Leeds New Generation Transport gets go-ahead

The Department for Transport (DfT) has today approved the Leeds New Generation Transport (NGT) trolleybus network for programme entry. This approval follows the Major Scheme Business Case document, which was submitted to DfT by Metro, the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive and Leeds City Council with support from Steer Davies Gleave.

As part of the business case, Steer Davies Gleave undertook pioneering analysis to quantify and monetise reliability benefits of the scheme. These benefits strengthened the NGT economic appraisal and were critical to meeting DfT value for money requirements.

NGT will provide Leeds with a high-frequency trolleybus network. The scheme includes a high level of priority for NGT trolleybuses, including segregated sections and enhanced priority through traffic signals. As well as reducing journey times, these measures will enable the trolleybus service to have a significantly improved level of service reliability compared to current bus services.

Valuing the reliability benefits of public transport enhancements has gained considerable attention after the Eddington Transport Study in 2006 raised it as a key area for improvement. Reliability has also been defined by DfT's DaSTS as one of the key goals for transport systems to enable economic growth.

Steer Davies Gleave’s NGT Project Manager Steve Hunter explained:

“We’re delighted that NGT has been given programme entry. This is an important step towards a real improvement in public transport provision in Leeds. Our team’s work to develop an approach for quantifying the benefits from improvements to punctuality has undoubtedly made a significant contribution to achieving programme entry status. It complies with DfT’s updated guidance on assessing reliability benefits while also providing a solution to the challenge of valuing and forecasting them, which the DfT high-level guidance doesn’t fully deal with”.

Reliability analysis workstream leader Yaron Hollander added:

“We held a series of workshops with DfT to take them through details of the analytical approach before the business case was submitted. It was important to us that we developed a methodology solution appropriate in the wider business case context, and not purely for NGT. This means that our approach can be successfully applied elsewhere”.

Now that the NGT trolleybus network has been given Programme Entry Approval, further development work will take place, leading to the submission of a Transport and Works Act Order application later this year. Construction is planned to commence in 2013, with the scheme operational by 2016.