(28 Aug 2020, 2:17 pm)Rob44 wrote its for social distancing. they've taken a lane out to make footpath wider. been done in other areas including Newcastle city centre, gateshead and low fell.

(29 Aug 2020, 9:38 am)Storx wrote I don't get why we don't use more of what Northumberland County Council has done in Amble where they've made both paths one way, so you can only walk up the street on one side in one direction and vice versa. I know they've done the same in Morpeth with the 2 pedestian bridges. Bit of an inconveince but it's better than no-one turning up because they can't actually get there because of traffic or park outside the shops (Low Fell).

It's not like it would be that bad in Gosforth as there's sets of lights every 100m or so anyway.

(29 Aug 2020, 11:15 am)Rob44 wrote One way footpaths...... people cant follow arrows on sumpmarket floors!!!!

(29 Aug 2020, 2:04 pm)BusLoverMum wrote At least Durham haven't bothered with the one way malarkey. They've infilled some bus stop lay bys which has caused enough confusion and painted some new cycle lanes, which people just park on. Maybe they'll now get around to hacking back some of the weeds that cover the pavements, since the birds have finished nesting.

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And I think some of the one way systems in shops were designed to prank us. At best, they have dozens of people walking along aisles they don't need just to travel 2m from the bread to the veg (the thankfully abandoned one in Durham tesco metro).

At worst they lead to nowhere or all converge in one spot, eg second floor in Fenwick where all the arrows lead to one up escalator. I gave up and walked on the carpet, in there.

(29 Aug 2020, 1:23 pm)Rob44 wrote disagree, I certainly would move onto the road. IN fact that exactly where i walk in Newcastle city centre when people are heading towards me! 

It give more room for people who walk along to the high street and as a person who used to live in that area on a school day it  is busy, so good on the council for creating more space so people can observe the 2 metre rule or even the 1 metre + rule.

(29 Aug 2020, 1:23 pm)Rob44 wrote disagree, I certainly would move onto the road. IN fact that exactly where i walk in Newcastle city centre when people are heading towards me! 

It give more room for people who walk along to the high street and as a person who used to live in that area on a school day it  is busy, so good on the council for creating more space so people can observe the 2 metre rule or even the 1 metre + rule.

(29 Aug 2020, 3:59 pm)Storx wrote The thing is some people wont though you can tell by some of the replies that people just don't care. Instead now we've got a path on a major transport route for 50 people a day.

Every single passenger travelling from SE Northumberland to Newcastle is now delayed by the incompetence of Newcastle City Council but we can't do anything to get arid of them whether that's the shambles of Haddricks Mill where Ireland could've built 100 miles of Motorway in the same time which isn't even done properly and just abruptly ends or now this mess in Gosforth.

Then Newcastle CC wonders why everyone drives when it takes an hour to get into Newcastle on a 10 mile bus journey at peaks.

I slate bus companies a lot but I do feel sorry for the crap and hassle that Gateshead Council and Newcastle City Council put them through with their projects which take way too long to do or are just completely pointless and make things worse and you tell that Arriva think the same by some of the press releases they've put out about the X7/X8.

(29 Aug 2020, 5:10 pm)streetdeckfan wrote I think the issue is the councils have have been given money by the government to support social distancing, and instead of using it wisely, they've gone through their list of things they want to try but couldn't justify, then used the free money and special planning exemptions to just go ahead and do it. If it doesn't work, it hasn't affected their budget.

And I wouldn't say I don't care, just that one way systems for the sake of it just don't work.
If walking past someone outdoors is enough to catch COVID, then so is walking 2m behind some walking the same direction, you're walking straight through the air they've just breathed out. You can walk 10m behind someone that's smoking and still taste the smoke in the air, COVID sticks around in the air as well.

(29 Aug 2020, 5:10 pm)streetdeckfan wrote I think the issue is the councils have have been given money by the government to support social distancing, and instead of using it wisely, they've gone through their list of things they want to try but couldn't justify, then used the free money and special planning exemptions to just go ahead and do it. If it doesn't work, it hasn't affected their budget.

