestion charge like in London? To what extent would a congestion charge discourage driving?
It’s a possibility, my guess it that congestion charging schemes and Ultra Low Emission zones will become more common over the next few years.
In London the congestion charge has discouraged private cars but there are now lots more white vans, delivery vehicles and Ubers, so overall traffic levels have increased again.
I would like to see good park and ride schemes in Brighton & Hove to discourage people from driving into the city centre.
A park and ride site could also be used for HGVs to switch to smaller vehicles or electric powered delivery bikes for the final few miles through the urban area.
The A23 is the major artery to Brighton. Visitors want to visit the Lanes, the pier, so they head for the city centre car parks – if you’re going to make that bit traffic-free, how are visitors going to get there without moving parking somewhere else?
Big park and ride location close to the A23/A27 junction would help considerably.
This could be a car to bus and car to bike facility with dedicated bus and cycle lanes for the entire length to the seafront in both directions.
We could also try to encourage people to transfer from car to train or bus further out and try to reduce the number of rail lines being closed at weekends for engineering works, to encourage train use.
We heard there are 50 million bus journeys in Brighton, how does this compare with the number of car journeys?
50 million relates to the number of annual bus journeys in the city.
The number of car journeys would be far, far higher, reflecting the diversity of the sorts of journeys made around and across the city.
Birmingham City Council said a quarter of journeys are under a mile, is that similar in Brighton?
Probably.
Big Lemon – the project putting solar panels at the bus station – how many solar panels are in place? How much power are they generating, and how much is going into buses?
At a guess, based on a photo, there are around 50 solar panels on the depot roof.
According to The Big Lemon, they generate enough electricity to run their electric buses on most days.
In the summer the panels sometimes generate excess power which is sent to the National Grid while in the winter they may need to use more national grid power – they tell me it balances out.
If we were to have trams, where would you put them?
I love trams and it would be great to see them here, although building a tram system would be very expensive and extremely disruptive.
I’d put them along the busiest bus corridors like Lewes Road and Western Road into Hove & Portslade and to the Marina. That’s basically bus routes 1, 7 and 25.
People often suggest trams should use the seafront, but I don’t think that would work successfully because most places people want to go are away from the seafront, for example:
- Churchill Square
- Brighton Station
- RSC Hospital
- Hove town centre
- the universities
How difficult was it to implement a travel card?
Brighton & Hove Bus Saver tickets are available on all local buses except Stagecoach so that almost works as a travelcard.
I’ve been trying to encourage bus companies to provide one ticket for every bus for several years and we are nearly there.
The future probably lies with contactless and mobile phone apps rather than a smart card style travelcard. Ideally any new ticket should include local train travel too.
Could we target people on low incomes and people with disabilities by subsidising their travel? Could we provide a discount card for households with a low income?
Brighton & Hove Buses has an agreement with the East Sussex Credit Union to provide loans for annual season tickets at a 20% discount.
People with certain disabilities are eligible for a free disabled person bus pass, check with the council.
Could we explore smaller buses or minibuses, rather than double-deckers? What about communal buses like in Turkey – where, when there’s a big enough group to justify a journey, a bus trip is made available.
Smaller buses don’t result in significant savings because around 50% of the cost of providing a bus service is drivers wages.
So, unless wages are reduced (which would be unpopular and make recruitment difficult) the scope is limited.
Also, double-deckers tend to be needed in Brighton & Hove because bus use is so high.
Minibuses often mean you have to provide lots more vehicles to achieve the capacity provided by one double decker, especially at school and commuter periods.
There’s no point in having 2 fleets of buses for use at different times of day as that would increase costs. However, I think there is scope for small communal buses in some rural areas.
Questions from the presentation on reducing car use, answered by Cllr Waseem Zaffar, Birmingham Council
If certain roads were made unavailable it’s going to discourage people from driving on that route, but they may simply choose to take a longer route to reach their destination, making more pollution rather than stopping it. How did you get around this?
