Southwold Town Council consults on bus ban (well, sort of)

A helpful twitter user has alerted me to this page copied below found on the Suffolk County Council website that was published on the 24th August (that is the Friday before the bank holiday weekend) about this consultation on the Southwold 'bus ban' that closes exactly ONE week later. Given that a great majority of bus users affected by this bus ban do not have email or internet access and they will need to compose a letter and put it in the post, I think it's quite reasonable to complain that they are not getting a fair chance to properly respond.

http://www.suffolk.gov.uk/your-council/decision-making/consultations/trial-bus-scheme-in-southwold/

Have your say on the Trial bus scheme in Southwold.

Increased traffic flow and congestion in the Market Place and High Street in Southwold has been recognised as an issue by the town council for some time, and it was felt that positive action was needed.

Following the results of a traffic survey in 2010/11, Southwold Town Council, with our support it was decided to trial a new bus scheme.

This moved the bus stop further up the High Street to outside the Kings Head pub, restricted buses from going beyond that point and so ensuring they turned around at the pump in the Market Place.

The trial was implemented in July 2011 and allowed to run for a full year to be able to properly assess what effect it would have on the town.

At no time did the temporary order ban buses or coaches from visiting Southwold, and the town has always welcomed holiday makers and day trippers.

Southwold Town Council are now seeking to capture feedback on the scheme.

In particular, comments are welcomed on these specific points:

Protection afforded by the present bus shelter Location of the bus stop at the Kings Head pub and accessibility to the shops and services in the town Ease of crossing roads to get to the bus stop Alternative coach routes Whether visibility is currently restricted for cars exiting from York Road Whether you feel that congestion in the Market Place and High Street has been eased and the atmosphere improved

All comments are welcomed and it would be useful to tell the town council how often you use the scheduled bus service.

Email townclerk@southwoldtowncouncil.com

Please include your name and a correspondence address for your comments to be considered by the Town Council.

Consultation closes 31 August 2012.

items for disposal: free to good homes

UPDATE: The disposal project ended on Monday 10th September 2012. I don't know the disposition of what was left but SCC have said to me they are grateful for my efforts to contact the many community groups who benefited. 

Note: there may be another school furniture clearance early in 2013 and they will let me know. 

Since the reorganisation of Suffolk's schools structure, a great deal of school equipment and furniture has been shipped to Halesworth for disposal, including by free distribution to Suffolk community organisations. The contact person is Joy Stodart, tel 07515 190911.

A few local organisations have been able to select items already but there is a lot of stuff and not all of it is sorted yet and there is more to come so these photos are just a flavour. If you are interested, don't delay in contacting Joy to have a look. There's far too much stuff to list but a rule of thumb: if you might find it in a school, it's probably there.

Lots and lots of stools

Lots of classic plastic chairs in all kinds of colours. Some soft furnishings too.

A particularly nice drop leaf Formica work table with embedded rule. Several other large desks like this topped in light and dark wood.

Cookers, microwaves, a few fridges.

Industrial microwave.

lunch room seating, there is lots of this.

IT of all kinds. Not shown are printers, routers, VCRs, DVD players, 

A few nice solid wood bookcases going fast. Lots of other storage shelving.

 Plenty of filing cabinets.

Lots of these shallow storage trays and rolling cabinets for them.

Gym equipment.

Large whiteboards.

Huge number of metal/formica classroom tables, many stacking kinds. Some conference tables too.

Stacks of classroom equipment for every subject.

Microscopes

(These sold wood tables were quickly snapped up)

TV & VCR on stands

Workshop benches.

Washing machine, gas stoves.

Not shown: trestle tables (for car boot?) art easels, computer tables, tennis nets,  hand tools, vacuum cleaners, gym lockers.

Stacking classroom tables of every size and system.

Evacuation chair. These retail for £1000 or more.

Half a dozen clean Venetian blinds.

 Lots of different janitorial and office supplies.

Classroom equipment and software.

Really great handcart.

Playroom bookcases?

Office chairs.

Soft chairs in many styles.

Onward Travel Posters

I might be slow to have noticed but there are some brand new travel information posters at Halesworth railway station. This was an improvement that I suggested a while ago and hopefully they will help the many bewildered travellers I encounter there. These 'Onward Travel' posters have a uniform format and are being rolled out nationally.

It looks as if the bus information is taken from the official Naptan database. Journey Solutions is mentioned on the web as being involved but the posters look very similar to a product that Suffolk's own ITOworld once showed me. They have confirmed they are a prime contractor for web-based ATOC transport info and are also involved, but have no editorial control, for the PDF version.

At Halesworth Railtrack (who own the station) have put up two new glazed A2 frames; one is by the ramp at the community bus exit on the Lowestoft platform and the other is on the fence next to the board about the history of the moving platforms at the north end of the Ipswich side. The Lowestoft side poster does get some illumination from an overhead fixture but you'll be lucky to see or read the Ipswich side at night.