And I wouldn't say I don't care, just that one way systems for the sake of it just don't work.
If walking past someone outdoors is enough to catch COVID, then so is walking 2m behind some walking the same direction, you're walking straight through the air they've just breathed out. You can walk 10m behind someone that's smoking and still taste the smoke in the air, COVID sticks around in the air as well.

(29 Aug 2020, 8:10 pm)Storx wrote I thought the money was for cycling schemes rather than social distancing stuff but I could be wrong.

(29 Aug 2020, 8:10 pm)Storx wrote I thought the money was for cycling schemes rather than social distancing stuff but I could be wrong.

Ah don't worry I wasn't doing that personally very very few people are social distancing lately tbh it's more just normal now since face masks have become mandatory. All the big 4 supermarkets have pretty much scrapped any form of social distancing now.

Tbh Newcastle, North Tyneside and Gateshead have been a joke long before this though. Haddricks Mill, Heworth, Four Lane Ends, Blue House Roundabout, Kenton Bar, Sandy Lane, Speed Bump at The Cannon, John Dobson Street, Haymarket changes, Cowgate, Norham Road, Whickham 20mph Zone, Benton ASDA lights. Just a short list of complete cock ups between the 3 of them which haven't improved anything, went months over or made things worse for everyone including buses. No doubt there's more you could add I've missed.

(29 Aug 2020, 8:37 pm)Adrian wrote The only reason one way systems don't work is because people are too ignorant or think they know better than to use them. Its as if some people are capable of following basic instruction. Its not hard to follow arrows and show patience towards others.

(29 Aug 2020, 8:49 pm)streetdeckfan wrote I disagree there, one way systems cause a backlog of people stuck in an aisle with nowhere to go. Especially when inconsiderate people leave their trolley in the middle of the aisle, so even if there was 2 metres, you couldn't get past anyway. Quickly walking past someone is safer than being stuck in the aisle behind someone. 

If people aren't going to follow them, what's the point in implementing them. I think the one way system at my local ALDI lasted about a week before it was removed.

(29 Aug 2020, 9:28 pm)Adrian wrote You've disagreed by echoing my point really. The failing is people that are too ignorant or think they know better than to use them, not the system itself.

(29 Aug 2020, 8:37 pm)Adrian wrote There's two separate pots of money. There was a £2 billion fund for cycling and walking routes, then another £50 million fund for reopening high streets safely.

(29 Aug 2020, 8:49 pm)streetdeckfan wrote You're probably right, although I wouldn't be surprised if there was funding for increasing the footpaths as well.

To be honest, there's not really much supermarkets can do, one way systems didn't work, they can't have staff standing around making sure everyone is keeping their distance, and at the end of the day it's going to be sticking around for a while so there's no use wrapping yourself up in cotton wool. Cases are going back up, but deaths aren't, even taking into account the lag. Plus, with reports now starting to come out that tests are 'too sensitive', can we even trust those figures?

To go off on a little tangent, we've been in the high single, low double digit number of deaths for over a month now. If we look three weeks ago, around 1000 people on average were testing positive. On the 19th March, around the same number of people tested positive, but three weeks later around 1000 people were dying a day. But those positive test figures are by no means the same, back then only 5000 people were being tested daily, but three weeks ago that was 150,000.
Personally, right now, I am more scared of getting in the car with my mother driving than I am of COVID. If the figures go up by a meaningful amount, I might change my stance, but right now, it doesn't worry me. As Boris said, just use your common sense. I socially distance anyway as people round here are absolute tramps!

Back somewhat on topic, as I've mentioned before we work with some of the councils to carry out research and the consultations they have are a load of crap. They're guided in such a way that the councils get the answer they want, regardless of what people actually answer. For some focus groups I've been doing for another client, just from looking at the discussion guide I can already tell what the conclusion of the report will be.

