West Yorkshire District Centre Mode Share Counts

In the face of the climate emergency, low physical activity rates, a congested highway network, and high rates of transport related social exclusion, West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) and partner districts have increasingly ambitious targets for walking and cycling, as well as rail and bus patronage. To track progress against these targets it is necessary to have robust monitoring data to understand the progress we are making. Other data sources, such as the National Travel Survey, have significant limitations at a local and regional level due to the small sample size. This means three years of data need to be aggregated to report at a West Yorkshire level, and it is not possible to report at a local authority level.

Whilst travel into and out of district centres does not provide a full picture, district centre cordon counts are one of the more cost-effective ways to monitor modal share, particularly for travel to work trips. This will be used as a key metric for monitoring West Yorkshire’s Local Transport Plan, as well as for monitoring and evaluating major transport programmes delivered by the Combined Authority.

Local authority districts have been collecting ‘cordon count’ data around the five West Yorkshire district centres (Bradford, Halifax, Huddersfield, Leeds, and Wakefield) for several years. However, following a review in 2024 WYCA and district partners agreed a consistent approach would be needed across the region using the same methodology. As far as possible, we will seek consistency with data collection in previous years, but where there are gaps in cordons, we will commission extra counts to make the cordons ‘watertight’.

Please, complete the attached questionnaire and return by 3rd January 2025 via YORTender. A draft Statement of Requirements is being uploaded with this PIN as well as the cordon count maps.

Please Note the following:

1. This is an updated PIN following the prior exercise undertaken earlier this year. In response to local authority consultation and input since the first Statement of requirements was drafted, the following changes have been made:

i. The classifications have expanded

ii. There is a requirement to collect occupancy data for car/taxi and bus (only bus was previously specified)

iii. There is a preference to use traffic enumerators instead of camera technology

Combined with lesser tweaks, we felt these changes form a notable departure from our original ask and wanted to offer the opportunity to revise any comments on this basis. Any final specification may be further tweaked as we work through the PIN responses and further engagement with our local authority partners, but we expect any further changes to be relatively minor prior to going to market.

2. This PIN is for prior information only and is not a ‘Call for Competition’. Whilst we encourage your participation in the pre-market survey, failure to respond to the supplier market engagement will not prohibit your involvement in any future procurement exercise if progressed via a publicly advertised tender opportunity.