The strategy is that people will see that travelling by alternative modes will be much quicker and cheaper than the private car and make a switch.
We can’t change every journey, but changing the majority of them will bring huge benefits.
How did/would you ensure that altering the roads to accommodate buses and cyclists doesn’t affect emergency services (for example, ambulance times)?
We always consult fully with our emergency services partners and would put in place measures to ensure that any routes they were concerned about were amended as necessary.
Have you made exemptions in car-free areas, for example for Blue badge holders?
We always seek to protect overall levels of parking for blue badge holders in easily accessible locations.
How did you go about making a housing development ‘low car’?
We have recently developed our Parking Supplementary Planning Document which will adopted in 2021.
Throughout the development of the SPD we consulted with various stakeholders including housing developers themselves to ensure that our low car approach would work in the city.
The key to this approach is ensuring public transport and active modes are a viable alternative to the private car.
If we limit car parking in housing developments, how will disabled residents park their cars outside their houses?
We always seek to protect overall levels of parking for blue badge holders in easily accessible locations.
I pay a lot of money to be on the road so why can’t I drive?
We are not stopping people from driving. We want to make people think about the best mode for the specific journey they are making.
Our roads can’t take everyone making every journey by car so we need to change the way we think and act.
What other cities have implemented a car-free city centre? What are the pitfalls?
Lots of cities across the world have car-free city centres, and we look to them for ideas and lessons learnt.
Although developed separately, a good example of a strategy similar to the segments concept is Ghent, in Belgium.
All schemes have challenges, but it is how we learn and adapt from them that really matters, what is really important in Birmingham is to ensure that residents and businesses can still make the journeys they require.
If you implemented a car-free city centre and cut everything off, how will delivery drivers get through? Are they exempt?
Delivery routes would be maintained where required, and although delivery times may be limited, full consultation is taking place with businesses.
We also continue to work with our partners, to look towards alternative ways that deliveries can be made in busy urban centres.
For example, we are about the launch an eCargo bike pilot scheme which will see more deliveries across the city centre made using a carbon-free mode.
How can we implement a viable alternative for those who commute into the city?
The key to this is a strong integrated public transport system, alongside safe and direct active travel routes for shorter journeys.
Our strategy to deliver this is set out in the Birmingham Transport Plan which we consulted on in early 2020 and are planning to adopt in 2021.
We continue to expand the network with extensions to our tram lines, new rail stations in suburban areas and cross city bus route links.
We also published our Cycling and Walking Investment Plan last year, which sets out our ambitious strategy to provide a high-quality active travel network.
If you charge cars to drive in, then where does the money go?
Birmingham will implement a government mandated Clean Air Zone (CAZ) in June 2021. This is not a congestion charge but is a tariff for entering the CAZ if your vehicle produces too much pollution.
Vehicles which meet the clean air standards are not charged. Charges collected will be used to run the scheme, mitigate impacts on vulnerable groups, and any surplus will be reinvested into our public and active travel networks, further increasing the green travel options in Birmingham.
Questions from the presentation on workplace levy and electric vehicles, answered by James Ashton, Nottingham City Council
In practice, how easy would it be for taxi fleet to change to electric cars and is that a viable option for Brighton? What’s involved in making this happen?
I would say, given our experience in Nottingham, it hasn’t been particularly easy - there are lots of challenges (mostly from the taxi trade themselves) but we are making it happen.
The taxi trade is split between private hire and the hackney carriages. The private hire fleet tends to operate more modern vehicles, so my comments here primarily relate to the hackney carriage fleet.
In Nottingham the hackney carriage fleet was quite old - some vehicles were as old as 26 years!
The city council wanted to ensure an attractive, modern welcome to Nottingham, and updating the hackney carriage fleet was key to this as a lot of the taxi trips come from the train station.
To do this, the city council first implemented a new policy setting out our intention to only license the newest vehicles.
Quite a few of the drivers have been resistant to change of any sort, so the policy was seen as an attack on their trade.
