(21 Aug 2022, 11:56 am)Adrian wrote Business is never going to be booming, given the tiny settlements that it serves South of Haltwhistle. Alston is probably the biggest and even at that, there's only around 1,000 living there. Just because they're tiny settlements, it doesn't mean they're not worth your council tax and should live in isolation.
It's literally two buses a day, and all they're asking for is for some common-sense in the timetable. It's probably safe to assume that Haltwhistle is the direction of travel, given that is where most services are, yet the timetable doesn't provide a return journey for the second Haltwhistle-bound bus a day. Who are we timetabling for? The people that use buses, or the people that run them?
This is the type of service councils should be supporting in my opinion, because those who don't or can't drive, are left with very few other options. The suggestion of taxi tokens is a moot point, because there's very unlikely to be anyone providing taxi services in the local vicinity. They're likely having to come from one of the bigger settlements like Brampton or Haltwhistle.
I've often wondered how many of those thousand in Alston actually know about the service (given the limited nature of its runs) or connections it actually throws up.
I tried to plan a Round Robin type trip once, with a couple of stops along the way and found doing anything other than a there and back trip pretty difficult, I'd hazard a guess that the locals who are aware of its existence think that however vital it is, those connections are pretty poor too.
Bank Holidays, South Tynedale Railway, Allenheads, Allendale Town, local footpaths/walks/cycle routes, tourist attractions, Alston, and tourism all play a part in keeping visitors coming to that area - yet are seemingly ignored.
Locals and their needs are seemingly ignored.
Last time I was over that way on a Bank Holiday weekend, I was genuinely amazed at the lack of joined up thinking or partnership work when it come to sustainable public transport.
In a nutshell, there was none and each of those places listed above saw visitors arriving by any other means than bus.
And now this.
(21 Aug 2022, 11:56 am)Adrian wrote Business is never going to be booming, given the tiny settlements that it serves South of Haltwhistle. Alston is probably the biggest and even at that, there's only around 1,000 living there. Just because they're tiny settlements, it doesn't mean they're not worth your council tax and should live in isolation.
It's literally two buses a day, and all they're asking for is for some common-sense in the timetable. It's probably safe to assume that Haltwhistle is the direction of travel, given that is where most services are, yet the timetable doesn't provide a return journey for the second Haltwhistle-bound bus a day. Who are we timetabling for? The people that use buses, or the people that run them?
This is the type of service councils should be supporting in my opinion, because those who don't or can't drive, are left with very few other options. The suggestion of taxi tokens is a moot point, because there's very unlikely to be anyone providing taxi services in the local vicinity. They're likely having to come from one of the bigger settlements like Brampton or Haltwhistle.