Corporate Vision and Values and Policy Context
Vision l Values l Safety l Customer Driven l Community Focus l Success through our people l Accountability & best value l Policy context l Regional Transportation Strategy for NI 2002-2012 l Belfast Metropolitan Transport Plan 2015 l Comprehensive Spending Review l The organisation & regulation of public transport in NI l Efficiency l Freedom of Information l Equality/Section 75
VISION
“To provide a transformed network of co-ordinated bus and rail services which attracts a growing number of passengers, enjoys public confidence and is recognised for its quality and innovation”
Vision l Values l Safety l Customer Driven l Community Focus l Success through our people l Accountability & best value l Policy context l Regional Transportation Strategy for NI 2002-2012 l Belfast Metropolitan Transport Plan 2015 l Comprehensive Spending Review l The organisation & regulation of public transport in NI l Efficiency l Freedom of Information l Equality/Section 75
VALUES
The corporate values guide the development and choice of strategy to realise the corporate vision, deliver corporate objectives and relevant government policy. These values which shape and define the culture of the organisation are.
Vision l Values l Safety l Customer Driven l Community Focus l Success through our people l Accountability & best value l Policy context l Regional Transportation Strategy for NI 2002-2012 l Belfast Metropolitan Transport Plan 2015 l Comprehensive Spending Review l The organisation & regulation of public transport in NI l Efficiency l Freedom of Information l Equality/Section 75
SAFETY
Safety is paramount for Translink. High standards of safety will be maintained for passengers, employees and the general public.
Vision l Values l Safety l Customer Driven l Community Focus l Success through our people l Accountability & best value l Policy context l Regional Transportation Strategy for NI 2002-2012 l Belfast Metropolitan Transport Plan 2015 l Comprehensive Spending Review l The organisation & regulation of public transport in NI l Efficiency l Freedom of Information l Equality/Section 75
CUSTOMER DRIVEN
Customers are the focus of everything Translink aims to achieve; we are committed to continuous improvement and the pursuit of excellence to deliver an integrated regional transport system which creates genuine customer satisfaction and enjoys public confidence.
Vision l Values l Safety l Customer Driven l Community Focus l Success through our people l Accountability & best value l Policy context l Regional Transportation Strategy for NI 2002-2012 l Belfast Metropolitan Transport Plan 2015 l Comprehensive Spending Review l The organisation & regulation of public transport in NI l Efficiency l Freedom of Information l Equality/Section 75
COMMUNITY FOCUS
Quality public transport enriches the life of the community; Translink will be a good neighbour, concerned for and caring about the community and the environment, and targeting social need.
Vision l Values l Safety l Customer Driven l Community Focus l Success through our people l Accountability & best value l Policy context l Regional Transportation Strategy for NI 2002-2012 l Belfast Metropolitan Transport Plan 2015 l Comprehensive Spending Review l The organisation & regulation of public transport in NI l Efficiency l Freedom of Information l Equality/Section 75
SUCCESS THROUGH OUR PEOPLE
Our staff are Translink’s most important resource; their customer focus, involvement and teamwork determine our success and reputation. We pride ourselves in providing a working environment that attracts, retains and develops motivated staff, encouraged to treat one another with trust and respect.
Vision l Values l Safety l Customer Driven l Community Focus l Success through our people l Accountability & best value l Policy context l Regional Transportation Strategy for NI 2002-2012 l Belfast Metropolitan Transport Plan 2015 l Comprehensive Spending Review l The organisation & regulation of public transport in NI l Efficiency l Freedom of Information l Equality/Section 75
ACCOUNTABILITY AND BEST VALUE
Translink believes in full accountability and a commitment to honesty, openness and integrity in all dealings and being responsive to stakeholders. Translink is committed to providing a transformed bus and rail network, operating to best industry standards and offering good value for money.
Vision l Values l Safety l Customer Driven l Community Focus l Success through our people l Accountability & best value l Policy context l Regional Transportation Strategy for NI 2002-2012 l Belfast Metropolitan Transport Plan 2015 l Comprehensive Spending Review l The organisation & regulation of public transport in NI l Efficiency l Freedom of Information l Equality/Section 75
POLICY CONTEXT
The following Government policies are the basis of this plan’s objectives and work streams. The plan’s targets are consistent with the required outputs of the policies and the corporate plan may be properly viewed as a delivery plan for the public transport aspects of the RTS and BMTP in particular.