A proportion of the drivers have formed a representative group which has tried to resist the changes and a number of them are also engaged in legal action against the council to appeal against the implementation of the policy.
On the other side of the argument another trade body has been formed by drivers who are willing to make the switch to electric vehicles.
The city council has been working closely with this group and we have obtained funding to provide grants and help to ensure that driver find it as easy as possible to make the switch to electric vehicles.
In 2015 Nottingham was named as having some of the worst air quality in the country (particularly in relation to NO2 concentrations).
We worked with DEFRA to form a plan to reduce emissions and we included the transition of hackney carriages to electric as part of our plan.
Proposals for age and specification policies relating to Hackney Carriage and private hire vehicles.
Hackney Carriage and private hire vehicle strategy 2017 to 2020.
I’m not sure about the particular circumstances in Brighton so I’m unable to comment about whether this would be a viable option for Brighton. However, there’s no reason why it couldn’t happen anywhere in the country.
Where is electricity coming from to power electric vehicles, if electricity is generated using fossil fuels then what’s the impact on overall emissions?
The Charge Point network is run by Chargemaster and the electricity comes from OVO energy.
The energy provided to the charge points is 100% renewable.
Do electric cars create pollution from the tyres?
Yes, there are particulate emissions (PM10 and PM 2.5) from the tires and brakes of electric vehicles.
Electric cars are still an emerging technology and the models that are available today will likely be replaced in years to come. How do we futureproof our plans for electric vehicles?
I think the technology behind electric cars is well understood. Future battery electric cars are likely to have longer ranges and may be able to charge quicker than current models. This may result in a reduced need for charge points.
The biggest problem we are finding in Nottingham is the ability of the existing electricity network to deal with the demand for electricity created by electric vehicle charging. This requires us to try and work closely with the power distribution companies.
The costs of making changes to the power distribution networks can often prove to be very high (in the millions); this can prove to be problematic when property developers are looking to develop new areas of the city.
There is also a continued interest in using hydrogen to power vehicles. We’re keeping a watching brief on hydrogen at the moment, but it may only be appropriate for HGVs due to the costs associated with creation, distribution and storage of hydrogen.
What do you think about setting up an electric car club, in other words an electric car hire system?
This is a good idea. We have a car club in Nottingham which is run by Enterprise. Many of the vehicles available through the car club are either hybrid or fully electric.
We are working with Enterprise to increase the number of electric vehicles available through the car club. This work has been slowed as a result of Covid.
Why is it difficult for councils to influence/stimulate the use of electric vehicles?
I think it’s just a slow change rather than a difficult one. The switch to electric vehicles requires a long-term behaviour change from consumers of new vehicles.
We are working to convince consumers of the benefits of purchasing new electric vehicles (not just cars but also vans and HGVs) as well as removing some of the barriers to owning EV cars (such as providing adequate charging infrastructure).
This is a huge task, so by its nature will take a long time.
Do brake and tyre wear have an impact on the overall affordability of electric cars?
Overall, we know that electric cars are far cheaper to run than internal combustion engine cars.
Drive trains are simpler, which results in less maintenance; also, fuel costs are far cheaper and there’s currently no vehicle excise duty on electric cars (unlike petrol and diesel cars).
I would say that brake and tyre wear do not have an impact on the overall affordability of electric cars.
Electric cars are more expensive to buy than petrol or diesel cars, but with the vastly reduced running costs, this additional purchase cost can be recouped in 2 to 3 years depending on mileage.
We believe that the cost of buying new electric cars will fall, and also there is no second-hand market for EV cars currently, but this will develop given time.
We expect that the development of a second-hand market for EV cars will help to reduce purchase costs and help with the uptake of EV cars.
Even with a change to electric cars, will there still be congestion that hinders public transport?
Yes, the switch to electric cars will not reduce traffic congestion.
We are, however, investing heavily in our public transport network to help it avoid traffic congestion. We’re adding in bus lanes and bus priority systems at traffic lights.
