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Davy51

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Nice to see mentioned on the front page of Warrington Worldwide that there are plans in place & funding on it's way to provide public transport between residential & business areas of North Warrington. Last year ,before my son was mobile ,it was taking him nearly 3 hours a day to travel about 5 miles as the crow flies via public transport.

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Nice to see mentioned on the front page of Warrington Worldwide that there are plans in place & funding on it's way to provide public transport between residential & business areas of North Warrington. Last year ,before my son was mobile ,it was taking him nearly 3 hours a day to travel about 5 miles as the crow flies via public transport.

 

 

3 hours to go five miles - I used to have a car like that - fine example of british workmanship :)

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New or improved bus services take a while before passenger numbers increase to a sustainable commercial level, thus any funding received to cover operating costs will only be for the first couple of years, tapering off as patronage grows. DfT used to have a dedicated fund for this - "Kickstart" - that Warrington failed to gain any funding from, so it's good to see successful bidding this time round.

 

Details of the bid here. As well as the Birchwood-Westbrook bus service, there's also improved cycle links, work on several junctions to improve priority for public transport, better cycle facilities at stations and several travel plan things as well.

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well clicked on the link and it gives

 

 

Not Found

The requested URL /home/transport_planning_and_environment/travel_transport/local_sustainable_transport_fund/ was not found on this server.

 

Apache/2 Server at warrington.gov.uk Port 80

 

maybe we got turned down.<_<

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Again devil is in the detail. New Bus Service = Extending No 17 service which already exists.

 

Again why was this offered only to WBT. Why not Arriva or StageCoach. Might create a bit of competition rather than the current cartel.

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....and if there's the potential for the route to attract enough fare-paying passengers to be profitable in the long run, then Arriva or Stagecoach should be willing to stump up the set up costs and take the losses while it built up the business.

 

No need for taxpayers to be expected to stick their hands in their pockets yet again.

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* It's a £113 million fund nationally, with funding from other partners (including the bus company), so for the purposes of this bid you need to know what the costs will be beforehand rather than leaving it to competitive tendering afterwards

 

* Service 17 currently requires two buses, the new service will require six buses, so the operating costs will increase by 200%, hence a funding gap in the short-term - after three years it should be covering its costs

 

* Arriva closed their Warrington depot in 2002, Stagecoach's nearest depots are in Northenden/Kirkby, so any bid by them would be more expensive as they'd have to either set up a new depot (with all the associated overheads) or travel in remotely every day with the resultant fuel costs and supervisory issues

 

* Competition is great on paper, but not so great in reality (see 1995 or any of the recent spats in Manchester) - personally I would rather have the benefits of tickets that you can use on any service, which is more difficult to achieve when there are competing operators

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The fund also provides for better walking and cycle facilities, as well as 20mph speed limits on residential roads. It makes real sense to make such public investments to enable more people to use public transport and active travel rather than forcing them to invest personally in private motor transport.

 

Cities and towns with good public transport and walking and cycling environments are more vibrsnt and provide for better communities.

 

Well done WBC, WBT and DfT for this initiative.

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Rod if public transport was cheaper to use than my car or motorbike then i would use it but it isn't even when you include the cost of my tax and insurance plus fuel cost. Add to that the fact that i would have to carry a weeks shopping at least 200 feet from my nearest bus stop as opposed to a few feet from my car.

 

were i to shop at say tesco then that would mean me getting at least two buses as there is no direct route from where i live and the travel time would be something like twenty minutes if the two buses just happened to coincide at the bus station.

the same shop by car takes about ten minutes of journey.

 

maybe if we could persuade all the cyclists that we have set up cycle lanes for to actually use them and abide by the rules of the road then just maybe people would be more sympathetic.

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Woops, I think I must have used the word cycle!

 

No one is asking you to cycle. Keep using your car and shopping at Tesco if that's your thing.

 

All road users should abide by the rules of the road. But there is no rule mandating cyclists only use cycleways, as there is no rule mandating motorists only use motoways.

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The fund also provides for better walking and cycle facilities, as well as 20mph speed limits on residential roads. It makes real sense to make such public investments to enable more people to use public transport and active travel rather than forcing them to invest personally in private motor transport.

 

Cities and towns with good public transport and walking and cycling environments are more vibrsnt and provide for better communities.

 

Well done WBC, WBT and DfT for this initiative.

 

 

Is that why they approved the 20mph rollout Rod ? Did the funding bid fare better in their favour because they had aleady approved their intentions for a blanket 20mph rollout ?

 

If they had not approved it or had deferred the decision until a full public consultation had been carried out and more facts were available could that have had an impact on this particular funding bid resulting in them being unsucessful ? Just wondered that's all and I don't want this topic to turn into yet another drawn out repetative barrage of comments of 20mph nonsense as we've been there and done that :unsure::wink:

 

I briefly read the link posted by Jimmymac 15 minutes ago as rather stupidly I thought that maybe reduced fares and better services for ALL were part of the big plan to entice more people to use public transport... seems this funding is only really going to benefit those on the North/East/West sides of Warrington.

 

Not knocking them though and it's good they got the funding as if we hadn't got it someone else would have.