National Rail onward travel info

You can download pdfs of these posters for larger towns and cities across England at www.plusbus.info but Halesworth isn't there because it isn't in the PLUSBUS scheme.

On the National Rail website you can find other local transport information about Halesworth but it's infuriating how it suggests that the DRT services Suffolk Links run every 60 minutes. This is completely false as DRT does not have a regular schedule and usually requires 24 hour advance booking within limited booking times. SCC told me this misinformation is a fault of the database. It does not reflect their claims that DRT will replace rural scheduled services efficiently.

Another issue at Halesworth is the lack of taxi numbers. For these you will have to find the poster taped in the window of the Mencap office who were constantly pestered for travel information. 

I consider the most consistently advertised taxi services in the Halesworth area are:

NEAL’S PRIVATE HIRE 01502 575888 or 0789 9011383

RODNEY FOSDIKE 01986 872829

HALESWORTH PRIVATE HIRE 01986 874028

There is also further afield:

SOUTHWOLD TAXIS 07737 139853

DARSHAM CARS 01728 668039

At the time of writing, none of these taxi operators accept concessionary Suffolk County Council travel vouchers. 

For travel planning purposes, the postcode of the station car park is IP19 8BZ.

I found this nugget about the poster project in Railfuture's magazine RAIL USER EXPRESS edition of 29 May 2011 

ONWARD TRAVEL POSTERS – you need to check the information is accurate at your station!

One outcome of the Better Stations review undertaken by Chris Green and Sir Peter Hall was the need to improve the standard of information delivery at stations across England. In respect of this, two projects have been commissioned by the “Passenger Information Strategy Group” at National Rail Enquiries to improve the standard of information delivery. The Group includes representatives from all train operators, Network Rail, National Rail Enquiries and Passenger Focus. 

The first project is "Information Zoning‟. This will see each station in England divided into four distinct “Information Zones”: (i) Welcome Zone, (ii) Ticket Zone, (iii) Train Zone and (iv) Onward Travel Zone. 

The second is to produce a consistent suite of Onward Travel Posters for display in the Onward Travel Zones. This will ensure that stations have consistent onward travel information, comprising a street map, bus info, &etc. The Onward Travel Poster project has been delivered over the last six months and is now almost complete - there are a few stations whose posters are outstanding, usually because there are major works going in the vicinity. The intention is that posters will be updated at least annually at the time of service changes. Train Operating Companies are also able to request intermediate updates during the year if required. 

An Onward Travel Poster appeared at Wool Station a few weeks ago, and a colleague in our Friends of Wool Station group alerted me to a few errors. I immediately emailed the contact address given at the foot of the poster comments@onwardtravelposters.com and the poster team kindly sent me the Wool poster as a PDF file enabling me to check it thoroughly at home. An updated poster miraculously appeared within a few days of sending in my comments. Thanks guys!
--- So the message is: check your station now and report any errors!!! ---

I think we will have to frequently. There's a scathing review of the posters in Sheffield here. None of these measures however will ever replace a genial Mr Perks.

Olympics Torch

Dear Operator

The purpose of this e-mail is to advise on Events/Traffic situations surrounding the Olympic Torch and the ParaOlympic Flame Event in Suffolk from a Passenger Transport outlook.

The Route and times of the Torch passing through Suffolk can be viewed through the following link:-

http://www.london2012.com/olympic-torch-relay-map
Please note the Torch will be in two modes.--Torch Bearer and Convoy.  Convoy is when the torch is being moved from A to B in a vehicle with outriders etc.

The Olympic Torch will first arrive in Suffolk from the Great Yarmouth direction and into Lowestoft on  the morning of Thursday 5th July 2012.

There will be events surrounding the Torch that morning in Lowestoft.

Operators can expect traffic delays and demand for Public Transport should be considerable. Commercial bus operators may need to consider capacity issues.

Beccles and Bungay will not be visited by the flame.

The Torch will then travel through Coastal Suffolk (Including Southwold, Wrentham, Saxmundham, Leiston, Aldeburgh, Woodbridge and Felixstowe). Expect Traffic Problems.

In the late afternoon and early evening the Flame will be arriving in Ipswich and will travelling by boat around Fox's Boat Yard area, the Orwell Bridge and into the Wet Dock. Ipswich evening of Thursday 5th July 2012.

Huge numbers of people are expected in Ipswich that evening and there will be major celebrations centred at the main event in Christchurch Park.

In the late afternoon early evening Public Bus services and Park and Ride are expected to be operating normally to bring people into the town. These services are of course very depleted for the evening return, unless operators react.

The flame leaves early the following morning and initially leaves Suffolk in the Colchester direction.

    

The Torch then comes back into the County mid afternoon on Saturday 7th July in Haverhill.