We’re also investing in our tram network and have plans to extend existing lines, as well as add in new lines to the east and west of the city.
Ultimately, we need to ensure that the public transport network in Nottingham is high quality and high frequency as possible to ensure that it remains an attractive option for travel.
Is private investment into electric car infrastructure an option? What would make it viable for the investor?
We do already work extensively with private companies in order to implement and run charge point infrastructure in Nottingham.
I know that there are privately-run charge point networks elsewhere in the country. Chargemaster runs the Nottingham charge point network on behalf of the city council, and Enterprise runs our car club (they have invested in EV cars).
I think that as the market for electric vehicles grow there will be more opportunities for private companies to invest in electric vehicles and EV infrastructure.
Is there availability for an increased demand in electric vehicles? Do the companies have the products? One of the statistics from last time was that for every electric car sold, 15 SUVs were sold. Can the electric car companies cope with an enormous influx of people wanting their cars? Also, the grid. Can the electricity grid sustain increased demand from extra electric vehicles?
I would imagine that as demand for EV cars increases then companies will produce more cars and more products. The demand for diesel and petrol cars is falling and will continue to fall. The companies will simply switch production away from internal combustion engine cars to the production of EVs.
With regard to the grid, this is a large problem - we are already approaching the maximum capacity for electricity distribution in parts of Nottingham, and it’s likely that substantial investment in the power distribution network will be required if we are to make a wholesale switch to electric vehicles.
Are electric vehicles going to be price driven? How do you make sure there will be fewer cars?
I think the price of buying and electric vehicle will continue to fall. The price of owning and running electric cars is already far lower than petrol or diesel cars.
This is likely to make car travel more attractive than it is now. This potentially could result in more congestion.
In Nottingham we have measures to discourage commuting by car (Work Place Parking Levy) and we will continue to invest heavily in encouraging walking, cycling and public transport.
Did the amount of traffic change because of the designs?
Very little change, there may be a slight reduction as drivers do not feel particularly comfortable in the Pedestrian Priority environment.
Having introduced pedestrianised zones, what was the saving on CO2 emissions?
Don’t know. Little change in traffic levels but the aim was to create a more attractive environment that stimulates business and encourages local people to use the city centre, rather than the nearby out-of-town shopping centre Cheshire Oaks (a very large outlet mall), or instead of going to Manchester or Liverpool.
Questions from the presentation on the experience of migrant and refugee communities, answered by Dr Nichola Khan, Brighton University
Are you saying that making changes around car use will put these people’s jobs at risk? Do we have an indication there will be a significant drop off in cab and Uber usage?
The community of migrant and refugee taxi and Uber drivers is under additional pressures to those of, say, British drivers, because of their responsibilities in many cases for providing financial support to families in their countries of origin which are politically unstable, violent, or at war, or who may be refugees in neighbouring countries.
Making changes to car use in the city will most certainly impact these people’s jobs, mental well-being, and sense of community and belonging in the city.
Is there possibility of a shift from taxi-driving to courier-driving, for migrant drivers?
This depends what is meant by courier driving, on its relative earning potential, and what possibilities for independence and for choosing their own working hours it holds.
Taxi-driving can be very well paid for those who work long hours - especially important in the case of migrants increasingly settling spouses and children in the UK, and Brighton & Hove.
The income made from driving in their case needs to be sufficient for supporting a family, as well as flexible enough to accommodate school holidays and changes to routines and so on.
More buses seem to be the answer. Can we move taxi drivers to bus driving?
This would involve a substantial change from a self-employed to employed status for migrant taxi drivers.
It would also remove many incentives associated with taxi driving. For example, the ambition to work hard enough to buy one’s own taxi and become a driver-owner, and later perhaps move out of taxi-driving and buy a shop or other type of business, as several have done - benefitting the wider community in the city and market for international supermarkets and restaurants.
