These new stops are without a doubt a lot more useful than the ones they're replacing. They have the bus stop code for the Text4Bus service; they look more durable; and they are vibrantly coloured with the name of the stop clearly displayed.
However, that's not to say that they're not trouble free: just how much money is being spent on these new stops that effectively replace adequate ones? The council is making the right move to replace the stops in a sense that they are replacing some previously damaged and/or inadequate ones. But they're also replacing perfectly fine stops, which is surely a waste of time. You wouldn't go round replacing street signs with new ones just because there was a new style that was being phased in, would you? No, you'd wait for them to be damaged or in need of replacement and phase them in, and not just go round replacing them all in one go.
Passengers can also not possibly be happy with them in the first weeks of them having been installed. They are left without timetables due to them coming with timetable cases, which are then left empty for several weeks until the bus companies decide to replace them. This must also come at a cost to the bus operators. It is also not an ideal situation to find that you suddenly have no timetable(s) at your stop.
This is yet another example of how the council try and do everything at once, much like that disaster of the bin systems. The trouble is, the council are acting as if Torbay's transport system is governed by some kind of public transport executive. Well, it isn't. The council, bus operators and bus stop installers do not work together. For these stops to truly work well, the council would have to provide the timetables themselves (and not let the companies be responsible for them) as well as the stops, and not just have everything built up from two different parties.
As an example of the lack of information at these stops after the first few weeks of installation, take a look at some of these pictures:
 |
| This has been installed today. Notice the lack of any information in the case below. |
 |
| This stop here on Lands Road, Brixham, is now fully operational, but it took a long time |
 |
| This is the case on Lands Road, which shows the information present after full install |
 |
| Is this soon to go? On the opposite side to the stop above on Lands Road. |
Not just in Torbay! The bus layby and shelter at Shaldon (Torquay bound) - where they are building the new school, has been closed for quite a while whilst the building is going on- they even boarded up the shelter. Well the temporary stop which is before the layby is now sporting one of these posh new ones all nicely concreted in. Does that mean the layby and shelter will not be reopened?
ReplyDeleteI do wonder whether it will re open. The shelter on Dartmouth Road in Paignton at the bottom of Cherry Brook has also been taken away, but a new one installed on Dartmouth Road at Fisher Street.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to know this problem is not only in Torbay!
If you could get a photo of this in Shaldon, I'd happily add it here or feature it in another post. Let me know. You can send an email to info@torbaybusroutes.co.uk
Yeah it all seams abit silly to me. All this money shortage yet we spend all this money on new bus stops. Is it actually the councils responsibiliy to replace bus stops?
ReplyDeleteWell, Stagecoach have had their own stops up for as long as I can remember. But it does seem that the council are replacing Stagecoach's stops where they have been affixed to what would appear to be council property. Maybe the council are just doing it because they can. After all, if they don't use the money set aside for whichever budget bus stops come under, then it's just taken away from them, so they just have to think of ways to use it. A classis example of just that is the laying down of a bus lane on Dartmouth Road. It's completely unnecessary, but they had to use the money for something. Hay-ho, what can you do?
ReplyDelete*classic
ReplyDelete