Going All The Way?
The footpath and cycleway that supplants the railway branch to Gosport continues from the new busway end point on Rowner Road to Fort Brockhurst, where the station building still stands ...
The path has taken a tiny diversion along Station Road, parallel to the platforms but quickly joins the old formation. Next comes a "level" crossing with Cambridge Road ...
... so plenty of room there.
At some stage in history (1930s ?) the railway's level crossing on Ann's Hill Road has been replaced by a splendid bridge ...
... thus speeding Eclipse across a sometimes busy road. Looking good, eh? Next we crtoss Lees Lane on the level ...
It looks, then, that a visionary and reasonably wealthy set of "stakeholders" could extend the busway as far as Lees Lane, ...
... where Eclipse high-spec buses would need to wiggle north to join the A32 for the last bit of ordinary road round to the bus station (left on the picture below).
Will it ever happen? The "Rapid Transit" plans suggest yes - but without a timescale and with an appeal for money from HMG (i.e. from you and me!).
The diagram above shows the Eclipse as leaving the extended bus way at Lees Lane, but travelling south to reach the bus station via Bury Road and Stoke Road etc,
The bus station and ferry to Portsmouth are just off the map, lower right.
Will it ever happen? fbb suspects not in his lifetime.
But, before we leave the Eclipse ...
... We need to meet Toto ...
... coming to the busway - and scheduled for TODAY!
"Tap here & there" becomes to-to - which translates into Tap On and Tap Off. This is First Bus' first attempt at using electronic cards for graduated fares as opposed to a flat fare where only a 'tap on" is needed.
This facility is ONLY available on Eclipse as shown by the fares example below.
Ominously, the offer is "for a limited time only" but with no dates given.
The publicity also shows a fare table ...
... which is utter nonsense! It has been clearly designed by someone who hasn't a clue how a fare table works. The names are all in the wrong places so a fare from Fareham to Bridgemary might be £2 OR £3.50 depending on how you read the table.
A well designed fare table only needs names on the diagonal.
fbb gathers that the "political" aspiration is to extend the scheme to the whole of the Portsmouth and Fareham area - this is just a "toe in the water".
Mysteriously, the scheme starts today (Wednesday) rather than, say, a quieter Sunday. fbb did ask a local contact (NOT from First!) why there was a mid week send off for Dorothy's doggie.
The reply was amusing but probably not official.
Hmmm!
And one other thought. Apart from the problem of forgetting to "tap off", won't the gangway be blocked with off-tappers, such that boarding is going to be even slower? Surely Toto needs centre doors?
Is there a non-electric return fare from Gosport to Fareham - and if so, how much?
Tomorrow we will be paying a visit to North Wales.
Next Railway Preservation blog : Thursday 4th March
trentbarton customers have been tapping on and off with Mango for years, since 2007 if my memory serves me right. And I don't recall a single two-door bus in that time.
ReplyDeleteThere were initial problems with alighting passengers stopping abruptly when they remembered that they had to tap off, but regular users (who are in the majority) soon got used to the arrangement. And any delays on alighting are made up by speed of boarding as you only need to tap on - no tickets are issued.
The same for Brighton & Hove and Metrobus, no hold-ups in the aisles that I've witnessed. Bear in mind that only some passengers need to tap off, many have other passes which do not require tapping off.
DeleteYes, our local buses use Ticketer machines and they take a certain time to register passes, and even longer to process debit card payments. Nothing like as quick as Oysters.
ReplyDelete