Speech by Cllr. David Turner on Renewal of Real Time Passenger Information Contract (Wantage and Didcot Liberal Democrats)

Wantage and Didcot Liberal Democrats <info@wantagelibdems.org.uk>

Speech by Cllr. David Turner on Renewal of Real Time Passenger Information Contract

January 19, 2012 7:08 PM
Originally published by Oxfordshire Liberal Democrats

Firstly Chairman as I haven't worked in the Real Time Passenger Information market for the last five years I no longer have to declare any interests as I did in the past.

There is no doubt that RTPI produces more passengers on buses given the confidence it gives to them that a bus is on the way. However, Chairman the evidence also shows that this fact is even more so where rural routes have gained RTPI information at the bus stops. It can be clearly argued that passenger usage on routes where the frequency of buses is 10 to 15 minutes is not increased as much as on routes where the frequency is say only 30 minutes or hourly. Chairman to stand at a rural bus stop with the confidence that a bus is coming as indicated by the RTPI display will increase the passenger usage and therefore make rural routes more robust and require fewer subsidies which in the long term will pay for itself. I would therefore hope that we will pay more attention to rural routes in the future.

In item 8 on page 400 it says that annex 1 shows the current distribution of RTPI information across Oxfordshire. Chairman this is somewhat misleading as no RTPI information is available at bus stops outside the city of Oxford on the Oxford to Watlington route. This route whilst serving in excess of a 10,000 population between Garsington and Watlington does not have RTPI information as indicated in annex 1.

Chairman I see no reference in the report to expanding the use of one of the great benefits of RTPI systems, this benefit being RTPI bus traffic light priority systems. These schemes are seen elsewhere in the UK and the rest of Europe and produce the benefit of faster journeys by bus than by car as the signal from an approaching bus gives it priority at traffic lights. It also has the capability to hold the bus up if it is ahead of schedule thereby reducing standing times at bus stops with the reduction of pollution at the bus stop area. I would hope Chairman that we can take more advantage of these benefits in the future.

Finally Chairman it would be interesting to hear the progress being made in integration of software and hardware systems between one supplier to another which either prevents an operator using a bus across some local authority borders or forces them into installing several companies software and hardware systems onto every bus thereby putting up the costs to everyone.

David Turner

OCC Shadow Cabinet Member, Transport Issues