Gritting budget cut by transport group which overspent in freeze

A new report has revealed that South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive (SYPTE) has budgeted 25,500 for grit in 2010/11 – even though more than double that, 55,199, was spent last year.

The executive is responsible for gritting bus stations, park and ride sites and railway car parks throughout the county. Over the last five years the amount SYPTE has spent on grit has varied hugely – from 3,487 in 2006/7 to 55,199 during last winter's exceptionally snowy weather.

Between 2005 and 2010 the amount of money in the gritting budget rose from 24,876 to 27,000, but has been cut by 1,500 this year – at a time when the executive says it is considering the "lessons to be learned" from the cold snap.

David Young, director of customer experience at SYPTE, said: "The unprecedented period of severe weather we experienced this winter created a challenge for everyone.

"It was pleasing that in South Yorkshire the public transport operators, our customer communications and the gritting of our bus, train and park and ride sites has been praised by the public and media.

"The costs for gritting around our sites unsurprisingly increased considerably. However, we were able to supplement our gritting budget from funds set aside for maintenance at these sites, which were forced to be postponed due to the weather conditions."

Mr Young added: "Budgets for the coming financial year were developed in line with previous years and set in late 2009, prior to the snow arriving this winter.

"One of the lessons we, and others, have learned from both this and last winter is the need to review our gritting and snow clearance budget, to continue to maintain passenger safety, particularly in times of severe weather."

The "Lessons From The Snow: Winter 2009/10" report, which is set to go before a meeting of the South Yorkshire Integrated Transport Authority next Thursday, also reveals the impact of the snow on the public transport system.

Between January 4 and January 18 there was a 19 per cent reduction in the number of people using buses, a nine per cent reduction on the trains, and a reduction of just 0.3 per cent on the trams, which were far less affected by the weather.

A huge 96.5 per cent of trams ran on time over the same period, whereas just 84 per cent of buses did – compared to the usual 90 per cent – and just 82 per cent of trains were on time, compared to the usual 92 per cent.

Two per cent of buses were also cancelled – up from the usual 1.5 per cent – and double the number of trains were cancelled, up from 1.1 per cent to 2.4 per cent.

The report also reveals the disparity between the road gritting carried out by South Yorkshire's four local authorities. Sheffield Council treated 59 per cent of its roads, compared to 45 per cent in Rotherham and Barnsley and just 35 per cent in Doncaster.

During the snowfall more people than ever contacted SYPTE to find out about alterations to public transport.

Calls to the Traveline service increased by more than 150 per cent and website "hits" reached peak levels, with more than 130,000 visits to the Traveline website on January 5 alone.

The "Lessons From The Snow" report is set to be discussed at next Thursday's meeting of the transport authority, which will be held at 10am at the offices of the South Yorkshire Joint Secretariat in Regent Street, Barnsley.