Full delivery of these two transport plans is dependent on delivery and action from other partners and stakeholders. In this respect there is particular concern about the lack of progress in relation to improving bus speeds and introduction of quality bus corridor measures in Belfast.
Vision l Values l Safety l Customer Driven l Community Focus l Success through our people l Accountability & best value l Policy context l Regional Transportation Strategy for NI 2002-2012 l Belfast Metropolitan Transport Plan 2015 l Comprehensive Spending Review l The organisation & regulation of public transport in NI l Efficiency l Freedom of Information l Equality/Section 75
REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION STRATEGY FOR NORTHERN IRELAND 2002-2012 (RTS)
The vision of the RTS is “to have a modern sustainable safe transportation system which benefits society, the economy and the environment and which actively contributes to social inclusion and everyone’s quality of life”.
Specifically, for public transport, the RTS sets targets in the areas of:
Metro
- Average vehicle age and maximum vehicle age
- % of buses “accessible” according to Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) definition; ramps / low floor / dedicated wheelchair space
- Number of Quality Bus Corridors (QBC’s) operational
- Increase in service frequency
- Patronage increase
- Operational park and ride sites
Ulsterbus
- Average vehicle age and maximum vehicle age
- % of buses “accessible” according to Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) definition; ramps / low floor / dedicated wheelchair space
- Town service networks
- Frequency of Goldline services on key transport corridors which do not have rail services.
NI Railways
- Size and scope of rail network/services
- New rolling stock / fleet
- Patronage increase
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Vision l Values l Safety l Customer Driven l Community Focus l Success through our people l Accountability & best value l Policy context l Regional Transportation Strategy for NI 2002-2012 l Belfast Metropolitan Transport Plan 2015 l Comprehensive Spending Review l The organisation & regulation of public transport in NI l Efficiency l Freedom of Information l Equality/Section 75
BELFAST METROPOLITAN TRANSPORT PLAN 2015 (BMTP)
The BMTP is consistent with the RTS and takes forward its initiatives, specifically setting transport proposals for the Belfast Metropolitan Area. Particular objectives for 2015 are in relation to:
- The increase of rail service frequencies
- The provision of new or relocated rail stations
- Bus service improvements to focus on the rollout of QBC’s
- Strategic park and ride facilities
- Orbital bus routes
- Improvement of local bus services in the main urban centres outside the built up area of Belfast
- The introduction of further bus priorities measures on sections of the strategic highway network
- Local park and ride developments
- Increase in bus speeds compared to 2001
- Passenger number increases at the morning peak of 28% for bus and 67% for rail compared to 2001
Progress against both RTS and BMTP objectives to date is recorded in section 11.
The BMTP is also impacted by the current “Public Realm” project for central Belfast to enhance public spaces. Translink has made a significant contribution in terms of specific proposals for bus routing and is closely involved in the implementation of this project. We are content that the solution proposed is consistent with the BMTP growth imperative.
Vision l Values l Safety l Customer Driven l Community Focus l Success through our people l Accountability & best value l Policy context l Regional Transportation Strategy for NI 2002-2012 l Belfast Metropolitan Transport Plan 2015 l Comprehensive Spending Review l The organisation & regulation of public transport in NI l Efficiency l Freedom of Information l Equality/Section 75
COMPREHENSIVE SPENDING REVIEW
The funding outlined in Section 13, which is the basis for the activity programme within this corporate plan derives from the current 3 year spending round due to finish in 2007/08. Within this round the funding allocated is consistent with the delivery of RTS objectives for the first year of this corporate plan.
Proposals in respect of the next spending review commencing 1st April 2008 are currently under development. This plan assumes spending review outputs consistent with full RTS delivery.
Vision l Values l Safety l Customer Driven l Community Focus l Success through our people l Accountability & best value l Policy context l Regional Transportation Strategy for NI 2002-2012 l Belfast Metropolitan Transport Plan 2015 l Comprehensive Spending Review l The organisation & regulation of public transport in NI l Efficiency l Freedom of Information l Equality/Section 75
THE ORGANISATION AND REGULATION OF PUBLIC TRANSPORT IN NORTHERN IRELAND
During 2006, the Minister announced the intention to establish a passenger transport authority (PTA) for Northern Ireland as a development of the 2002 policy consultation ‘A New Start for Public Transport in Northern Ireland’.
