WORKSHEET T2: EASE OF ACCESS TO SERVICES
TASK: to identify how easy it is for people to get around the area
1: Introduction to the task
These questions help assess how easy it is to access services, mainly by public transport. The location of key services will have been identified through other worksheets, in particular retail and town centre services, training and education, health and public safety and culture and heritage. Note that:
*Travel times by car can be surveyed by undertaking the journey
*Distances can be derived from mapping or as part of the journey times survey.
Local Transport Plans (LTPs):
The LTP system is built round 5-year integrated transport strategies, devised at local level in partnership with the community. Local transport authorities in England, (outside London), are due to submit their next Local Transport Plans for 2006/7 to 2010/11 to the Department of Transport in July 2005. The purposes of LTPs are to:
promote good transport planning
provide a basis for tracking performance locally
inform the allocation of LTP capital funding
Guidance on preparing LTPs has been issued to Local Authorities. This includes a new requirement for accessibility strategies, including local targets for accessibility improvements. These strategies should be underpinned by accessibility assessments. Authorities should submit an accessibility strategy in their 2005 LTP submission, but will be allowed to refine these strategies until the end of November 2005.
The quality of accessibility strategies in LTPs will be one of the factors taken into account in allocating LTP integrated transport block funding.
The healthcheck process could help to inform the LTP, as accessibility strategies are designed to be set in the context of the wider vision and objectives for an area, as for example set out in a community strategy or Market Town action plan.
If there is not enough information available to answer the questions there are survey techniques that can be used: guidance on undertaking local transport surveys is given in Data Sources and Survey Methods.
2: Getting the following information will help to show how easy or difficult it is to use public transport to get to key services in the area.
Sub-section 1: Timetabling and accessibility of public transport
T2 Q1
INFORMATION POINTS:
Where are the public transport information points?
What is the quality of the information offered?
Ask, for example, if there are there multi-mode timetables at bus stops and rail stations, and if special services (such as Dial-A-Ride) are widely advertised or actively promoted?
(Worksheets EN1 Q9; EC7 Q7,15; S3 Q1,4 also refer to public transport)
Starting points for information
Rural Transport Partnership
Bus and train operators
County Council transport department
Q1 DRAFT ANSWER: The Hampshire Rural Transport Partnership has a
website giving a list of its partners, general information. The website contains a page about a report prepared by consultants TAS about the future of Dial-a-Ride schemes, many of which have existed for 10-15 years. There is a
summary for dial-a-ride users including
how to become a dial-a-ride user.
There is a information carousel just inside the door of the Yateley Town Council Offices containing leaflets of the Call and Go services and the Yelabus.
T2 Q2
Are bus and train times from outlying villages to the town convenient for getting to and from work and school?
Compile a table showing bus and train times during the day. Note when first and last services of the day are.
(Worksheets EC1 Q2; EC4 Q14,17; EC7 Q7 also refer to travel. Worksheets EN1 Q9; EC7 Q7,15; S3 Q1,4 also refer to public transport)
Starting points for information
Bus and train timetables
District council
Q2 DRAFT ANSWER: There is no train station in Yateley. Most people from other towns and villages travel by car to work in Yateley. Ther are now effectively only two commercial bus services to Yateley:
(a) Stagecoach No 3 to and from Camberley. Frequency has been increased to a 15 minute service in April 2006. The article in Yateley News and Mail explains it will be operated by new easy access single-deckers. Stagecoaches time table can be found by clicking Timetable No 3
(b) The timetable for new Countywide service from Yateley to Fleet Station, also calling at Fleet Hospital can be accessed from the home page of the Town Council website.
It is not at present known to what extent these services are used, and will be used by schoolchildren and people travelling to work since they are both new in fact or in frequency. There are already special services run for schoolchildren. A special service runs from Yateley serving Farnborough 6th Form College, Farnborough Technical College and Salesian College operating under the Hants & Surrey Schools Programme. The timetable is at school bases to Farnborough.
Yateley Manor School operates extensive services for it own pupils, the times of which can be obtained by clicking
Yateley Manor timetable.
T2 Q3
What times are the last Friday and Saturday night bus services from the town to villages in the surrounding countryside?