 

I just tried to access the link again for a better read but it now says

 

"Oops! This link appears to be broken.

Suggestions:

•Go to warrington.­gov.­uk

•Search warrington.gov.uk for home transport planning environment travel local sustainable fund"

 

:roll::roll:

 

In my own humble opinion with all this funding and the constant need to encourage more people to use public transport ......maybe if they just reduced the extortionate price of bus fares more people may use them more often :(

 

I would but until that happens I will still use my car as journey time is much quicker, it's more reliable and cheaper too on a daily/weekly basis for getting across Warrington.

 

... Saying that I just checked when I can get a free (off peak) bus pass so I could start ticking the days off and it seems I only have another 18 years, 2 months and 13 days to go until I qualify at the age of 66 on the year 2030. :evil: I thought being a girlie I would still get one when I was 60 :cry::cry::oops:

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I completely agree Evils (sorry your post wasn't there when I started mine) and exactly the reason why we still pick our lad up from Warrington Collegiate, easier, much quicker (as it's two busses) but more importantly it's far cheaper by car than bus.

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Is that why they approved the 20mph rollout Rod ? Did the funding bid fare better in their favour because they had aleady approved their intentions for a blanket 20mph rollout ?If they had not approved it or had deferred the decision until a full public consultation had been carried out and more facts were available could that have had an impact on this particular funding bid resulting in them being unsucessful ? Just wondered that's all and I don't want this topic to turn into yet another drawn out repetative barrage of comments of 20mph nonsense as we've been there and done that 

 

Dizzy. The 20mph roll-out was approved in Oct 2010 . I think this was before the LSTF was available for bids.

 

Rod

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Dizzy. The 20mph roll-out was approved in Oct 2010 . I think this was before the LSTF was available for bids.

 

Rod

 

Is that right Rod and not being picky but from what we were all told and read/knew it was only 'Apporved in principle' in October 2010.

 

The final Approval was given on 13th Feb 2012. It was also reported on Warrington Wordlwide News and elsewhere at the time.

 

http://www.warrington-worldwide.co.uk/articles/12536/1/Final-approval-for-20mph-roll-out/Page1.html

 

Don;t know why I am telling you this though as you will already know that, sorry :oops:

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Dizzy, Sid

 

Many Warrington households do not have a car!

 

So surely that's more of a reason to reduce public transport fares so these people can afford to get out and about more often too.

 

How many Warrington households don't have a cars though Rod as to be honest what you say does actually suprise me.

 

Obviously a lot of the elderly probably don't have cars, as is the case around here with some of my neighbours, but they have free bus passes or simply rely on taxis/friends/family to take them shopping or out and about.

 

It does amaze me how so many youngsters, people who are out of work, or those with low paid jobs can afford to run cars though but they seem to manage somehow.

 

I guess to get be in the running to get one of the very few jobs available these days having a driving licence and your own transport is probably a big plus point in the selection process.

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The fund also provides for better walking and cycle facilities

 

But Rod.... you and your lycra clad mates do not use the cycle lanes that have been put in place at great expense to the taxpayer....... why is that??

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All road users should abide by the rules of the road. But there is no rule mandating cyclists only use cycleways, as there is no rule mandating motorists only use motoways.

 

what utter crap as usual Rod....

 

I now have a bike and I use it on the very expensive cycle paths that have been put in place which my councillors deemed fit to spend my poll tax on.

 

My mate has a car and she doesn't use motorways; she uses the roads....

 

cycleways have been built on the sides of roads to protect the cyclists and to keep cars from running them over..... many many lycra clad cyclists (not the normal people but the obnoctious serious two a breats type cyclists) refuse to use them and insist on mixing it with trucks and then bleat when they get knocked off.....

 

Keep your bikey mates on the cycle paths where they are installed and I and many other drivers would be a lot happier!

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Dizzy

 

It was approved in principle in Oct 2010 with officers being requested to put together a plan. This plan was approved in Feb 2012.

 

Rod

 

So like I said then the 20mph rollout in Warington WAS only finally approved and rubber stamped in February 2012 then Rod :lol::P:wink:

 

Anything can be approved in principle.... as all that means is that the information or ideas put forward on paper look feasible and are potentionally worth a more indepth look and assesment of value and/or risk. :wink:

 

Anyway like I said earlier the 20mph saga is old news now and it's going ahead no matter who is 'for' or 'against' or whether it will infact make any difference so lets not detract from this topic of public transport and busses eh :lol:

 

Are they ever going to lower the price of bus fares or what :wink::D

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Of course they won't bring down prices on buses Dizzy..... they've spent all the money on bloody cycle lanes and footpaths that no one uses!! :D

 

oh and don't forget all the masses of extra 20mph signs that were needed after they conveniently decided to include main roads in the trial so as to hide the fact that every junction would need 4 signs when the final master plan was implimented!

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Blimey... I must be going very slowly tonight as so many people (that weren't there before) suddenly appear before me after I finally 'submit'.

 

I recon I must be on a go slow and that you lot are exceding the speed limit by at least treble the allowed rate. Rod you must be very proud of me :D

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