Nexus

Source: Supply Chain Digital

Date :29/10/2007 11:39:07

Making the connections

Newcastle’s passenger transport executive sets itself pretty tough targets – and it meets them, according to Head of Corporate Communications Huw Lewis

Written by Ruari McCallion & Produced by Paul Radboune

“Nexus offers a high quality passenger travel system,” said Huw Lewis, head of corporate communications for Nexus, Tyne and Wear’s Passenger Transport Executive, which manages public transport in and around Sunderland and Newcastle , particularly the Metro light rail system. “We regularly achieve 96-97 per cent punctuality, which puts us comfortably ahead of any other mainland railway operator.” Nexus measures its punctuality at 17 points across the network, not just at ultimate destinations, and ‘punctuality’ is measured as arrival within three minutes of timetabled time, not the five minutes more common across the overground network.

Nexus runs over 17,000km of train services each day, along interlinked railway lines that extend from Newcastle International Airport to the north-west, to South Hylton, to the south west of Sunderland. The coastal suburbs of Cullercoats and Whitley Bay are at the eastern rim of Metro, which then swings south and west to Newcastle city centre, over the River Tyne to Gateshead and east again to South Shields. Naturally, Nexus runs the ferry that connects the two Shields to each other. There are few people in Tyne & Wear whose lives aren’t touched by Nexus, somewhere along the line. An increasing number are engaging directly, as fare-paying passengers.

“We carry more than 39 million passengers a year,” said Lewis. Which is good but, a few years ago, it stood at 40 million; it then dipped to 37 million and has actually recovered over the past eighteen months. “There has been a historic decline in Metro use since the mid-1980s, when the integrated public transport system we had in Tyne & Wear was broken up, through bus deregulation.” The trend has been reversed into growth since the beginning of 2006 and has been entirely like-for-like – there have been no new lines.

“Passenger growth is, we believe, a response to higher quality and the value we offer,” he said. “An all-zone season ticket, for example, costs £399; it was reduced in price in 2006. We’re more than happy to challenge any urban rail operator to produce a ticket that represents that kind of value.”

Private buses, public trains

Running the Metro itself is only one aspect of the challenge involved in Nexus, which had revenues of £97 million in the last financial year - £37 million from Metro fares, the balance from advertising, property rental and operational subsidies. Buses are an essential part of the local transport network but they’re all run by private companies. Integrating all transport methodologies is a challenge that Nexus is addressing with an innovative, quality-oriented approach.

“We’re in the process of building partnership agreements with the bus companies, with the objective of ensuring services at a stated level of quality and value,” said Lewis. “By improving all sectors of public transport we can make the overall offer more attractive. Quality Service Partnership (QSP) is the specific term and legal route the passenger transport executive can use to achieve it.”

Sounds good – the private sector signs up to provide better vehicles, higher frequency and quality of services, and commits to maintain services to areas that may not be commercially attractive. However, while the willingness may genuinely be there, commercial reality can intervene. Investment in new vehicles and extended route networks could be undermined by lower-cost operators offering cheaper alternatives on the commercially-attractive routes. How does Nexus ensure that doesn’t happen?

Superroutes and jambeaters

“Through the transport planning process, in partnership with the local authorities who have responsibility for highways, we’ll continue to invest in real-time information boards at bus stops and in developing priority routes,” he said. “Superoutes are key corridors for bus routes to the city centres. We’re seeking to develop high-frequency, high-quality bus services with ‘jambeater’ technology – electronic signalling that will turn traffic lights green as a bus approaches – as well as dedicated bus lanes and offroad sections.” Anyone failing to meet the terms of the partnership would be excluded not only from the advanced infrastructure but from registering to operate buses in the partnership area at all.

The Superoutes and jambeater technologies were both part of the Orpheus project, which had another leg: a tram network linking in to Metro. That’s been shelved, at least for the moment.

“Recent experience in other UK cities doesn’t encourage taking that kind of light rail system forward,” said Lewis. In essence, the initial capital cost is expensive and returns unpredictable in the current unregulated local transport market. The situation is being kept under regular, three-yearly review. Issues like climate change and road pricing may change the political landscape and tram schemes may look more attractive in the future.

When it comes to Metro, investment by Nexus in renewing and modernising the system has beenby the fact grants from Government grant have been allocated on one- to three-year cycles, which don’t give long-term stability. This is unique in the UK rail industry and Nexus is seeking to overcome that hurdle with a comprehensive, long-term strategy.

£600 million investment

“We have approached central government with a business case for £600 million of investment over the next 20 years,” said Lewis. “That will be committed to upgrading operations, renewing the assets and bringing the system up to passenger expectations. As part of the process, we’re developing a public sector comparator. It will compare the cost our current management can operate and maintain Metro at with the best offers from the private sector. We will then go forward with the best value option.

The strategy includes maintenance and operations. “At present, we manage maintenance, for example, essentially on a job-by-job basis. Our strategy could potentially enable us to go further and set up an overall maintenance concession for a defined period of time. Nexus would continue to own the assets but will operate it in partnership with the private sector. It’s not a PFI – private finance initiative – so it’s not the same as Metronet. Nexus, which is owned by the local authorities, would continue to define the level of passenger service. We’re not seeking private investment: we’re seeking the best means of delivering operations and maintenance.”

Large investments could continue to be individually tendered and managed by whoever holds the maintenance concession in future; a major track replacement project, completed earlier in 2007, was offered to tender and won and delivered by a German company.

“Over the next couple of years, we’ll be constructing our public sector comparator and will closely examine and compare how much it costs to operate Metro as a freestanding business,” he explained. “On the bus side, we’ve already introduced QuayLink and Route 19, which put buses into the fast-developing regeneration areas, with great success. They’ve attracted passengers who wouldn’t traditionally useunder contract , across Tyne & Wear.” This provides prebooked journeys almost door-to-door. Normal bus routes are radial and geared to city centres; LinkUp can meet demand to go across the routes and connects the outer areas with each other.

“Our QSPs will be significant, going forward. They enshrine the objectives of the 2000 Transport Act. They’re pretty complicated and what we’re working on will be the largest and most significant in the country. The bus companies will commit to network stability; the highways authorities will commit to support with infrastructure, including new bus shelters. Once QSPs are in place, bus companies that don’t achieve the standards won’t be able to operate within the partnership area. The quality of public transport in Tyne & Wear is being reinvigorated and will set benchmarks in the years to come,” Lewis concluded.