Starting points for information
Local bus operators
Q3 DRAFT ANSWER: There are no late night Friday and Saturday bus services from Yateley to surrounding villages, since there are no services at any time. A more relevant question is what is the latest time people can return to Yateley from the surrounding larger towns. There are no direct bus services from the regional centres of Reading, Guildford and Basingstoke, although these journeys could be made by train to Sandhurst or Blackwater, and Fleet stations respectively. In the event these journeys are likely to be made by car.
Bus services are now again available from Camberley and Fleet to Yateley. The last service to Yateley from Camberley on Saturday evening leaves Camberely Station at 2157 and arrives at the Dog & Partridge at 2222. This service starts in Farnborough at route 2 and through fares are available. In the event the journey time from Farnborough by bus, compared with a 15 minute car journey is unlikely to be attractive to anyone with access to a car.
The last journey from Fleet Station to Yateley on Saturdays is at 1722.
T2 Q4
What special public and private transport services are there for people who are less able?
For example, bus, taxi, or alternative community or voluntary transport.
(Worksheets EC7 Q8; S3 Q7,9; S3 Q5 also refer to disability issues)
Starting points for information
County Council
Bus operators
Rural Transport Partnerships
Q4 DRAFT ANSWER: Hart District Council operates a Concessionary Travel Scheme for the elderly and disabled. The statutory scheme is called
Farepass and enabled those over 60 to apply for a half-price bus pass for travel within Hampshire. The Farepass can be used for journeys outside Hampshire provided they start and finish in Hampshire and there is no change of bus.
Hart also operates the National Transport Token Scheme on a discretionary basis. To be eligible applicants must satisfy stringent disability/benefit criteria. Two groups of people are eligible for tokens worth £48.50 and £35.00 per year. Tokens are not therefore available universally for elderly persons. Transport operators decide whether to accept tokens. Only taxis, buses and Neighbourcare are allowed to take and convert tokens into cash.
The CALL & GO bus is a community service which is available to anybody who lacks their own transport to reach specific destinations. Users must register by phoning 0845 602 4135. They can book a journey 6 days in advance. The CALL & GO bus can take wheelchairs and motorised wheelchairs. A single journey costs a maximum of £4 but National Travel Tokens can be used. The CALL & GO bus serves specific destinations, current The Meadows, Camberley Town Centre, Frimley Park Hospital, ASDA Farnborough, Fleet Town Centre, Alton and Basingstoke. It is not known what flexibility users have in determining journey start times.
The YELABUS is operated by a registered charity for the Yateley community. It is basically only available for group hire, for example to deliver and collect elderly persons to Day Centres. The Yelabus does not take tokens because it is not allowed to. Yelabus only deals with "groups"...but within quite wide margins any group can
register. Yelabus can provide an umbrella sponsor group for a particular
event/trip. Yelabus' new constitution allows the charity to take almost any group anywhere.
Yateley Neighbourcare operates a private scheme whereby volunteers drive people to destinations such as Frimley Park Hospital. National Travel Tokens are accepted but not bus passes.
Commercial bus operators provide limited local services, subsidised by the County Council. Stagecoach have introduced special buses with a low entrance step. The County has also raised the footpath at bus stops to facilitate entry by disabled and elderly.
On Mar 14th at 9.45 at the Harlington centre Hampshire County Council will unveil their proposals for the future bus services in Hart. The good news is that the Stagecoach 3 service (to Frimley Park Hospital etc) is increasing to every 15 minutes! (whilst many other Hart services are being cut and replaced by the Call&Go etc. The problem of how Yateley get people to bus stops in order to take advantage of these free services is currently being urgently worked on. On April 4th a new
Yateley to Fleet hourly service will be starting, run by Countywide. This new service will run via Fleet Hospital, not a destination included in the original spec'
Most of the population travel by car. Car ownership is one of the highest in the country. These changes in transport services therefore mostly affect the elderly, disabled, and disadvantaged. The current situation is very fluid. Hart Council will make changes to the availability of bus passes on April 4th. This Health Check is meant to be a 'snapshot'. However this Health Check wiki website can provide users and carers up-to-date (daily if necessary) information about the developing situation from across the fragmented provision of services. Information which does not seem to be available to the general public elsewhere. If this is incorrect we shall make a link to it.
T2 Q5
Where are the less able (for example, people who use a wheelchair or walking aid) disadvantaged in using public transport?
Compare public transport routes that have accessible buses/trains with the total number of routes.
