council caught giving land away... AGAIN!!, Tories and Lib Dems colluded behind closed doors to keep details secre Options

[dannyboy]

Just get the busses to stop at more places in town.

[Andy Capp]

Just get the busses to stop at more places in town.

'Half' of it is sealed-off.

[On the edge]

Exactly - customers who want to go to the Kennet Centre, cinema, etc, not the station, not Parkway. All this grandiose talk of a 'transport hub' ignores the majority of bus users who just want to get into town to work, shop or socialise.

If it were a choice between Market Street and the station I would much prefer buses to stop in Market St with an easy walk to the station - but the obvious solution is, of course, to stop at both.

Customers will want to go to ALL those destinations and that's exactly what we should be encouraging. Its bus ROUTES, FREQUENCY and BUS STOPS we should be considering not grandiose infrastructures. The platform in outside Iceland is a monument to this type of planning incompetence. What a total waste of money.

Frankly, its not a matter of choice, much much more about delivering customer service. The existing arrangements are demonstrably wholly unsatisfactory and simply delivers what is barely a social service safety net. That isn't adequate or acceptable for a growing and developing town. Trouble is our planners, competent and adequate they may be, are very parochial.

So for me, I want the bus to collect me a reasonable distance from my house and drop me wherever I choose to go, without having to walk too far. The Station does become (and indeed is) a major drop point. I can then sell my car and should the occasion arise where I may need one, I'll hire. Unachievable? Don't think so, that's how I lived, very comfortably, in Reading and Central London, both for a period of years.

Why is this important for inner city developments? One example, my sister in law who lives in town centre apartments and has done for years says she'd not move here - no buses! All very well building dwellings with little or no parking without an adequate and customer centric transport provision.

And what of people like Motormouth? His car is clearly his hobby; no reason why he shouldn't keep that, but it will be far more enjoyable with less of us cluttering the roads.

[dannyboy]

'Half' of it is sealed-off.

Yeah, that walk from PW to Northbrook St, from the Post Office to Bart St is just so far.

[Andy Capp]

Yeah, that walk from PW to Northbrook St, from the Post Office to Bart St is just so far.

Who said anything about being too far?

[dannyboy]

Who said anything about being too far?

you seemed to be implying that more bus stops would be ineffective as half the town is 'sealed off'.

[Andy Capp]

you seemed to be implying that more bus stops would be ineffective as half the town is 'sealed off'.

I don't disagree with your substantive point, it is just that the scope for more stops is limited. I just suspect that anyone that has no problem with walking the routes you mentioned, will have no problem with the routes as they are now, so who's the extra stops catering for? If it is the less mobile amongst us, then their 'plight' is not helped by the restricted access.

[dannyboy]

I don't disagree with your substantive point, it is just that the scope for more stops is limited. I just suspect that anyone that has no problem with walking the routes you mentioned, will have no problem with the routes as they are now, so who's the extra stops catering for? If it is the less mobile amongst us, then their 'plight' is not helped by the restricted access.

I meant more busses stopping that the stops we have got, or existing routes being exended to say take in the railway station etc.

A bus station, as we have currently is an anachronism.

[CharlieF]

No worries, will dig it out for you.

Many thanks Richard. I'll read with interest.

[CharlieF]

By having a rolling bus station and having more cross town routes, there would be less idle time and we would not need to pay to lease so many buses. Win / win!!

What's a rolling bus station? Sounds hard to catch...

[CharlieF]

If we can't do anything that will add significant value to the town, I'd wait until we had something worth doing. As Charlie said, what's the rush??

Indeed.

[dannyboy]

Indeed.

so what is 'significant value'

[Cognosco]

so what is 'significant value'

My interpretation of significant would be - of value to the local taxpayer rather than making a large profit for a Developer.

[Exhausted]

What we need is for the people who plan the buses for the town to rethink what they are up to.

There are two bus services that seem to be popular and that is the service to Glendale Avenue and the opposite way, the service to Turnpike and the hospital. I know the latter is serviced mainly by the Jet Black to Reading but what about a group of buses that run the route from town to Turnpike/ the hospital or possibly Thatcham via Shaw, back round the A4, up Parkway, through Cheap Street to the transport interchange by the station then up through the road link to access through the town, Pound Street, Valley Road/Elizabeth Avenue, Wash Common along Essex St then down Andover Rd through Conifer Crest and back to the rail hub, short stay then on to Parkway etc.
The same service running the opposite way round and as an alternative, every third bus travelling down Hambridge Road, stopping at Sainsbury and on to pick up the route again.

There was a thought that sprung to mind but I dismissed it as being a little devious but having the bus station in the wharf does make Parkway more accessible and would benefit the Parkway shopping to the detriment of South Newbury. Nah not really, our council wouldn't think like that would they.

[Andy Capp]

I wonder how many people who shop at John Lewis, Debenhams Superdry, etc, are likely to catch buses these days!

[On the edge]

I wonder how many people who shop at John Lewis, Debenhams Superdry, etc, are likely to catch buses these days!

I've just counted twenty get on a bus outside John Lewis in Oxford Street. Having just done a bit of shopping after an interesting seminar at LSE. Ironic, most of the delegates there were socio economic top end - all firmly value good public transport. Majority were young(ish) which probably had something to do with it. Paradigms change!

Must admit, my experience of the bus in Newbury means I don't recommend to anyone else. Grumpy drivers, spaced out passengers, high prices and what is a timetable? Bit of a joke really.

[Richard Garvie]

I wonder how many people who shop at John Lewis, Debenhams Superdry, etc, are likely to catch buses these days!

A fair few. Bus useage on the town routes is pretty good, it's the rural routes which are infrequent and unreliable that struggle. Let's not be complacent though, a more integrated public transport strategy with cross town services would increase useage and free up resources for reinvestment in rural services.