Agenda for Greater Nottingham Light Rapid Transit Advisory Committee on Tuesday, 13th June, 2017, 2.00 pm

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Ground Floor Committee Room - Loxley House, Station Street, Nottingham, NG2 3NG. View directions

Contact: Catherine Ziane-Pryor  Email: catherine.pryor@nottinghamcity.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

APPOINTMENT OF CHAIR

Minutes:

Councillor Josh Cook is appointed Chair for the municipal year 2017/18.

2.

APPOINTMENT OF VICE-CHAIR

Minutes:

Councillor Sally Longford is appointed Vice-Chair.

3.

MEMBERSHIP

To note the membership of the Committee as follows for the 2017/18 municipal Year:

 

Nottingham City Council

Councillor Joshua Cook

Councillor Corral Jenkins

Councillor Sarah Piper

Councillor Marcia Watson

Councillor Steve Young

 

Nottinghamshire County Council

Councillor Jim Creamer

Councillor Dr John Doddy

Councillor John Longdon

Councillor Kevin Rostance

Councillor Parry Tsimbiridis

 

Independent Representatives

Hugh McClintock

 

PEDALS

Chris Roy

Nottingham Trent University

Alan Marshall

Nottingham Campaign for Better Transport

Gary Smerdon-White

(Vacant)

Nottingham Transport Partnership

Nottingham Chamber of Commerce

Justin Donne

Roger Bacon

Nottinghamshire Federation of Small Businesses

Travel Watch East Midlands

 

 

 

 

 

Minutes:

RESOLVED to note the revised membership for 2017/18 as follows:

 

Nottingham City Council

Councillor Joshua Cook

Councillor Corral Jenkins

Councillor Sally Longford

Councillor Sarah Piper

Councillor Steve Young

 

Nottinghamshire County Council

Councillor Jim Creamer

Councillor Dr John Doddy

Councillor John Longdon

Councillor Kevin Rostance

Councillor Parry Tsimbiridis

 

Independent Representatives

Hugh McClintock  -  PEDALS

Chris Roy   -  Nottingham Trent University

Alan Marshall   -  Nottingham Campaign for Better Transport

Gary Smerdon-White  -  Nottingham Transport Partnership

(Vacant)  -  Nottingham Chamber of Commerce 

Justin Donne  -  Nottinghamshire Federation of Small Businesses

Roger Bacon  -  Travel Watch East Midlands

 

4.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Minutes:

Councillor Parry Tsimibridis – personal

Councillor Steve Young  - personal

Councillor John Doddy - personal

Councillor Sally Longford – other City Council business

Gary Smerdon-White

Roger Bacon

Chris Roy

5.

DECLARATIONS OF INTERESTS

Minutes:

Although not considered a formal declaration of interest, Justin Donne informed the Committee that he was the Chair of Area 14 of the Table Round and that the Beeston branch of the organisation has been awarded community funding by NET, as referred to in agenda item 7 (minute 7). This did not preclude him from speaking on the item.

6.

MINUTES pdf icon PDF 300 KB

Of the meeting held on 13 December 2016 (for confirmation)

Minutes:

Confirmation

 

The minutes of the meeting held on 13 December 2016 were confirmed and signed by the Chair.

 

Matters Arising

 

Minute 12b –independent representatives informed the Committee that even after 2 years since completion, cyclist accidents on the incidents on and around the tram lines at Chilwell High Road were still being reported to and logged on the PEDALS website. This is an ongoing concern. However, the proposed residential development near to Chilwell High Road will provide cyclists with a safer alternative route.

 

Minute 15(a)  - a voice announcement to encourage passengers to ‘hold tight’ before the tram moves away would be valuable, particularly following a recent passenger fall. Mike Mabey of Nottingham Trams responded that there has been a lot of promotion of the ‘hold on’ message. Since the removal of conductors, drivers have been trained to wherever possible consider and make allowances for passengers standing or yet to be seated. A voice announcement has been considered but concerns were raised that it would contribute to ‘white noise’ and not be effective. Whilst the ‘hold on’ leaflets have not been distributed in large print or brail, this will be considered and NET officers are willing to visit groups and organisations to discuss particular issues. Justin Donne offered to assist with announcement techniques and knowledge of the technology which he had acquired during his work with the large American theme parks, where safety announcements were very effective.

 

Minute 15(m) – the £12,000 000 allocated to Midlands Connect from Central Government is yet to be received but representatives are keen for NET to lobby Midlands Connect for funding towards the tram line extensions.