(Worksheets EC7 Q8; S3 Q7,9; S3 Q5 also refer to disability issues)
Starting points for information
District council (ask for Access Officers)
Specific surveys
Q5 DRAFT ANSWER: Stagecoach route 3 with a 15 minute service to Camberley with an extended route to Aldershot half-hourly is now operated by an easy-access bus 100% of the time.
T2 Q6
What are the walking distances from the main bus set down/pick up places to the focal point of the town centre?
(Worksheets EN1 Q10; EN3 Q7; EC7 Q13,14 also refer to pedestrian access)
Starting points for information
Route maps from the bus operators
Measuring the distance directly from a map
Quick on the ground‘ surveys
Q6 DRAFT ANSWER: This is not really a relevant question for Yateley. We assume it refers to access for tourists, but we do not have large numbers of tourists arriving by public transport.
T2 Q7
How does travelling from the villages to the town by car compare to using public transport for going to the:
1. hospital
2. secondary school
3. job centre
4. supermarket
5. library
6. leisure/sports centre
7. cinema
Pick three rural settlements that have poor, adequate and good public transport links.
For each of these describe the journeys in terms of:
8. journey time (including waiting times for public transport)
9. directness of service or number of changes
10. number of different types of transport used
11. timetabling difficulties (for example. when the journey can not be made by public transport)
12. car parking at the destination
(Worksheets EC1 Q2; EC4 Q14,17; EC7 Q7 also refer to travel. Worksheets EN1 Q9; EC7 Q7,15; S3 Q1,4 also refer to public transport)
Starting points for information
Local survey of the location of facilities
Bus and train timetables
Route maps
Surveys of travel times
T2 Q8
What are the planned changes to rural public transport services that will improve services where the demand exists?
Compare any planned changes such as new routes/discontinued routes or increased/decreased frequencies.
Starting points for information
Local Transport Plan
Bus and train operators
Q8 DRAFT ANSWER: April 2006 saw the culmination of many significant changes for traveland transport in Yateley, as given in answers above. The relevant question now is what issues will be revealed in the Parish Plan process which might necessitate further changes.
Sub-section 2: Alternatives to private cars and public transport
T2 Q9
What car clubs or travel share schemes are there?
Starting points for information
County Council
Bus operators
Rural Transport Partnerships
Q9 DRAFT ANSWER: We are not aware of any car clubs are travel share schemes. However bus services are operated for local ostate schools and are have been operated by Yateley Manor School for very many years (as noted above).
T2 Q10
Are there safe, off-road cycle routes between the town and villages?
Starting points for information
Tourist information
Town web site
Library
Q10 DRAFT ANSWER: Recreational riders use off-road routes in the countryside, but as far as we know, nobody now uses these to travel to work or school.
T2 Q11
Which public services are available on-line and where can they be accessed?
(Worksheets EC2 Q18; S2 Q5; S4; S5 Q10; S7 Q6 also refer to local government services)
Starting points for information
Internet (search for all the public service providers, eg, local health trust, education authority, district council)
Local survey of public internet access points
11 DRAFT ANSWER: As we have demonstated above by making links to bus service timetable websites, it is easy to access services and timetables for anyone with a computer.
T2 Q12
What mobile services are available in the villages?
Look, for example, at local fruit and vegetable delivery box schemes, mobile shop(s), libraries, and meals on wheels services.
Starting points for information
Library
Local council
Q12 DRAFT ANSWER:
GROCERY DELIVERIES: In the 1950s and 1960s Yateley was well served by mobile shops operated by local traders. Now TESCO and WAITROSE delivery vans are frequently encountered making deliveries around Yateley.
WHITE GOODS, HARDWARE, ELECTRONICS: Home delivery services are operated in Yateley by all the major chains such as JOHN LEWIS, B&Q, CURRYS, selling from their websites, by telephone or by personal visits to their stores in the surounding regional centres.
STATIONERY: Local businesses and homeworkers can obtain home delivery of all their stationery needs from nationwide suppliers such as NEAT IDEAS and VIKING.
MEALS ON WHEELS: The WRVS operates a meals-on-wheels service for Hart District Council to persons referred to them by Social Services. WRVS have three groups of drivers and mates, one each for the parishes of Yateley, Hawley and Eversley. These groups are managed from a local central office in Fleet. Hawley group, for example, collect their freshly cooked meals from Hawley Primary School during term time.
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