West Yorkshire District Centre Mode Share Counts

Description

* PME ONLY* In the face of the climate emergency, low physical activity rates, a congested highway network, and high rates of transport related social exclusion, the Combined Authority and partner districts have ambitious targets for walking and cycling, as well as rail and bus patronage. In the future, our plans include a new Mass Transit network. To track progress against these targets it is necessary to have robust monitoring data to measure the impact of the significant investment the Combined Authority are making in sustainable transport. Existing data sources, such as the National Travel Survey, have significant limitations at a local and regional level due to inadequate sample sizes. Data from proprietary systems is undesirable for this purpose as the underlying models and assumptions are hidden. Local authority districts have been collecting ‘cordon count’ data around the five West Yorkshire district centres (Bradford, Halifax, Huddersfield, Leeds, and Wakefield) as well as Dewsbury for several years. However, the Combined Authority and district partners agree that a consistent approach is needed across the region. Market engagement has revealed that employing the most detailed Local Authority method across the West Yorkshire region, with enhanced “water-tight” cordons, would be prohibitively expensive. Deviation from the existing methodology is therefore unavoidable. The advantage of a consistent region-wide method introduced in time to see the impacts of major interventions will outweigh the disbenefits breaking the time series, especially when the existing data is deemed to be of low value following the inconsistencies found in the 2024 review. Whilst travel into and out of district centres does not provide a full picture, district centre cordon counts are an established and relatively cost-effective way 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. We have undertaken benchmarking against other Combined Authority data collection programmes and have amended the requirements in the attached draft Statement of Requirements (SoR) to reflect feedback and advice from experts in other Authority areas, balancing cost versus the need to obtain an appropriate level of insight. WYCA invites interested Tenderers to complete the attached Market Engagement Feedback Form and return by 2:00 pm on the 17th of April 2026 via YORtender. A draft Statement of Requirements is being uploaded with this Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) Notice as well as the cordon count maps. Please Note the following: 1. This is a further updated PME following a previous one in December 2024. The project was then paused pending approvals from partner organisations. Now that approvals have been received, we are re-issuing revised PME questions for your consideration. This is to ensure a successful procurement exercise following substantial changes to the previous shared requirements. These changes include: i. Occupancy counts not required at most sites ii. Count site relocations iii. Data collection to occur simultaneously, and iv. Making the budget position clearer. 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 responses in the PME Feedback Forms 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 PME Notice is for preliminary market engagement only and is not a ‘Call for Competition’. Whilst we encourage your participation in this PME, failure to respond to this request will not prohibit your involvement in any future procurement exercise if progressed via a publicly advertised tender opportunity. 3. This new exercise will not disadvantage any Tenderer who did not participate in previous PMEs. Any future procurement opportunity will be advertised through our tender portal at https://yortender.eu-supply.com and Consultancies are encouraged to register in readiness for this.