Long-tern readers will remember the gestation and subsequent opening of the North Gate bus station, situated nowhere near the town's historic North Gate, but built on the site of the former Fishmarket ...
... occasionally visited by your author in his childhood. In nostalgic mood, fbb would have preferred the bus station to be named "Fishmarket"! This too-small interchange began its life by causing huge traffic gridlock throughout the town centre.
Even today, with a few more services banished to The Drapery, it doesn't take much to mess things up. A few days ago Northampton correspondent Alan was passing through when the logged the following:-
And elsewhere in the town, road works are having their inevitable deleterious effect on reliability.
One notice was duly noticed by Alan.
Passing over the contents of this "affiche" for a moment, fbb will have a bit of a "puce and blotchy" moment over its literary style. When in class 3A(L) at Northampton Grammar School, the young and pre-f fbb remembers an exercise in an English lesson, the aim of which was to simplify instructions for a fire extinguisher.
fbb remembers "strike knob on a hard surface" to which teacher proffered a weak rejoinder delivered with a weak smile, "Would you strike it on a soft fluffy cushion"? etc. etc. (pause for polite but unenthusiastic titter from class)
So, do we need to be told that it is a "customer notice"? Might we think it was a plate of mulligatawny soup? Or a valuable painting by Peter Paul Reubens?
"We would like to inform ...?" OK, get on and inform!
"With immediate effect"? What's wrong with "is closed ..."?
"We apologise ..." Quite simply, YOU DON'T. If you were really sorry, you wouldn't close it, would you?
But the implications are very inconvenient. Alan again ...
Coach services
National Express and other coach services depart from Victoria Street (please check with your operator to confirm) which is located directly beside Upper Mounts car park, NN1 3EL.
The so-called "Travel Centre" is clearly visible as you walk through the bus station from the northern entrance/exit.
Isn't it?
Isn't it?
Aha! There it is, resplendent indeed, and attractive to the enquiring passenger (except on Sundays, of course). Yes, it's that tiny window skulking in the gloom and saying, "don't bother us".
Also in the upper picture, you can see the "convenience store".
It was here that Stagecoach wanted a proper travel shop, much like the excellent facility in the reviled and now-demolished Greyfriars.
But no; in its oft-quoted desire to encourage improvement in public transport and to reduce car usage and their consequent pollution, the Councillors were far more interested in grasping the rental income rather than encouraging good service from bus operators.
And they wonder why bus passenger numbers are in decline!
And in a few months? Closure on Saturdays with all leaflets safely under lock and key? Thoroughly possible.
Hey ho - get the car/bike/pony and trap out.
And, Talking of DaFT ...
It is fairly general knowledge that the Department For Transport does not like Brian Souter OR Richard Branson; but railway managers, railway observers and anyone with even a small interest in train travel have all been shocked by the recent announcement.
Because Stagecoach is in partnership with Virgin in the West Coast bid ...
... and he goes on to explain.
Explain?
fbb has tried to understand. Bidding companies were "required" to take full responsibility for an unpredictable bag of pennies to pay peoples' pensions and thus relive Government of any "historic" responsibility as former railway supremos. This would be OK if you were running a "proper" company and in it for the long term, but with rail franchising you are not guaranteed to win the train set next time.
fbb has tried to understand. Bidding companies were "required" to take full responsibility for an unpredictable bag of pennies to pay peoples' pensions and thus relive Government of any "historic" responsibility as former railway supremos. This would be OK if you were running a "proper" company and in it for the long term, but with rail franchising you are not guaranteed to win the train set next time.
So Virgin/Stagecoach submitted an arguably non-compliant bid, hedging their pension bets.
So the ever-helpful folk at DaFT have ejected them unceremoniously. Whilst Richard B has had a say, Uncle Brian has been surprisingly quiet, leaving the protestations to his Chief Executive.
But this picture was taken by a paparazzo in a piece of frosty parkland just round the corner from DaFT's offices.
Be afraid, Mr Grayling, be very afraid!
One immediate announcement was of the loss of the East Midlands Trains franchise, as not very well reported in the Newark Local press.
One immediate announcement was of the loss of the East Midlands Trains franchise, as not very well reported in the Newark Local press.
No quite - the changeover is in August!
And there is more DaFtness. Abellio (Dutch State Railways) currently runs the Scotrail franchise and seems to be making a mess of it.
There have been heated debates in the Scottish Parliament ...
... with some politicians getting ready to dump the company.
And, in response to these problems, even before Abellio have delivered on their "it will all be better in a few weeks/months/years" promises, they have won the East Midlands franchise.
DaFT indeed?
Next newsworthy natter : Saturday 13th April
Re Northampton: aplogising sounds rather unpleasant!
ReplyDeleteAre you going to remove the homophobic comments or do you only do that when the holes in your arguments are pointed out?
ReplyDeleteNorthampton was relatively unusual in having an enquiry facility open on a Sunday. However, the leaflets are most certainly not "under lock and key" as the rack is outside and accessible at all times. It's just about visible in the picture, to the right of the window and partially hidden by the pillar. (Whether it will still have any leaflets by Sunday evening is another matter).
ReplyDeleteIts a rare to find an enquiry office in many bus stations these days. More so open at weekends, much less on a Sunday.
ReplyDeleteThe golden days one remembers were a different era when many bus company's did more than just operate the local bus routes. They also operated coach services, tours and excursions and a number had flourishing parcels services for which a collection and drop off point were essential. It all added income into the pot which in those days justified the provision of such a service/facility. Much of that income has gone.
In the initial years after deregulation many local authorities produced timetables and most towns had tourist information centres and/or libraries that often became the 'bus enquiry office'. Many of those places are or have closed.
Visitors can provide a valued income in busy tourist areas but I wonder how much new revenue they actually bring to an average town like Northampton?
Is it enough to justify the staff costs and rent of an enquiry office?
It would be nice if the local councils could help subsidise the cost of such a facility. But won't they then receive similar requests to help deserving community groups, charities etc in the same way. Ideally they should but with so many council funded services being cut back or withdrawn I don't see its a realistic expectation.
If having an enquiry open requires employing extra staff they are not cheap.