NITHC / Translink acknowledges this development and will work with DRD to develop detailed objectives and implementation programmes, including investigating the possibility of using existing NITHC / Translink functions to avoid potential duplication of resource or function and deliver an efficient, value for money solution. The announcement is consistent with NITHC / Translink’s view that a single integrated public transport network is central to the delivery of quality public transport.
While clearly dealing with a different set of circumstances, the Department for Transport in London published proposals in December 2006 ‘Putting Passengers First’ which address some of the perceived failings of PTA’s and bus services in England and Wales. These may have some relevance to Northern Ireland. Among the proposals is the extension of accountability for bus punctuality to local authorities / PTA’s as well as bus operators, which would require the local authorities / PTA’s to have the ability to deliver bus priority measures.
Vision l Values l Safety l Customer Driven l Community Focus l Success through our people l Accountability & best value l Policy context l Regional Transportation Strategy for NI 2002-2012 l Belfast Metropolitan Transport Plan 2015 l Comprehensive Spending Review l The organisation & regulation of public transport in NI l Efficiency l Freedom of Information l Equality/Section 75
EFFICIENCY
There is a policy across the entire public sector to deliver efficiency gains to reinvest in front line services. This should not be detrimental to business and must be adequately documented to ensure that the savings / efficiencies may be verified by independent audit.
NITHC / Translink fully endorse this policy and have consistently delivered against it, operating as a commercial organisation. This corporate plan remains consistent with this policy imperative.
Translink’s approach (agreed with DRD) in generally growing its business is that the efficiency gains translate as greater proportional output for fixed inputs; not necessarily ‘cuts’.
In addition, it should also be noted that when analysing costs and fares indices, the general retail price index (RPI) is not the best indicator of costs for the public transport industry. Industry specific indices are available from the Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT), which show that historical costs for the public transport industry have risen significantly more steeply than RPI in general:
| 2003/04 | 2004/05 | 2005/06 | 2006/07 | |
| CPT Bus Cost Index* | 7.7% | 8.7% | 7.8% | |
| RPI (y/e Dec 2003 etc.) | 2.9% | 3.0% | 2.8% | 3.9%** |
|
Fares Increase (for financial year)
|
5.0% |
5.0% |
9.0% |
* at June 2004 etc.
**at November 2006
Efficiency and value for money are key objectives in respect of project management within Translink, with a focus on delivering projects on time and on budget.
Future efficiencies are embedded in the financial plans and the key performance indicators (KPI’s) of this plan (section 11).
A KPI from the BMTP relates to bus speeds in Belfast. It is of concern that the reduction in speeds currently recorded negatively impacts on the efficiency of operations; as bus speed reduces maintaining the existing level of operations (the timetable, frequencies, etc.) requires additional fleet and directly increases operating costs without any improvements in service. Most recent research from TAS show that a 1kph decrease in urban bus speeds can mean a 10% increase in costs.
Also, the provision of 117 additional buses specifically for school transport provision (to eliminate standing and the ‘3 for 2 rule’) will negatively impact overall operational efficiency as they will not be fully utilised within daily scheduled services. This impact and the utilisation of the additional buses are identified separately in the financial plans section 13.1.4.
Vision l Values l Safety l Customer Driven l Community Focus l Success through our people l Accountability & best value l Policy context l Regional Transportation Strategy for NI 2002-2012 l Belfast Metropolitan Transport Plan 2015 l Comprehensive Spending Review l The organisation & regulation of public transport in NI l Efficiency l Freedom of Information l Equality/Section 75
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
NITHC / Translink is subject to the Freedom of Information Act and comply fully with its requirements. A publications scheme is available on www.translink.co.uk and there are internal structures and procedures in place to ensure ongoing compliance.
In addition, a work stream for 2007/08 comprises the delivery of a new records management system to streamline and improve performance.
Vision l Values l Safety l Customer Driven l Community Focus l Success through our people l Accountability & best value l Policy context l Regional Transportation Strategy for NI 2002-2012 l Belfast Metropolitan Transport Plan 2015 l Comprehensive Spending Review l The organisation & regulation of public transport in NI l Efficiency l Freedom of Information l Equality/Section 75
EQUALITY / “SECTION 75”
NITHC / Translink is a “listed body” subject to section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998. An equality scheme has been finalised and is available on www.translink.co.uk. Procedures and structures are in place to complete the EQIA’s required by the Act.
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