The other story concerns the bus stop at Churston Village. There has always been the official stop in a lay by 200 yds up the road. The problem is to get to it from Churston village involves walking along a difficult muddy track and then crossing the road at a sharp bend. Traffic here often exceeds the 40 mph speed limit and anyone crossing the road would have to be very concerned and ask questions like, “Is the trip into Paignton worth risking my life for?” Or "What's the point in having a free bus pass if I can't get to the bus stop?" All the time I was driving along this road almost no one waited at this stop and I for one didn’t blame them. The villagers all waited in a small safe lay by just near the crossroads. The road is narrower there and the view up and down the road is greater, allowing for a safer crossing place. Now the council have decided that the buses can not stop at this easy to use, very safe unofficial bus stop and must stop at the difficult to get to and not at all safe bus stop. True, when the bus did stop here the road was slightly blocked, but we usually only picked two or three people up at any one go.
PS. It isn’t Stagecoach’s doing, as I have mentioned before bus stop placement is all down to some one in the Town Hall. So either some one in the town hall doesn't like some one in Chrston Village or they haven't been down there and had a good look at the situation.
The Cross Roads at Churston Village. To get the bus to Paignton or Torquay you have to cross this road. Where the council want people to cross it is twice as wide and on a bend. We have such a nice council.
.
8 comments:
Paignton bound there was always a bus stop just past the cross roads, it used to have a bus stop sign, and a small area for passengers to wait- thats what it was built for. Gramercy Hall was a bus stop Paignton bound only, towards Brixham the bus stop for both the village and Gramercy Hall was shared on the Brixham side of the cross roads.
It strikes me that the Council is only concerned about road traffic and has absolutely no concern for pedestrians (bus passengers before and after using the bus)Forcing people to walk from (former) Gramercy school gates to the cross roads is nothing short of madness - just wait for the screams when the inevitable happens.
As to the bus- can't be any worse than the rubbish vehicles that have been drafted in to Torbay for the summer- reckon most of them are eligible for the government's scrappage scheme
This is yet an other example of Health & Safety taking common sense down a dark ally and sticking the boot in.
The bus or its sister used to operate in Torquay on the Babbacome model village service.
Based on a 1960s Bedford coach Chassis there were 2 one in torquay and one in Newquay.
Mike
I remember that bus, it used to work from the Strand up to the model village. I haven't see it for about 5 or more years. Stagecoach also had a 1956 open top Triton but that got too unreliable and had to go. Shame.
So crazy that the bus stop moved. The "official" stop is so extremely dangerous to get to, especially for elderly people.
Someone will get killed one day by crossing that road!
It's a 40mph zone and therefore not in a 'built up area'. This means that you can pick up and drop off passengers anywhere that it is safe to do so.
The council has, I believe told the bus company to instruct drivers not to stop at the former stop as it is, in their opinion, unsafe. As buses have been stopping here for years without incident I don't know how they arrived at their opinion.
test comment
Post a Comment