This is SCAT ...
... otherwise known as Somerset College of Arts and Technology, located near the centre of Taunton. It was where fbb went to attend the TravelWatch SouthWest knees-up on Saturday March 7th, last. Coffee was at 1030 and fbb arrived at 1020, time enough to explore its public transport facilities.
These looked jolly good, with two shiny shelters with adequate timetable frames and bus stop flags. All in a college layby off the main A38, Wellington Road.
The ocularly well-blessed can spot a couple of buses doing their stuff bottom centre in the pic above. And here are the posh stops.
The nearest one to the camera has flags for ...
... Stagecoach and First Bus. Next along we have a solitary flag for ...
... First Bus again. Next, fbb checked the timetable frames. On stop number one ...
... an untidy collection of timetables for Stagecoach (service 96 to Chard and Yeovil) and, First as advertised on the flag? Of course not, they were for Webberbus! Indeed, despite the college's being closed on a Saturday, Webberbus whizzed in and out (to no avail) and were snapped by fbb: apparently turning in whilst travelling in both directions as below
But stop two had First timetables in the frame ...
... so, after a cursory check, fbb steadied himself to photgraph a service 22, incidentally operated by a park and ride bus, at 1025.
But it whizzed by on the main road! Quelle horreur? But why?
This time, fbb looked closely at the timetable frame.
First Bus buses can't be bothered to use he excellent college layby and stops; they call at the Cemetery; dead obvious isn't it! (Groan). And there she be, about 100 yards down the road and next to the remnants of peoples' remnants marked by a smattering of gravestones. (And once, possibly, a smattering of scattering!)
You can see the college buildings in the distance beyond the trees. And here is the bus stop flag ...
... with no route numbers, just a meaningless and out-of-date "Zone 1".
And doesn't fbb remember, over a year ago, that First Bus started rebranding in Taunton as Buses of Somerset; or is it Buses of Taunton? No sign of the new management style at SCAT - very old, unhelpful, First Bus.
And doesn't fbb remember, over a year ago, that First Bus started rebranding in Taunton as Buses of Somerset; or is it Buses of Taunton? No sign of the new management style at SCAT - very old, unhelpful, First Bus.
Never mind eh? It all takes time. And commitment. And effort. There's plenty of the first and very little of the latter at SCAT. Whoops, sorry; there are departure lists in the frame for buses towards Taunton and, at the Cemetery stop, they are labelled ...
... Somerset College. No surprise there, then.
No doubt an anonymous from First will explain about traffic congestion, fuel costs, scheduling problems, union agreements, safety at the exit, global warming, the price of oil and problems with sub atomic particles and quantum foam, BUT ...
It just isn't good enough. Bus services should be the very best they can be. College students are the bus passengers of the future; they need to be wooed with quality not warned off by incompetence. ALL buses should serve SCAT properly, not scattily.
How ironic that this should be the public face of public transport outside SCAT whilst speakers at TravelWatch Southwest's shindig were telling us all how well they were doing.
No doubt an anonymous from First will explain about traffic congestion, fuel costs, scheduling problems, union agreements, safety at the exit, global warming, the price of oil and problems with sub atomic particles and quantum foam, BUT ...
It just isn't good enough. Bus services should be the very best they can be. College students are the bus passengers of the future; they need to be wooed with quality not warned off by incompetence. ALL buses should serve SCAT properly, not scattily.
How ironic that this should be the public face of public transport outside SCAT whilst speakers at TravelWatch Southwest's shindig were telling us all how well they were doing.
fbb went by car because of time constraints (slacker!) but did, at least, use Taunton's Park and Ride. But that is tomorrow's story!
Next bus blog : Friday 20th March
As a local passenger, I can tell you that you have already basically answered your own question.
ReplyDelete"Webberbus whizzed in and out (to no avail)"
As a college principally for 17 and 18 year olds (plus some adults), most of the demand is at the beginning and end of the day. During the day there is little demand. Also note the picture of the two Webberbus vehicles; they are waiting at traffic lights to get out, which equals extra delay. The stop is also on the inbound side of the main road, with most buses only going to the bus station or parade. Students won't pay for something that is an easy walk.
During the day the stop is used for Stagecoach 99 and Webberbus 38 as their terminus and looped into from the hospital by Webberbus 15 and 18, but not 12. Morning and evening it is busy with College special routes and extensions.
The additional journey time even inbound is simply not worth it for the number of passengers who are basically all able bodied. Out bound, looping in and out would be so slow due to the delay caused by traffic lights both in and out of the forecourt. Thankfully the 22 goes straight past, which is what the majority want and the students walk up the road. Bridgwater college is the same.
***People's
ReplyDelete"College students are the bus passengers of the future; they need to be wooed with quality not warned off by incompetence."
ReplyDeleteWell said, fbb. Just because the captive passenger of today puts up with a haphazard service doesn't mean that they will tomorrow when they have a choice.