Devon's Conservative Cabinet have approved schemes in Barnstaple, Exeter and Newton Abbot which will help to improve the reliability of bus services and cut journey times.
The aim of our schemes is to encourage more people to use bus services and at the meeting of our Cabinet on Wednesday councillors gave the schemes the go-ahead.
The schemes will cost in total approximately £2.8m and follows Devon County Council (DCC) being awarded £14.1m of Bus Service Improvement Plan funding by the Department for Transport in 2022.
The initial proposals were approved by Cabinet in October 2023.
Each scheme will include a mixture of infrastructure improvements and new technology.
In Exeter the focus is on two main routes that service the City, the Exeter Eastern Bus Corridor (between Sidwell Street and Pinhoe Sainsbury’s) and the Exeter Central Bus Corridor (between Paris Street Roundabout to Middlemoor Roundabout, along Honiton Road and Heavitree Road).
On both routes a mixture of measures to improve bus priority are proposed; these include improvements to traffic signal efficiency and monitoring, and the coordination of signalised crossings and junctions.
And upgrades to the five Variable Message Signs (VMS) on the eastern and central corridors would show a greater range of messaging to road users to help improve traffic flow.
Infrastructure improvements include extending the bus lane at Livery Dole by introducing pre-signals and increasing bus lane operation times on all bus lanes. We will also be investing in improvements to bus stops, shelters and ‘real time’ information displays along both corridors.
The measures could save 3 minutes 20 seconds per bus on the eastern corridor and approximately 4 minutes per bus on the central corridor.
Both schemes were consulted on between 19 February and 29 March 2024.
The Newton Abbot scheme will focus on a route throughout the Town Centre, from Penn Inn Roundabout on the A381, along Torquay Road, to Halcyon Road / Kingsteignton Road towards Balls Corner Roundabout.
The corridor services 28 different bus services, totalling over 200 buses per a day on Kingsteignton Road and approximately 40 buses a day across Torquay Road.
Proposals include changes at existing signalised junctions and crossings to improve bus priority, including measures that would extend the green traffic signal when a bus is detected. This would reduce the waiting time of a queuing bus.
The scheme in Barnstaple would look at the existing bus lane from Chaddiford Lane towards Barnstaple Town Centre, along the A361 Braunton Road. It will speed up bus journeys by removing the requirement for buses to stop in the bus lane at two sets of traffic lights, as well as improving crossings for people walking and cycling.
A Public Consultation was held between 17 January 2024 and 18 February 2024
All the schemes are subject to the resolution of the traffic regulation order and funding being confirmed.
Councillor Stuart Hughes, Devon County Council’s Cabinet Member for Highway Management said:
“The proposals before you are a great example of how Devon is modernising the way it manages its highway network on our busiest bus corridors. Technological upgrades to optimise our traffic signals on key bus routes in Exeter, Newton Abbot and Barnstaple will help improve bus journey times and fulfil our statutory network management duty.
“Wider upgrades to our traffic control system with cameras in Exeter and Newton Abbot will also help our network operations team better monitor and manage the signals when incidents occur which will benefit all road users. There will also be upgrades to variable message signing on the selected corridors in Exeter to influence driver behaviour. This may include positive messaging to encourage mode shift or alerting drivers of upcoming events or congestion.
The proposals will allow us to manage our highway network more intelligently and keep people moving and so I fully support and move these recommendations.”
Councillor Stuart Hughes, Cabinet Member for Highway Management
Councillor Andrea Davis, Devon County Council’s Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Environment and Transport, said:
“These schemes include bus priority measures and technology improvements with the aim of achieving better bus journey times and reliability.
“Maintaining the existing situation in Exeter, Newton Abbot and Barnstaple will continue to provide bus services with unnecessarily long and unreliable journey times.
“These measures will enable faster and more reliable journey times, ensuring bus travel becomes a more attractive alternative which will help to lower transport carbon emissions in the county.
“Delivery of these schemes supports our Bus Service Improvement Plan, the Strategic Plan and the Climate Emergency declaration.”