Therefore taxi-driving is strongly associated with entrepreneurship for migrants, and I do not imagine that bus-driving would have an equivalent appeal. I would expect very little take up in this regard.
Furthermore, as I said in my talk, it would exclude all those Uber drivers and others further down the chain such as food delivery drivers, from opportunities to progress in terms of driving and self-employment in business.
How can we utilise the qualifications of migrants, when their qualifications aren’t recognised here?
Certainly, possibilities for recognising or converting international qualifications should be made more available.
However, this applies only to a small percentage of refugees. Many of those in the city from Afghanistan, for example, have grown up through four decades of war, or lived as refugees in Pakistan and Iran before coming to the UK, and consequently had their educational opportunities severely curtailed.
While they may speak several languages fluently, written literacy rates in Afghanistan - and in many other countries refugees are fleeing - are very low.
How has climate change affected human displacement?
This is a big question!
Climate change is being intrinsically linked to increased displacement across the globe due to increased temperatures and scorching heat that are making many places unliveable, severely impacting livelihoods, causing severe water shortages and increasing violence which, in turn, is propelling increasing numbers of what are being called ‘climate refugees’ and ‘climate migrants’.
To give an example, all along the global aridity line, we can map connections between drought, water scarcity, scorching temperatures, heat stress and military conflict—and plot conflict zones along the line from Syria, Libya, Palestine, Yemen, Somalia, Mali, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, for example—countries which have high numbers of internally displaced people and which are sending high numbers of refugees.
In these situations of violence and instability, it is always women, minorities and transient groups who are worst affected. Therefore, climate justice and climate change communication will mean elevating those voices.
Climate activism has historically been a middle-class pursuit, and minority activists have been ignored - this is what Naomi Klein calls the ‘violence of othering in a warming world’.
Addressing climate change impacts will require highlighting the voices of the most marginalised (women, poor, climate migrants, displacees, all minority groups) - by elevating voices of analysts, experts, refugee and indigenous rights campaigners, lawyers and activists from or working on behalf of these communities.
What are the impacts of city planning and transport planning on refugee communities?
We won’t know these impacts until they have been implemented and in place for some time, but I had imagined it was an aim of the assembly to think these through.
Are refugees given concessions on public transport?
To my knowledge, this is not the case in Brighton & Hove.
However, refugees are mostly embedded in refugee and migrant communities of support and in many cases, do call on these for lifts and help with moving around the city and so on.
This reinforces the dependence on car use for these vulnerable communities.
Questions answered by Brighton & Hove City Council
How are potholes going to be managed in roads and cycle lanes?
Our first priority in maintaining highway infrastructure is to minimise risks to the safety of people using our highway network or who live and work nearby.
Potholes are an inconvenience and danger to a number of road users, including pedestrians.
The council spends over £3million a year on highway maintenance and receives an additional sum from the government towards preventing and repairing potholes.
We also have an ongoing safety inspections programme which enables urgent repairs, depending on the site assessment of risk.
Where would a subsidy for e-bikes come from?
The government’s new vision for cycling and walking (‘Gear Change’) states that it will establish a national e-bike support programme, which could include loans, subsidies, or other financial incentives, using the learning from other schemes in the UK and abroad for e-bikes, adapted e-bikes and other e-vehicles.
The council will continue to look out for other funding streams to make it easier for residents to purchase e-bikes, as well as increasing access to them through the BTN BikeShare scheme.
Can we have more planter beds and green spaces?
The delivery of public realm improvements, which could be through reallocating some road space from vehicles, will provide opportunities for these along with more areas to sit and relax.
If we transplant parking and move traffic around the city, where do the day trippers go?
The removal of any parking spaces in the city centre would need to be supported by improvements to other travel options, so that an improved city centre environment remains easily accessible to everyone.
Some parking would need to remain for residents and visitors who need to travel by private car, and mobility hubs outside of the city centre could enable a switch from car to public transport for visitors driving to the city.
Are disabled groups and invisibly disabled groups being consulted on changes before they’re made?