Late afternoon Saturday 7th July the Torch will be in Bury St Edmunds.

Much of the surrounding area will not have a Torch visit. Towns such as Diss, Brandon and Thetford will not be on the Torch route.

Commercial service bus route operators may well need to consider capacity requirements on their existing services.

District Councils are the local 'patrons' of the Olympic Flame. There may well be a Park and Ride organised for this event by St Edmundsbury District Council.

Early evening events on Saturday 7th July will be in Newmarket, where a carnival will also be taking place.  

Paralympics Torch event Evening of Friday 24th August -Needham Market.

The Suffolk Para Olympic Torch event will be at just one location -Needham Market lake.

This will be the major Suffolk event held at this location. There may well be a number of visitors with mobility difficulties. Public Buses do not operate in the area in the evenings; access and practicality of the rail service to and from Needham Market is very limited. At times Needham Market High Street will be closed as will Coddenham Road (Railway Bridge) and other roads.

Suffolk County Council and Suffolkonboard.com web sites are likely to be providing and collating information relative to transport etc. 

Operators are alerted to these events:-

• To be aware of potential traffic issues.
• To be aware of Public Transport issues.
• Schools may wish to hire vehicles to visit locations, in the North of the County.
• Demand to hire vehicles which provide wheelchair facilities may be particular great on Friday 24th August as well as the other events.

I hope this is helpful.

David Gibbs and Andrew Gee.

Senior Network Planners -Suffolk County Council. 

Halesworth Hoppa Postcards

A set of postcards with a common back had been produced for HACT by Mustard Creative. These will be distributed by volunteers whenever there is the opportunity, such as from the bus and at community events and by volunteers doing letter drops in their neigbourhood. It is hoped they will be retained by potential passengers and volunteers as a reminder on fridges and pinboards and picked up by the casual browser from information carousels.

Mike Penning reply to D1 issue

After much toing and froing I have had a response from a minister to my letters on the D1 issue asking for something to be done to ensure community transport operators can continue to recruit volunteer drivers for the size of vehicles that can be sustainably put into rural service without the cost burden of over £1000 per volunteer for the PSV license. I suggested that the weight limit be raised for vehicles to allow volunteer drivers licensed after 1997 to drive and this concession would be solely for non-profit transport operators and volunteer drivers.

His reply basically says: "them's the rules" and it would be unfair to give the PSV license free for volunteer drivers as commercial bus operators would claim they are discriminated against.

I fear he has not grasped the precarious state of rural community transport, he certainly hasn't acknowledged or disputed my thesis that there is a time-bomb of a shortage of volunteer drivers nor has he offered any other solutions to those I suggested.

My MP Therese Coffey has indicated she thinks support for the cost of the PSV license might be the way forward and I shall pursue this but, as I explained in my briefing, to the various minister and the CTA, this has its downsides as well.

MiDAS Driver Observer/Assessor/Trainer Wanted

Halesworth Area Community Transport are seeking a second trainer for their driver and 'bus buddy' volunteers which
operate the scheduled 'Halesworth Hoppa' services.

Do you have experience in driver training, perhaps in a uniformed service? This is not essential but you should be familiar with operating vehicles exceeding 4250 Kg MAM.

Do you have a comprehensive knowledge of the Highway Code and are willing to learn advanced driving skills to become a MiDAS instructor?

Can you encourage and inspire volunteers with your patient teaching and effective communication skills?
HACT can offer you a rewarding role in helping to provide essential transport for many thousands of people by volunteering for just a few hours a month. Ideally it would suit you in weekdays but weekends or evenings are alright too.


You must have held a full licence  for two years for cars and mpv's plus be over 21 (plus D1 or PSV entitlement) for minibuses.


You will need to successfuly attend a MiDAS Driver Assessor/Trainer course which is six days over two weeks and involves classroom work, preparation and delivery of a short presentation, safety and handling practicals and of course driving culminating in providing an observed drive of a satisfactory standard. Expenses would be reimbursed.


A MiDAS Driver Assessor/Trainer will need to be able able to confidently and consistently demonstrate a high standard of driving combined with excellent communication skills to prospective drivers and current volunteers who require periodic re-testing. They will need to coach the MiDAS model in a class room type setting and demonstrate on the road so as to obtain the best from a wide cross section of ages and abilities.


Non-profit HACT has provided Halesworth with scheduled local bus services for nearly twenty years because commercial operators can‟t. The whole community depends on public transport being available for everyone.


HACT's volunteers are serious about giving a reliable service but they want to make it fun too. They are looking for that quality in you as well.


Call HACT on 01986 875900 between 9:00 and 12:00 for an informal chat to find out more. At other times leave a message and someone will call you back soon as they can.


Halesworth Area Community Transport, The Railway Station, Station Road, Halesworth, Suffolk IP19 8BZ www.hactbus.co.uk