A Local Look at Littlehampton (1)

No Change : significant Change?

It all looks very basic and very simple. The 500 (RED) peeks in from Chichester as does the 700 (BLUE). Once upon a time, the route to Arundel, 9 (YELLOW), was a spur on the 700; ... 

... it provided two buses an hour ...

... all the way to Brighton.

It's replacement 9 runs hourly (and slowly) as far as Shoreham.

This route does not change with the April 6th tinkering.

Readers may be forgiven for thinking that the 700 (BLUE) was a continuous route across Littlehampton. But we know better?

A half hourly 700 from Chichester terminates at Littlehampton whilst a 12 minute 700 runs from Wick via Littlehampton and Worthing all the way to Brighton.

Now look at the forthcoming network.

Just to confuse us, the unchanged 9 is now BROWN, the 701 is GREEN and a brand new 11 is ORANGE. It looks as if the 11 is an additional service for the well-blessed Littlehamptonians.

But move to the east and compare current ...

... with the new.

The 701 no longer wiggles like its 700 predecessor; the wiggles are now served by the new 11. The 700 was every 12, the new 701 will be every 15. The 11 adds a further half hour frequency for eastbound passengers.

The 700 runs direct along the A259.

Stagecoach advises that the changed 701 is diverted away from several level crossings which will improve its reliability.

Locals are annoyed by the length of time barriers are down, with queues building until, eventually, a train trundles past. Here is a letter to Notwork Rail.

1. Please can you explain why it is necessary for the barriers at the Roundstone level crossing (Worthing Road, East Preston, West Sussex) and Angmering level crossing (Station Road, Angmering, West Sussex) to be down for so long when there is a train passing through (or stopping at) Angmering station?

2. Please also cite the regulations involved in determining the timing of the barriers being down, and how you have applied these requirements to determine the current duration used during train movement through the crossings.

3. Has this duration increased greatly since all the crossings in the area were converted to remote CCTV monitored crossings?

4. The barriers are regularly down for over 5 minutes and cause frequent road traffic issues. There are often occasions where the barriers are down for even greater periods and to the layperson it seems incredibly unnecessary. Do you have any safety studies which have shown that this inconvenience is necessary? If so please show the "before and after" statistics demonstrating the improved safety achieved by the long delay incurred by road and foot traffic.

The reply was technical and kept on about safety (as you would expect) but the problem is caused by the combination of station dwell times and the necessary interlocking to release the barriers. It can be speeded up without compromising safety but "rules is rules", says Notwork Rail.

Tough cheese for the users of the new 11 who will enjoy the level crossings instead of getting delayed on the old 700.

Later this month we will explore the more widespread Worthing changes.

STOP PRESS

News broke in the Derbyshre Times yesterday that changes were being made to some bus services.

Four bus services, currently run on behalf of Derbyshire County Council, are to go out to tender to find a new operator.

They are:

·63 - Matlock, Clay Cross, Chesterfield.

·110/111 - Matlock, Wirksworth, Ashbourne

·172 - Matlock, Winster, Bakewell

·173/178 - Bakewell, Shutts Lane, Tideswell, Castleton

All four services are part of the ‘supported bus network’ which means they are paid for by Derbyshire County Council. The bus network in the county is made up of a mix of these supported services and then mainly commercial services which are run privately by operators.

The council has today, Thursday 13 March, put all four services out to tender so that other bus operators can put bids in to run them.

The decision has been taken after a long period of reliability and service issues from the current operator.

The current operator is Hulleys, and we know that this company is in big trouble as previously reported in these blogs.

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Today, the fbbs are travelling with Lochs and Glens holidays to the Ardgarted Hotel near Loch Lomond. Departure fom The Underfleet was due ar 0615 this morning. Holid ay reports will be added to the pre-posted blogs as appropriate. Neighbour and dog will maintain security at fbb mansions and be on hand0 to deal with callers.

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 Next Holiday mini-blog : Sat 15 Mar