When fbb was viewing the street adjacent to the "rhône express" depot, he was confused.
On the right, out of shot, was the depot, straight ahead was the "main line" running off right to the airport and TGV station but there was another set of track on the left. Looking from the depot gates there was a Lyon tram (of bulbous front end fame) parked in a field.
It turned out that this was a station called Meyzieu Les Panettes ...
.... served on Mondays to Fridays only.
Station à 2 voies à quais située immédiatement au sud du centre de maintenance de Rhônexpress. Elle a été mise en service le 10 juin 2014. Cette station ne dessert en temps normal qu’un parking-relais de 500 places. Elle a en fait été créée uniquement pour desservir un parking délocalisé du stade de Décines d’une capacité de 4 500 places.
On Mondays to Fridays it is a Park and Ride stop with additional use for events at the "Stade Olympique" when a total of 4,500 places are available.
Yes, we get the point. But where is the stadium?
Answer, take the tram back towards Lyon from Meyzieu and you will spot the stadium and the junctions to a special tram station opened for events only.
Although there is a single crosssover connecting them, the trams usually run two separate and independent services in addition to the "normal" schedule. There are shuttles from Lyon (left) and from the aforementioned park and ride at Meyzieu (right).
And they are well used.
Here is a view of the double station under construction ...
... looking from the north back towards the stadium.
Impressive in the extreme.
And one last delight from T3 which takes us back to the Zone Industriel tram station. There is a connecting bus linking the tram with some of the main Industrial sites.
"Zi" is a sort of brand, used for a whole collection of similar services to "Zones Industriels" throughout Lyon.
There is only the Zi2 at Meyzieu.
Buses run a figure-of-eight loop with the tram station at the intersection.
the timetable offers journeys at morning and evening peaks plus lunchtimes as follows.
Again, very impressive.
Once again we recognise that all this transport joy comes at a price. The fares are cheap (except on the "rhône express" to the airport!!) and the service is good because it is a highly subsidised system set up under a political will to make public transport part of a holistic environmental and social philosophy. But, of course, taxation is high!
Yet again, "you pays your money and you makes your choice."
To add to the problem, another Sheffield researcher (John), who keeps an eye on leaflets (or lack of them) in the two Sheffield enquiry offices (where you are advised not to enquire!), reports that no route 65 leaflets were available earlier this week,
This follows the pattern, now well established, that if leaflets are ever produced they we only ever be obtainable AFTER the service has changed.
The leaflet can be accessed via the T M Travel ...
... and High Peak web sites.
On Mondays to Fridays it is a Park and Ride stop with additional use for events at the "Stade Olympique" when a total of 4,500 places are available.
Answer, take the tram back towards Lyon from Meyzieu and you will spot the stadium and the junctions to a special tram station opened for events only.
And they are well used.
Impressive in the extreme.
And one last delight from T3 which takes us back to the Zone Industriel tram station. There is a connecting bus linking the tram with some of the main Industrial sites.
Once again we recognise that all this transport joy comes at a price. The fares are cheap (except on the "rhône express" to the airport!!) and the service is good because it is a highly subsidised system set up under a political will to make public transport part of a holistic environmental and social philosophy. But, of course, taxation is high!
Yet again, "you pays your money and you makes your choice."
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Botheration on the Buxton Bus
It could be that fbb was "a bit previous" in extolling the virtues of the "excellent" leaflet jointly produced by High Peak and T M Travel for joint operation on service 85, Sheffield to Buxton (read again).
Sheffield correspondent Roy reports that passengers have been complaining that "there has been no publicity" and it is alleged that folk have been letting the High Peak bus pass by whilst expecting a T M Travel vehicle. High Peak have taken over two return trips between Buxton and Sheffield.
This follows the pattern, now well established, that if leaflets are ever produced they we only ever be obtainable AFTER the service has changed.
The leaflet can be accessed via the T M Travel ...
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Next "Sorry Tale" blog : Friday 31st March
When I lived in Lisbon, Portugal, many moons ago, the “Estadio National” benefitted not only from a dedicated spur from tram route 15 but also a short branch line off the Cais de Sodre – Cascais rail line (although I never saw the latter in use). However these were not P&R services. Nowadays tram route 15 has been cut back, the branch railway closed and the stadium demolished – though public transport in the city is generally good.
ReplyDeleteOf course Wembley Stadium in London used to have its own dedicated loop off the line from Marylebone, with a shuttle service about every 10 minutes on match days. This had the great advantage that the trains only needed to run round at the Marylebone end. I believe it was put in for the Empire Exhibition in 1924 (or thereabouts) and last used for the 1966 World Cup.
The 65 timetables were delivered on Wednesday & rushed out to the depot immediately that day. As I said previously, the short notice of the final award for the council supported section of the service operated by TM delayed timetable preparation and meant that we were not able to meet the start date timeline that we would have wanted to (the leaflet in question was designed & printed in less than a month and that included negotiating the relationship, agreeing fares, cost apportionment and style guidelines for the joint publicity).
ReplyDeleteI can't speak for other operators but we normally do get our publicity out before the start date, generally speaking where we miss it you will find it is a short notice change by a council that has delayed matters, I can't remember the last time we had a council tender awarded before the 56-day deadline for registration and we serve over a dozen councils spread across the country. The annoying thing is that councils repeatedly get away with it when if an operator tried to get such significant changes through to commercial services under short-notice it would not only be refused but the operator would be spoken to by a the TC about what they think they are doing.