(31 May 2016, 8:23 pm)James101 wrote https://www.scribblemaps.com/create/#id=cWDtSS7Yvk&lat=54.6898257447798&lng=-1.2383426126251607&z=13&t=custom_style

EDIT: I think the above link only works on a desktop browser



Combining my interest of buses, maps and urban development/decay, I've spent a few hours plotting Hartlepool's bus stops.

I'm not claiming its 100% accurate and I'm open to corrections. The basic key is green = an active stop, red = a disused stop. I've classed an active stop as one which has a registered service stopping at least once per day. As such, stops on the minibus route 65 are excluded but stops on once-a-day service 20 is included. 

I collated the information through my own knowledge of the area verified using Streetview, so it's possible that some disused have disappeared since the last Google images were taken. Equally, where there is a route of disused stops, there is occasionally only a marker on one side of the road as the opposite has been taken down and therefore no stop now exists.

Zooming our to see the whole town at once it's interesting to see that Hartlepool is well covered by stops, wether they be used or disused. At this level it is also easy to see the areas which have been left bus-baren as services have retrenched; largely the rural west of the town and the immediate east and west of the town centre as routes have been simplified as they pass through the middle of the town.  

On zooming in there's some interesting detail. Areas in Seaton Carew, Clavering and Throston have disused stops where two routes have merged into one or have been revised to operate in a terminal loop and therefore only serving one side of a road. There's also so oddities such as the lone stops on Ocean Drive & Summerhill which I believe were last used by the Countryside bus 401. There's also a stop on the now blocked road around Jacksons landing, last served I think by Shopping Shuttle 25 operated by Cleveland Transit's Leyland PD3. 

To crunch some numbers:

I counted 536 stops overall

Of which 209 are disused

That equates to 39% of stops in Hartlepool are not in use

Or to put it another way, if you pick a stop at random and head there today, there's only a 3 in 5 chance a bus will ever come!

Unfortunately I can't see the map, with being on my phone.
Tried on two now, with no joy.

I knew there was a fair few stops not served now - like the ones on the roads I mentioned a few weeks back.
Genuinely had no idea that there were so many across the town - the sort of numbers which could open up a debate around de-regulation, the big operators leaving communities excluded etc.