Integrated Public Transport Strategy - Worcestershire County Council

Chapter 22 - Worcester City Package
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Bus Lane / Priority Policy
The City and County Councils are committed to the improvement of public transport in
Worcester and through the Quality Partnership Agreement will introduce bus priority
schemes to enable public transport to offer a consistently fast and reliable quality service
to the public. Whilst cyclists are encouraged to use bus lanes, the current policy is not to
allow their use by taxis and motorcycles, but this will be kept under review annually.
Social Inclusion
The transport infrastructure of the future will be designed so that all people, including both
the mobility impaired, those on the lowest incomes and those living outside urban areas,
will have convenient access to all forms of transport and services. This will be achieved
through:
● Design for all facilities being inclusive of all disabled persons as far as practicable;
● The concept of seamless journeys will be pursued such that every element of a trip,
including transport interchanges, are considered and
● Transport accessibility will be improved to more remote areas such that a minimum
level of service may be achieved.
Evaluation
Each scheme selected for inclusion in the Package has been carefully considered to
ensure that it will contribute to achieving the objectives. To assist in this process, a
framework has been produced for each scheme to identify the likely benefits and
establish clear links to the objectives. This framework will be used to focus the monitoring
undertaken over the Package period and has been used to construct critical causal chain
diagrams. (These are shown in the full document). Causal chain diagrams which
represent the strategic proposals of the Package have been prepared for:
● Pedestrian Facilities
● Safer Routes to School
● Cycle Facilities
● Park and Ride
● Demand Management
● Bus Measures
● Environmental Measures and
● Rail Measures.
These diagrams identify a number of benefits which
will arise from the implementation of the Package.
They include:
● Less traffic congestion
● Improved health of residents
● Fewer accidents
● Improved environment
● Less air pollution
● Improved business/trade/economy/employment
● More reliable public transport
● Improved accessibility
● More walking and cycling and
● Increased Public Transport patronage.