The "improvements" at St James The Square in Northampton are coming at a high price. The main bus stop for journeys to the Town Centre has been closed and passengers have to stroll towards town to a temporary stop opposite the former Corporation and First Bus depot. The former shelter is closed ...
... and no replacement is planned as far as we can tell.
But folk travelling to town get off lightly compared with those seek to make their way to Dallington, Kings Heath Rye Hill and Rugby.
Because UNTIL THE END OF MARCH the right hand turn from Weedon Road into Harlestone Road is closed.
Routes potentially affected are 3, 6, 8, 12, 63 and 96. The Northampton Highways web site outlines the plans and refers enquirers to bus company web sites.
You might have thought that, for a big and disruptive project like this, the Highways people could have managed some co-ordination? Despite this, fbb bravely investigates.
Country Lion Service 6
No Information.
Uno 19/19A
These run in a loop via Spencer Bridge Road and St James Road to the station, returning via the Town Centre, Buses in that direction are unimpeded so no need to involve them other than to confirm that they will be OK, perhaps?
Centrebus 63
This is a state secret but Centrebus do not mention a diversion. It probably doesn't matter because anybody travelling from Northampton will have, most likely, travelled into town earlier. But, again, consistent information appears to be lacking.
Stagecoach 3, 8, 12 & 96
Service 12 used yo be every 15 minutes to Kings Heath ...
... but in the last re-jiggle half became 8s. Nevertheless a fairly busy route.
The 3 runs roughly every hour to Rye Hill etc with the 96 continuing also hourly to Rugby. So we would expect Stagecoach to be very clear on what is happening. Here is the "service updates" panel on the home page.
Hey, ho; we have to "view all service updates" as, presumably, a (not quite) three month old piece of timetable news is far more important than a major transport disruption at St James.
But, hooray, there is stuff there. Here it is in all its glory.
Due to roadworks the right turn from St James’ Road to Harlestone Road is closed from 9th January - End of March
Routes 8 & 12
Buses are unable to serve Mare Fair, the railway station, or St James’ Road
Buses will divert St Andrew Street - Spencer Bridge Road - right into Harlestone Road - Right into Vicarage Road to resume normal route.
Buses towards Kings Heath are advised to use the stop on Spencer Bridge Road at the bottom of Newcombe Road
Buses towards Northampton town will use normal route, however buses are unable to use stops in St James’ outside NatWest Bank. Passengers should use the temporary stop outside Farm foods
Route 3 & 96
Buses are unable to serve Mare Fair, the railway station, or St James’ Road
Buses will divert St Andrew Street - Spencer Bridge Road. Buses will turn right into Harleston Road to resume normal route.
Buses towards Harlestone Manor/Rugby are advised to use the stop on Spencer Bridge Road at the bottom of Newcombe Road or the stop on Harlestone Road opposite Vicarage Road
Buses towards Northampton town will use normal route, however buses are unable to use stops in St James’ outside NatWest Bank. Passengers should use the temporary stop outside Farm foods
We are sorry for any inconvenience caused.
fbb will look at this in more detail at the beginning of next week.
Largely irrelevant snipped. Back in the dim and distant days of fbb's youth Midland Red ran from Northampton to Rugby and beyond to Shrewsbury.
It is good to see Stagecoach preserving the memory although the current 96 is far from "X"! (click on the map below for an enlargement. Northampton is off the map, bottom right))
Next catch-up blog - Saturday 14th January
The St. James Residents Association comments that “ it became apparent that many residents and even the bus company were not fully aware of the road closures.”
ReplyDeleteNote ”the bus company” If you include National Express seven different operators run services in Northampton. Northamtptonshire Highways did not even explain it properly to Stagecoach Midlands, no wonder UNO, Centrebus and Country Lion had no information.
Uno have still run to the rail station via st James but uncertain how it gets round to town centre in its present condition!
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