(04 Apr 2022, 8:54 pm)Adrian wrote It's probably unhelpful to look at the proposed CRSTS as making up the BSIP shortfall here, given that the two schemes funding are completely separate - as are the objectives of each. In my opinion, it's only been put together in the DfT's press release to cloud over that the Bus Back Better funding was slashed from £3bn to just over £1bn.

If we ever get our hands on the CRSTS money, there'll only be a fraction of it spent on buses, the sheer scope of what that money has to cover, including funding to councils to maintain and repair the existing state of their roads. Tees Valley are allocating around £40m of their £310m to buses.

We also know that Transport North East's major objective is the reopening of the Leamside and extension of Metro services, which will presumably have to come out of this money.

The almost £74m on bus priority is of course a good thing, but there's now a big decision to choose which of the schemes listed in the BSIP gets funding. Two of the most expensive schemes, West Newcastle and the Coast Road, are likely to be the most deserving, but I'd expect other councillors to argue support for schemes within their authority area. 

I'm not convinced the near £89m over 3 years will go very, nor will it be sustainable, unless there's rapid growth like we've never seen before. The example of 150 extra buses running all day, 7 days a week, sounds great, but it doesn't take into account the ambition around fare reduction and capping. I don't think its unfair to assume that operators won't be taking a financial hit out of the good of their heart, and a proportion of the money is going to have to subsidise these cheaper fares and price caps.

£163m is clearly better than nothing at all, but rejoicing in acceptance of 20% funding doesn't exactly match the ambition of the BSIP!

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This is the bit I am struggling to get my head around. It's quite a significant amount of money to allocate and I genuinely think it could be better spent on something else. 

Using the West Road or Coast Road as examples. There is a churn of bus after bus along these sections. Often not carrying that many people. The Coast Road is nothing more than a pissing contest as far as I can see and unless something changes quickly, commuters aren't going to be travelling in to the City Centre like they used to. It's not an employment hub like it used to be. Yet the decision makers in the corporate towers of the big 3 - seem to be convinced that having a bus queue outside Haymarket or whizz past fresh air on Sandyford Road is the best use of resource. 

Meanwhile all the cars they will be passing at an upgraded set of lights near the Corner House - will continue heading off in another direction. Going nowhere near where the buses originated from and nowhere near where they terminate at. 
The Coast Road is merely a conduit to getting from A-B. The stream of buses are nothing more than an inconvenience. 

The insistence on installing bus priority is simply an expensive excercise in vanity and self importance. Doing nothing more than trying to justify the need for a never ending cycle of buses in and out of the town and would be better spent elsewhere IMHO.

The supposed consolidation of routes and removal of bus duplication between operators seems to reduce the need for these priority measures even more. If less buses are going through, then do they really need these measures introduced?