 

Minute 17 – the resident who lodged the noise complaint has been responded to and the trial of ‘modified profile wheels’ on two trams, as referred to in the minute, is due to commence at the end of the month. Other possible solutions, including automatic lubrication at specific sites may be considered dependant on the trial results which are expected to be available during the autumn.

 

7.

NET OPERATIONAL UPDATE AND SAFETY UPDATE pdf icon PDF 117 KB

Report of the Head of Operations, Nottingham Trams

 

Minutes:

Mike Mabey, representing Nottingham Trams Limited, presented the NET Operational Update, as per the report, and verbally provided a safety update on local and national safety issues.

 

The following points were highlighted and discussed:

 

(a)  reliability and punctuality remained high at 98.55% and 96.05% respectively. There was a slight drop in reliability during December and January compared to previous periods due partly to the increased levels of  road traffic in the approach to Christmas and to a number of incursions by cars onto tram-only sections of the route;

 

(b)  fare changes are detailed within the report;

 

(c)  the inquest into the fatality at David Lane on 15 August 2016 is predicted to conclude during July;

 

(d)  the works to replace track onto Radford Road from Wilkinson Street during the Spring Bank Holiday went well and the works team were able to start ahead of schedule on the Noel Street diamond. This work was completed over 4 nights with local residents offered hotel accommodation if they felt the noise of the works would disturb their sleep, although an acoustic tent was used to minimise impact;

 

(e)  tram drivers are now trained to communicate more with passengers, particularly relating to the reasons and expected duration of delays or disruption to services;

 

(f)  four long-term community partnerships have been entered into with Women’s Aid Integrated Services, Communities Inc., Framework, and Beeston Round Table;

 

(g)  Nottingham Trams and Nottingham City Transport have signed the ‘No to Hate’ pledge and staff have been trained to identify hate crime so it can be reported;

 

(h)  a revised and hard hitting crime awareness session has been delivered at 2 schools to highlight the safety issues and antisocial behaviour impact of criminal damage. Passengers are also informed of how to report issues;

 

(i)  Student Nurse Christina O’Loughlin won the NET sponsored ‘Nurse and Midwife of the Year’ Award and will have a tram named after her for a year;

 

(j)  As a result of national incidents, NET continues to expand the monitoring of drivers and has reduced the speed limits for trams on the three significant curves;

 

(k)  Croydon Trams have introduced dynamic speed signs which automatically light up if a trams speed is too high. Track side Chevrons have also been installed at curves. A vigilance device will also be trialled which involves automatic braking if speed is not adequately reduced by a set distance from the bend;

 

(l)  the recommendations of the Royal Accident Investigation Board following the Croydon incident are expected to be released at the end of June and will be considered in detail by NET prior to the introduction of any changes;

 

(m)  a lorry hit and wrote-off the front of a tram in Nottingham, including damaging the tram CCTV. However, the investigation has concluded that the tram driver was not at fault and did not have adequate time to stop as the lorry backed out into its path;

 

(n)  on 25 May 2017 there was a tram derailment in Market Square as a result of manual points reverting to their original position during a minimal-speed reverse manoeuvre by an empty tram. Those points will not be used whilst the investigation continues and, for other similar points at the Royal Centre, a new procedure is in place for when reverse manoeuvres are required. Both the tram and track were undamaged by the incident.

 

RESOLVED to note the report and update.

 

8.

CORRESPONDENCE FROM CITIZENS pdf icon PDF 106 KB

Report of the Director of Major Projects

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Andrew Holdstock, Senior Project Engineer, presented the report and correspondence trail regarding a complaint from a citizen that return tickets are not available to purchase from termini stops but are available from all other stops. This means that passengers from termini have to purchase an ‘all day’ ticket for an additional 50p.

 

Mike Mabey informed the Committee that a copy of the correspondence has been forwarded to Tramlink as ticketing structures and prices are the commercial responsibility of Tramlink alone and it would be for Tramlink to respond further.

 

The consensus of the Committee, appreciating the commercial element, was that ticket structure consistency would be beneficial across the network, even if this resulted in the removal of return tickets as reasonably priced day tickets are available.

 

Nottingham Trams have agreed to consider the points raised by the complainant during the next fare review.

 

RESOLVED that the Committee’s preference of simple and consistent fare structures is forwarded to Tramlink Nottingham.

 

9.

FUTURE MEETING DATES

To approve the following future meeting dates on Tuesdays at 2pm in Loxley House:

 

12 September 2017

12 December 2017

13 March 2018

Minutes:

RESOLVED to agree to meet at 2pm in Loxley House on the following on Tuesdays:

 

12 September 2017

12 December 2017

13 March 2018