Everyone will have an opportunity to comment next year on the development of a new transport strategy for the city, which will support the development of an accessible city with a transport network that everyone can use.
Changes to the network will be designed to maintain or improve accessibility for disabled people and those with other protected characteristics.
An Equality Impact Assessment will be required as part of the design of any measures, along with further consultation, including considerations of access and affordability.
Is it possible to bring back the trams, as the tracks are still there?
Re-introducing trams in the city would be very expensive.
The city has a very comprehensive local bus network which would be difficult to replicate by trams, and has the highest level of bus use in the UK outside of London.
Bus passenger journey numbers are now about 50 million per year, more than double the number in the mid-1990s.
The number of hybrid diesel-electric or solar powered buses in the city is continuing to increase, making them cleaner and quieter.
Can we have more rickshaws and cargo bikes?
The council is already supporting local businesses and organisations to use and switch to electric cargo bikes and offers a £125 subsidy to businesses who switch to e-cargo bikes for delivery.
Earlier this year we were awarded approximately £85,000 from the Department for Transport for 12 e-cargo bikes.
Two of these are being used by council departments, 5 will help an existing ‘first and last mile’ zero carbon delivery company expand and the other 5 have been given to local businesses.
We will also promote electric pedicabs, instead of rickshaws, to enable people to travel across the city. Find out more about the eCargo Bike Accelerator Project.
By working with project partners to promote zero emission deliveries using e-cargo bikes, we are aiming to reduce carbon emissions in the city centre which are currently produced by delivery vans.
Additionally, we will investigate the feasibility of consolidation hubs outside of the city centre where deliveries can be transferred from large goods vehicles to enable the last mile delivery to be undertaken using e-cargo bikes or other small electric vehicles.
Can we incentivise electric taxis?
200 new lamp post charging points for electric cars have been set up on streets across the city, as well as new rapid-charging hubs for taxis.
Funding has recently been received for more fast chargers to be installed.
The council will need to consider exemptions as part of the introduction of any measures that seek to restrict or reduce the number of vehicles on roads in the city. These may include electric vehicles.
How can we create schemes that are holistic and integrated?
The current local transport plan (LTP4) for the city was developed to support sustainable economic growth, reduce carbon emissions, increase safety, and improve equality, accessibility, health and well-being.
The fifth local transport plan will support similar outcomes and therefore continue to require an integrated package of measures for all forms of travel, with schemes that support a wide range of outcomes.
We don’t pay taxes to have bicycles (like we do to have cars), so where will money come from to maintain cycle lanes and roads? Will this cause council tax to increase?
Highway maintenance (including cycle lanes) in the city is funded by a number of government sources in addition to the council tax raised locally. All council tax payers in the city contribute to highway maintenance costs.
Funds raised from vehicle excise duty and fuel duty go directly to the government. They are not ringfenced for local transport improvements. The government is expected to continue contributing significant funds towards the delivery of cycle schemes.
Just under 5% of city’s residents cycle to work. Is that of the total population or the working/commuting population?
This is the share of all journeys to work by city residents aged 16 to 74 in employment (source: 2011 Census).
What data is available on the types of journeys people make in Brighton & Hove and reasons for them?
The council holds local journey data from a number of sources including:
- school, workplace and visitor surveys
- BTN BikeShare
- local bus and rail operators
- 2011 Census
- Department for Transport
- Sport England (Active Lives Survey)
- other nationally collated data
Is there any data on why people are driving their children short distances to school?
The council collects information on reasons for choice of travel mode during the preparation of school travel plans.
A school travel plan is a document setting out how a school will promote safer, active and sustainable travel to school, with the main emphasis being on reducing the number of children being driven to and from school.
How much money do visitors bring into Brighton in relation to the costs (for example, cleaning the beach)?
Brighton & Hove hosts over 11 million visitors (including 9.5 million day-trippers) every year.
