Wednesday 29 June 2016

An Academic Problem (3) ...

Superior Shelters Sadly Sacrificed
To save our hard-pressed readers the effort of clicking back to yesterday's blog, fbb republishes the two maps of the route changed for TO city buses in the environs of Sheffield University. Here is how it was until June 13th:-
And here is how it is now.
Whilst the map might suggest that the diversion is straightforward, in practice it was not. The right hand turn from Western Bank into Clarkson Street ...
... has been proscribed for many, many years.

Aside : it is weird that the change of one letter from prOscribed meaning "forbidden" to prEscribed meaning "authorised" should be yet another feature of the daftness that is the English language.

A new chunk of bus lane and re-jiggled traffic lights enables buses (ONLY) to turn right.
The building on the right is the celebrated Sheffield Childrens' Hospital which saved the life of the fbb's No 3 baby and has powerful emotional bonds for the old man and his Mrs. Its "to city" bus stop was just out of shot left.
But it isn't any more.
Getting from stop to bus lane would have been tricky, so the stop has been moved back up Western Bank ...
... but not so the shelter. But at least it has a bus stop sign.

The sign on the now-closed shelter is a joy and a delight.
The quality of the presentation is astounding. The very small arrow next to the "p" of "bus stop" points in the wrong direction.

Here is one of the first buses to make that right hand turn.
The single deck 52 is followed by a service 51, the vehicle being one of two painted in heritage liveries three years ago for the centenary of the Lodge Moor service.

Things are less dandy on Durham Road. Here a Stagecoach 52 enjoys the new Durham Road Stop ...
... with plenty of yellow paint on the road ...
... and a shiny no stopping sign.
Is there a bus stop flag?

No!

Is there a pole on which to hang a flag?

No!

Is there a bus timetable?

A what? We don't do timetables at stops in Sheffield.

Is there a bus shelter?

What a silly idea.

Here are the facilities on Western Bank that the Durham Road stop replaces.
And to complete the richness of the new bus facility, the on-liner route map ...
... and list of a stopping places ...

Crookes  Crookes Road  Broomhill  Whitham Road  Western Bank  Sheffield  Gell Street  Glossop Road  West Street 

... have not been updated. Likewise the journey planner remains in its pre 13th June timewarp.

The provisional GoTimetable Sheffield App was, of course updated promptly. The whole update process for the University timetable changes was completed in less than one hour.
And that included all the maps.
Of course the team of which fbb is a member does not have access to sophisticated mapping software; fbb just draws them.

How Quaint!

And a P.S. Yesterday, a comment writer upbraided fbb for daring to criticise the PTE who were unable to update stuff until 17th July because the service changes had not been registered. From the same date a new 52 timetable has now appeared. The magenta line on the map is now correct ...
... but there is no stop shown on Durham Road (with city centre facing arrow). The list of stopping places is still wrong.
And the Traveline journey planner?
Still wrong.

QED

Tomorrow we remain in Sheffield and go on a search for a secret bus service.

 Next Sheffield PTE blog : Thursday 30th June 

4 comments:

  1. I don't think that's an arrow on the notice - just the middle part of the "p" which is otherwise concealed behind the 45 degree fold running across the top corner.

    And perhaps the fenced-off shelter is going to be moved to the new location, BUT as it has an electricity supply, the PTE will be in the hands of whoever is the successor to YEB, to get it disconnected. And they will probably be waiting even longer to be connected in the new location (I write from bitter experience of up to three months - and in one extreme case, nearer six - for our local utility company to get its act together to carry out these simple tasks).

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  2. Genuine question - what motivates you to write this stuff?

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  3. Thanks M of K. A Shelter move is even more unlikely. The present shelter is built in to a nibble in the wall of Weston Park. To move the existing shelter would involve building a new nibble and replacing the fence atop the wall.
    As the PTE "has no budget for shelters" ...

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    Replies
    1. I don't think there is a arrow on the poster.

      I suspect the new shelter will be a simple back and roof shelter only due to space constraints unless someone else will pay for the wall to be altered.

      fbb may remember that the original shelter was a very large wooden affair with benches

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