From Sunday 3rd September we will be running a bus service to the new South Devon College in Paignton. The College used to be in Torre a mile or so out of Torquay on the Newton Road. This was on the 12 route and the 12 carried all the students that travelled by bus to and from college every day. Now it has moved to a larger site in Paignton which is not on the 12 route, until now.
As everyone in Torbay needs the college to suceed, the Council and Stagecoach have come up with the 12A. The 12 route will run every 15 mins and starts in Newton Abbot and runs through Kingskerswell, past Torbay Hospital, Torquay Police Station, down Union Street(1) and Fleet walk to the Harbour. Then it goes along the Sea Front, through Preston and into Paignton Bus Station. From there it goes past Torbay Leasure Centre, on to Waterside, Cherry Brook Drive, Churston and down into Brixham. It is a very busy route and makes lots of money for the company. So it is an important route both for the company and the Bay.
The 12A route will also run every 15 mins 7 mins behind the 12 and will follow the same route from Newton to Paignton Bus Station. Then it will go via the Zoo, Paignton Comunity College, Borough Road and Roselands to the college in Long Lane. Then it will go along Roselands Drive to Gibson Rd and down Cherry Brook Drive where it will turn right to rejoin the 12 route and continue in to Brixham.
As with any change of this size the workers, ie the bus drivers have expressed concerns and I will list them in order that they occur.
1) Sherborne Rd
2) Torquay Strand
3) Paignton Bus Station
4) Borough Road
5) Cherry Brook Drive
6) Brixham
There is a 7 and an 8 and a 9 but I will report on 7 when it happens and come back to 8 later and will mention 9 only if it ever turns up.
Numbers 1,2,3 and 6 are the same problem in four different places. What will happen if too many buses turn up at the same time. Sherborne Rd in Newton Abbot can only just cope, if a third number 12 turns up it will just have to drop of passengers and drive round the block. In Torquay if a third bus turns up the first bus will just have to shut it's doors and go even if it means leaving passengers behind. If it doesn't the The Strand will become grid locked fairly quickly. This will upset those passengers going beyond Paignton as it could mean them being delayed by up to 15 mins. Paignton Bus Station will also clog up quickly is too many buses arrive all at once but at least there will be a controller there to look after things.
Brixham Town Square can only take two buses at any one time,so if three turn up at once one will just have to drop and go. Passengers will have to get used to the idea of empty buses driving away and leaving them.
Borough Road. I have only driven down this road 3 times, there is a junior school half way down and we will be driving past , or attempting to, with a bus load of students all on their way to a hard days learning at the same time as the morning school run. If you drive at the same time as a school run you have got to feel for us.
Cherry Brook Drive. At the bottom of Cherry Brook Drive we will have to turn right at a duel carridgeway. A very busy, very fast duel carridgeway full of motorists desperate to get to work and looking for a burst of speed to make up for the fact that yet again their alarm didn't go of. Or in some cases an adrenaline rush to wake them selves up. And they will find a 30 foot long bus trying to turn right across the road in front of them. Same in the evening only going the other way.
I said I would mention 8 later, well here it is. Remember that the route starts in Newton Abbot. On Tuesday the 5 Sept(two days after the 12A starts) South West Water are digging half the roads in Newton and will be for 3 months. Newton will become a Black Hole into which buses vanish, never to be seen again. Just when we though we had done with road works for a while.
More on this as it turns up.
(1) Torquay's main shopping street
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