Stagecoach, Don't Park Here!

Greyhound Bridge has been closed to all traffic for four weeks now, with all buses - and other traffic - diverted over Skerton Bridge. Initial impressions are that the disruption has not been as severe as everyone thought and, with some exceptions, buses appear to be coping very well.  But there continue to be a number of problems.

Stagecoach:  Don't Park Here   DON'T"!

The bus station continues to be clogged up with all the extra buses that perhaps aren't actually needed and which therefore spend more time in the station waiting for their next trip instead of being stuck in the traffic as was expected.  There can be queues of buses waiting for a free stand at times and, unfortunately, passengers are still missing their buses despite the efforts of drivers and inspectors to direct them to whichever stand their bus is on.  The Park & Ride service has been badly affected by this, which is a shame as its passengers, not being used to using buses, need a bit more mollycoddling than the regulars. It has been allocated its own dedicated stand to help in this, but it looks as if this might not always work and perhaps a certain amount of desperation is setting in after problems keeping it clear as the hand-written notice on Stand 4 implies.

Temporary stop at Ryelands Park

Elsewhere in the city the bus stops at Common Garden Street and George Street are now correctly signed and have the right timetables in the right cases, after the Bus Users' Group pointed out some errors and we have had another success - this time at Ryelands Park

Due to the alterations to the traffic flows following the bridge closure the stop on Morecambe Road opposite Our Lady's school cannot be used by buses heading out of the city to Torrisholme, Vale or along the A6 north.  Instead a temporary stop was created on Owen Road outside Ryelands Park. Despite it having a projected life of at least six months it was initially marked only by an "A" board, weighted down with a couple of sandbags and placed on the footway.

Needless to say, the stop quickly became rather more "temporary" than intended and kept going for a walk in the park or even disappeared altogether, leading to much confusion amongst bus drivers and passengers.  When the BUG became aware of the problem we asked the county council whether they could provide a proper bus stop, with a fixed pole and sign. After all, given the multi-million pound cost of the repair scheme surely they could find a few quid to stick a pole up!

To the fair to LCC, they agreed to do so almost immediately and the pole was in place just two days after our request, although we are not sure why the gang who put the new pole up didn't take the A board away! But it seems that the county council will listen to the concerns of passengers where the bridge works are concerned, so if you become aware of any similar issues please let us know. A "comment" at the bottom of this post will suffice,