Sheffield Bus Partnership

Transport bosses in the UK have launched a ground breaking
agreement under the Sheffield Bus Partnership that has seen
many passengers in the city paying lower fares for their journeys,
and travelling around more easily.

The agreement is a voluntary partnership that brings together
South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive (SYPTE), Sheffield
City Council, and operators First South Yorkshire, Stagecoach
Sheffield, and Sheffield Community Transport. The
partners believe that by working together they can make the
network more simple, flexible and convenient.

The innovative, city-wide partnership is the first of its kind, and
has been put together with the overall aim of improving the bus
network so the number of people
using it increases.

After gaining final approval from
South Yorkshire Integrated Transport
Authority (SYITA), the new network
launched under the promotional
positioning ”Simplicity” on
28 October 2012, with new
discounted multi-operator tickets
that saw fares fall by as much as
23 per cent. Up to 35 per cent of customers stand to benefit
from the new fares and range of new tickets.

This is the biggest change to buses in South Yorkshire since
services were deregulated back in 1986 as part of the Transport
Act 1985. This meant any bus operator could run whatever
commercial services it wanted to, as long as it gave 56 days’
notice for the introduction of any new services, the withdrawal
of any services, or any timetable changes.

Critics argued that this resulted in congestion and duplication on
some key routes, and reduced services in outlying areas, as well
as competing timetables that were not aligned to the needs to
the customer.

The Sheffield Bus Partnership tackles and find solutions for these
issues by encouraging operators to work together to offer more
attractive customer propositions, including more coordinated
timetables.

The partnership carried out a public consultation on its proposals
in June and July 2012, and used customer feedback to directly
inform some service changes. David Young, SYPTE Director of Customer Experience, said: “This
ground breaking agreement is a new start for buses in Sheffield,
one that offers the potential to grow the number of people using
buses by offering an improved network.

We have listened to our customers and altered our plans to ensure
the travelling public’s needs are best met. This is the Sheffield
people’s bus network, designed in consultation with them, for
them. We hope it will persuade more people to make the switch
from card to buses.

”This pioneering project paves the way for other transport
authorities to use Sheffield Bus Partnership as a benchmark for
network development”.

Contact: Rebecca Sheppard