Peer review: Alex Hynes
Managing Director, Northern Rail
Anthony highlights that change in personal circumstance is likely to influence travel behaviour. This presents opportunities for the rail industry and transport authorities.
Across the Northern network local authorities have recognised the need for good transport links to serve residential, industrial and leisure developments. In recent years stations have opened at Buckshaw Parkway in Lancashire, serving residential developments, and in the North East, where a station now serves James Cook Hospital and will cater for growth as nearby leisure and residential developments open.
In the case of residential developments we need to work closely with local partners to encourage modal shift from the beginning. As new residents move into their homes, welcome packs could provide information on the range of public transport services available - from rail and bus to other opportunities such as bike hire and car sharing schemes.
We also need to provide the standard of service that will encourage this modal shift. A prime example of where this works well is the routes we serve to the north west of Leeds, carrying passengers from towns such as Ilkley, Guiseley and Skipton. Working with West Yorkshire Combined Authority, we offer a frequent commuter service into Leeds on an electrified railway with the most modern trains in our fleet. It’s one of our most popular services - electrification and the introduction of new trains helped encourage modal shift from road to rail, leading to 70% of commuter traffic on that corridor into Leeds being by train. People don’t want to sit in traffic on congested road arteries - instead they value the time the train journey offers for them to be productive, whether that’s checking emails or catching up with friends.
A new station is due to open soon at Apperley Bridge, serving new residential developments on the route. It is one of three new stations to open in West Yorkshire alone over the next year.
Leeds City Region is the UK’s largest economy outside London, and a good transport network can support this. But with growing economy comes growing expectations. New stations and enhanced infrastructure have their part to play, but the quality of overall service (a comfortable and clean on-train environment, WiFi and charging facilities) will be just as important, as professionals make their decision on how to get to work. We see this clearly on one of our main corridors from Harrogate into Leeds. Here, rail is in competition with bus providers who have raised their game in terms of on-board experience. Journey times are broadly comparable, so customers start to look for added value to aid their decision-making.
Working with combined authorities and other transport planners across our network helps align local bus services (and in some areas light rail services) with train timetables, providing good onward connections. However, despite the best efforts from all involved, this can be inconsistent and some authorities have to make difficult funding decisions - in some rural areas on our network, bus services are being reduced or removed altogether. Perhaps the Swiss PostBus or Plymouth Taxibus models that Anthony mentions could be the answer here.
If punctuality, quality of service and value for money are all positive drivers for using public transport, it is also important that operators consider end-to-end journey factors. This is one of the pieces of work we have been doing as part of setting station standards at Northern Rail. We manage 464 stations, so this is no mean feat!
However, it is important to drive consistency and greater use of our facilities. Our work, in partnership with our stakeholders, is demonstrating that factors such as signage, way finding and cycling facilities are important for our customers. And this stretches beyond the immediate station lease area. For example, we can provide secure cycle storage on the station, but if the route there has no cycle lanes in busy traffic or is poorly lit, it isn’t an attractive option for users.
In summary, operators cannot work in isolation if we are to help drive changes in travel behaviour. Only through offering high-quality, genuinely integrated solutions across all modes can we effect a real shift change. Rather than trying to achieve this change through central government, devolution is an opportunity to drive greater transport integration and encourage modal shift to public transport in the region.
