Wednesday 21 February 2018

All Present and Correct Now on Common Garden Street

 The very busy bus stops on Common Garden Street
 now have correct timetable displays.
Lancashire County Council has now responded to our report of  the very confusing situation at Common Garden Street  published on this website last week.  The county council is normally very prompt to respond to our requests and suggestions but apparently the problems at Common Garden Street and George Street have taken longer than usual to sort out.

The council produces its timetables using specialist computer software that takes data directly from bus companies such as Stagecoach and translates it into roadside displays showing lists of buses in departure time order. The system is designed to work automatically, without the need for manual intervention, but when things go wrong - as they clearly did here - it can take a while to sort out. The problems with the data for Common Garden Street were particularly challenging and it appears as if much discussion has taken place between the county and Stagecoach to sort it out after we reported them.

We were promised everything would be put right by this morning and at 10.30 this was the scene at Common Garden Street:




 Three shiny new "Bus Stop" signs all with up-to-date service numbers and with buses to the University and southbound from the city distinguished from the rest. All the timetables were in the right places too.

Of course, it's a shame that it wasn't all done properly in the first place and the Bus Users' Group trusts that the County Council and Stagecoach continuing to talk to each other to ensure that similar glitches in the data don't occur again.





Wednesday 14 February 2018

Confusion on Common Garden Street


Common Garden Street is the main picking-up point for south and eastbound buses leaving the city centre and, due to the one-way system, is also a major setting-down point for buses from the south of the city. There are three stops, helpfully lettered by the county council as "A" "B" and "C" Each stop has a flag showing the service numbers as well as a timetable case showing departure times.  So far, so good.

The service changes necessitated by the Greyhound Bridge closure mean that the displays at these stops, along with every other stop in the city, have been updated.  A mammoth task, for which the county council, which maintains them and which deserves praise - especially with the reduced staffing levels under which it operates these days.

But it looks as if the city centre stops have been just a little bit too much for them this time.


Stop A (just off camera to the right in the image above) is for buses heading towards the University on services 2, 2A, 3, 3A and 4.  For the duration of the bridge closure (which is expected to be six months) these services have had a "U" prefix added to the number to distinguish them from buses heading to Morecambe that were previously part of the through services that have been split at the bus station.  LCC's first failure is not to have updated the flag.




As far as the Bus Users' Group can determine - and as Stagecoach has confirmed to us - there have been no changes to how these stops are used, so we are puzzled as to why the display case now contains times for:

2X Battery-Lancaster .
3A Lancaster - University
18 East Lancaster Circular
U2 University - Lancaster(i.e. towards the bus station)

The 2X (just one journey at 0821) and the 3A towards the University DO use this stop, although the service number 3A is not in use for the duration, having been replaced by U3 and U3R.  Service 18 uses Stop C as do buses on the U2 towards the bus station.  However, buses on U2 U3 U3R and U4 towards the University, which use this stop, are not mentioned on the display!


Stop B, behind the bus in the main image, is for buses to Preston, Blackpool and Knott End as well as local service 9 to Bowerham. The stop sign has never been updated to take account of the fact that alternate journeys on the 40 to Preston were renumbered 41 several years ago and that the 89H was discontinued last year.  The N1 is a late-night service to the University, which surely uses Stop A (although this blog author is usually fast asleep when that operates) and which in any case has been numbered N2 for some time.
The display case here correctly includes the 9, 40, 41, 42 and 89. But it also includes the service 3 journey at 0630 to the University that almost certainly uses stop A as well as, inexplicably, all the U2 journeys (every 10 minutes all day) to the University that also use Stop A


Stop C is for westbound buses towards Heysham (although these are terminating at the bus station during the works) as well as city services 10 (Ridge) and 18 (Williamson Park) that, despite the stop designation, head east out of the city.  It's main use however is as a setting-down point for buses coming into town from the south.