This supports 21,000 tourism related jobs and delivers nearly £886 million of spend in the city (source: Brighton & Hove Visitor Economic Strategy 2018 to 2023).
This far outweighs the costs to the council of managing visitors.
Could the council control or regulate the bus pricing? Is there any possible legal route for the council to buy-out the bus companies?
The council has developed a strong partnership with local bus companies, but does not have direct influence over fare levels.
The majority of bus services in the city are provided commercially (in other words, at no cost to the council) and the fares are set by the companies.
A small number of local authorities across the country, including Nottingham and Reading, operate local bus companies. The council has no plans to buy-out the bus companies in the city.
The Bus Services Act 2017 does provide opportunities for enhanced partnerships with local bus operators.
How much influence do the council have over bus fare levels?
See response to above question.
Has Brighton & Hove City Council committed to implementing a car-free city centre?
No. The council is currently undertaking some initial high-level work on the feasibility and costs of developing a car-free city centre by 2023. This includes the complementary measures that would need to be provided.
The outcome of this work will be reported to the Environment, Transport and Sustainability (ETS) Committee early next year before any decisions are taken on more detailed work, which would include public consultation before any options would be developed.
What is a pop-up cycle lane?
A ‘pop-up’ cycle lane is a temporary cycle lane facility, normally with ‘light segregation’ from other traffic.
Can we get more employers to offer cycle-to-work schemes? Can we get the wider community involved in this? How do we figure out who is driving and target those people?
Through various funding streams the council supports and encourages workplaces across the city to promote sustainable transport to employees.
The Access to Work project promotes cycle-to-work schemes to workplaces, and actively promotes the Green Commute Initiative cycle-to-work scheme which supports local bike shops.
To encourage workplaces to carry out a Sustainable Travel Action Plan, we offer a travel support package that can be tailored to workplaces.
The package includes:
- limited match-funding to improve facilities to encourage active travel - for example, showers, lockers, bike parking
- membership to the Partnership for Active Travel and Health. previously an open forum promoting active travel but now an online forum
- online travel webinars and travel resources, for example, subsidised cycle training and maintenance courses, access to Brighton Bikeshare, cycle maps, and travel deals and discounts
- Dr Bikes sessions that fix and service employees bicycles
The council has also partnered with Love to Ride, which encourages employees and residents to cycle more by offering rewards with incentives.
In the new year, the council will start another partnership project with BetterPoints which encourages all forms of active and sustainable travel.
Again, residents and employees can take part in this project, which offers incentives and rewards which can then be redeemed on the high street supporting local businesses.
The council runs annual workplace travel surveys that gathers data and information about how people travel.
The information gained from these surveys enables the council to make improvements to existing and future infrastructure projects and programmes.
Why is it difficult for the council to influence/stimulate the use/take-up of electric vehicles?
The council is very keen to increase the uptake of electric vehicles in the city to help reduce the impact of vehicle emissions locally.
It is helping to do this by bidding for and investing funding in charging points across the city to support their use by residents and visitors, and over 200 lamppost chargers have now been installed.
In 2017 there were 200 electric vehicles in the city, by Q2 2020 this had increased to 625 vehicles.
The council does not have any influence over the cost of purchasing electric vehicles but is working with the local car club provider to introduce more hybrid electric vehicles across the city.
Brighton isn’t particularly easy to cycle around as there are many hills, are the examples we have heard today compatible comparisons for Brighton?
There are many short journeys made in the city along fairly flat corridors, particularly from east to west.
The topography of the city can though make cycling challenging for many journeys and residents.
It is hoped that the increased ownership and introduction of e-bikes within BTN BikeShare will enable an increase in cycling across all areas of the city.
What are the council going to do to replace the money they make through the parking, if people start to use cars (and therefore parking spaces) less?
The council will need to review the impact on parking revenues of the introduction of measures that promote increased use of active travel and public transport.
It will also need to identify possible changes to existing parking tariff arrangements, or explore new sources of funding which may include road user charging.