(30 Aug 2020, 12:03 am)Storx wrote Makes sense then wasn't aware of the £50m fund.


Ah it wasn't the one way systems etc I was talking about it was more the basics such as actually counting how many people are in the store, having an organised queueline for the tills rather than it being all over the place, staff actually bothered to wear face masks (no way does 90% of the staff in certain stores have hidden illnesses) and stuff like that. Things that rise exponentially are dangerous; 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16394. That's what can happen in 2 weeks if your not careful with what your doing - it's certainly still needed and we're already at the 1024 stage as it is. 4 days at an R rate of 2 and you've got 16k cases.

(30 Aug 2020, 9:16 am)Rob44 wrote STORX you mentioned John Dobson street in you post on page 1...... I'm assuming you mean the bus lane that Stagecoach praised to the hilt????? You moan about what NCC have done in Gosforth as its delaying buses but in the same breath bring up the Bus Lane on John Dobson street which has made keeping time  easier???

These councils cant win with some people

(30 Aug 2020, 12:39 am)streetdeckfan wrote The issue is the stores just aren't designed for organised queue lines, they end up blocking aisles. If they have a limit of 50 people in the store, but they all want to leave at exactly the same time, you're still going to have an issue. Which goes back to what I said further up about one way systems, if the stores are designed from the ground up for 'social distancing', then it's all great. But in stores like ALDI and LIDL where space is limited, literally half the store is inaccessible once more than 4 people are waiting!

My point about the numbers of cases wasn't necessarily about the number itself, but the fact you can't really 'trust' the statistics. Back then the exponential rise was, in my opinion anyway, just as much caused by the lack of awareness as the R rate itself. With the amount of tests they're carrying out now, spikes can be found early, whereas at the start it wasn't until you were literally at your death bed that you could get a test and find out if you have it. Now, you can literally get a test done in a matter of minutes. A couple weeks back, my mother and younger brother both had a temperature so went online and booked a test, within 20 minutes she was at the test site having the test, and by the next evening she had the results back (which both came back negative).

Plus, I'm still waiting for all those second peaks we're supposed to have had by now, there was those times everyone went to the beach, the 'protests', the opening of the borders, the end of the shielding program, the reopening of pubs.

Now, I'm not downplaying the fact it can rise exponentially, it's happened before, but the fact the deaths aren't increasing but the cases are suggests either COVID is becoming less deadly, or it was never /that/ deadly in the first place and a lot of people who had it weren't ill enough to even realise they had it. I suppose only time, and mass antibody testing will tell

(30 Aug 2020, 9:16 am)Rob44 wrote STORX you mentioned John Dobson street in you post on page 1...... I'm assuming you mean the bus lane that Stagecoach praised to the hilt????? You moan about what NCC have done in Gosforth as its delaying buses but in the same breath bring up the Bus Lane on John Dobson street which has made keeping time  easier???

These councils cant win with some people

(30 Aug 2020, 10:59 am)Storx wrote It was more the point there isn't any limit at all now in most shops, it's just a free for all especially in ASDA stores. Shops like Morrisons etc have more than enough space to do a single queue for the tills it's better than blocking the whole shop up with people queuing everywhere. Time will tell though I agree there.

(30 Aug 2020, 11:09 am)Rob44 wrote Ah right. I agree it took longer than it should but dont get me start on the " bad signage " rubbish. If you went through there and then suggest you didn't know it was bus only you shouldn't be driving on the road!!

I used to drink in the weatherspoons at that junction and since the bus lane has be put there it looks to me that there are less jams and standstills as you put it. That included December time. So not sure what has changed recently to cause more disruption?

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Oh and can i ( from a personal point of view) just say the road works outside of civic centre/crows nest have made it quicker for buses in and out of Newcastle. Since the GNE have used JDS instead of blacket street my journeys into town are now  quicker. Plus with the new system outside crows nest i think the bus is yet to stop at those light... just get stuck at the ones next to Percy pub/ladbrookes.. Another up for NCC in my view anyway!