Here, the council has put up a display for the 10 (which is correct) as well as some - but by no means all - of the buses that are heading for the bus station. The rest of these buses as well as service 18 to the Park are wrongly included in the Stop A display instead!

The Bus Users' Group watched  these stops very closely to see what actually happened before writing this post and we can confirm that buses are using the very same stops that they always have done. Regular passengers know the times they are due and buses to the University are frequent enough for passengers not to need a timetable (at least during the day), but for infrequent users or visitors to the city it must be a nightmare.

Just up from Common Garden Street is George Street, used by services in the opposite direction. There are two stops here, but the confusion that must be caused by the displays the council has put up here is so great that we don't have the time to go into it here. Suffice it to say that they are just plain wrong! Fortunately these stops are mainly used by alighting passengers  - which is just as well.

This group normally holds LCC's public transport team - and especially the people dealing with bus stop publicity - in very high regard. They are very keen to get things right and usually reply to and act promptly on any suggestions we make when we discover an error or something we think could be improved in their displays. However, these faults were brought to their attention over a week ago and we have not received even an acknowledgement, let alone seen any action on their part.  It's a shame, as generally the bus service is coping extremely well with the disruption and is being let down only by poor publicity from the county council.


Monday 12 February 2018

Greyhound Bridge: What do you think of it so far?

Two-way traffic on Skerton Bridge
Greyhound Bridge in Lancaster was closed to all traffic on 29th January when two-way working was introduced on Skerton Bridge for cross-river journeys.
The closure necessitated major changes to bus timetables, with extra time being allowed for the diversion and the expected traffic congestion that would occur. Some services were split into two halves, either side of the city, and extra buses and crews deployed to maintain frequencies.  Stagecoach warned passengers to allow extra time for their journeys and everyone expected major delays throughout the six-month period of the works.

So, after the first fortnight how are things working?

It was to be said that most people have been surprised at how well the traffic is flowing. The fact that the Lancaster Guardian has not been able to come up with a "Traffic Chaos, Shock, Horror" story in the two editions that have appeared since the closure says a lot.  There have been some delays to certain services at certain times but on the whole things are going a lot better than people expected.

It could be that some motorists have just discovered the existence of the Heysham Link Road, which acts as a diversionary route, or perhaps some people are avoiding the city altogether but the congestion and delays that were forecast don't seem to have happened - so far.

In fact, things could be said to be working almost too well.  The extra buses and the extra time allowed aren't always required - and buses are arriving at the bus station earlier than scheduled - when they should still be stuck in the traffic.  Unfortunately this does cause a problem: they have nowhere to go when they get there!  The bus station has very limited space for buses on layover between trips. This is a problem at the best of times and although some services have been moved to a different stand to help things, it's now getting out of hand. Buses arriving at the station are finding their departure stand already occupied and the nearest space can be at the other end of the station - if indeed there is space at all.


Buses queueing to reach a stand.



It's not unknown for buses to have to queue to get into the station and once inside it's common for drivers to have to leave their bus and go and look for the passengers who are waiting in the right place and shepherd them back to the bus. Needless to say, some are better at doing this than others.




"17...18....19....20??, Where's my bus?




Because of the uncertainty, passengers tend to mill about in the middle of the concourse, rather than wait at the designated stands.









Everything "on time" if you know where to look



The popular electronic departure screen can't be of any help to them as it can't be programmed to show any alterations to the departure stands and resolutely directs passengers to where the bus ought to be, rather than where it is. (The 100% "on time" record seems to confirm that the buses have more than adequate time added to their schedules).

Help is at hand








But Stagecoach is trying to help and extra staff are on duty to help and advise passengers. Something which appears to be very necessary at times.









The company tells us they are aware of the problem and are looking for alternative places to park buses between trips - although these can't be too far away from the station itself.

But apart from this, there don't seem to be too many operational problems at the moment, although if you've had a different experience please leave a comment and let us know.

Unfortunately, Lancashire County Council is rather letting the side down when it comes to bus stop information and we'll have more on that tomorrow.