Buses through Market Place

Anne Kingston (Loughborough Echo 22/3/13) stated that people need to be able to make an informed choice. This page will hopefully help examine many of the issues.

ABC invited Hans Letherby, a senior engineer at the County Council to a public meeting at John Storer House in November 2012 to give a presentation on buses through a pedestrianised town centre. This can be found on this site in the November newsletter. Matt Jarram, an Echo journalist attended.

The council is to launch a new consultation. This needs to be clear about each option and not confused with issues relating to the ring road and bus station.

Anne's argument was very persuasive and made it look very easy for bus users. However not every bus user just wants to go to the Market Place and bus routes are generally a loop from one side of town to the other. Were buses not allowed through the Market Place, they would stop at Derby Square and then have to continue along Ashby Sq. If buses were to do a suggested route via Greenclose Lane, The Rushes and then join the Inner Relief Road (IRR) it would take longer than 15 minutes if they were to do this, especially at peak times. The timetable scheduling wouldn't allow for this, there wouldn't be time for such a detour; Increased time would undoubtedly result in a decreased frequency. The result would be an inferior service. This wouldn't be acceptable to regular bus users. Also unless Baxter Gate was made 2 way passengers wouldn't be able to get off at the P.O. The nearest stop for the 126/7 Leicester service would be the Endowed Schools.

After stopping at Derby Sq, buses would make a right turn from Ashby Sq into Greenclose Lane. I believe this wouldn't be possible given the current road layout there and the length of the buses. Similarly, the left turn from Greenclose Lane back onto Derby Road would be equally difficult, if not impossible.

Also it would require loading bans to prohibit all disabled parking/waiting along Ashby Sq as the increased number of buses along Ashby Sq would prohibit any on-street parking there. Could you imagine the reaction of disabled drivers? Would there be adequate policing of this by street wardens, would they have sufficient resources and would this still happen in the evenings and on Sundays? The stop on Rushes is often blocked by cars parking outside takeaways on The Rushes. Also if you travel in from Derby Road, the linked junctions with Bridge St, Broad St, The Rushes, Derby Road is often blocked; What would it be like with all those extra buses turning right from the Rushes onto the IRR?

Why should buses backtrack, wouldn't it be more sensible, were buses not allowed through the town centre, for the buses to turn into Ashby Sq, dropping off there to give access to Market St and the town centre, then turn left into Frederick St and into Browns Lane, as the no.3 currently does? This way the town buses would lose the Police station stop but would gain a stop at JSH. Town buses would then continue on their original routing, along Park and Forest Roads, with less diversion , taking less time and getting people near to where they want to be. Leicester direction buses would turn onto Woodgate to get onto Leicester Road. But would people living in the Frederick St area like his? I doubt it.

Northbound buses would have to go along Baxter Gate, so missing out the Rushes if there were to be no stops on the IRR. Bus passengers wouldn't be happy if they couldn't get to the Rushes shopping centre easily; A lot of people get off the bus at this stop. Again for this to work it would involve loading bans and more policing on Baxter Gate. Even now there are problems with vehicles stopping where they shouldn't. Redirecting all the buses along Baxter Gate might require prohibiting all other vehicles from using Baxter Gate for it to work. Would this conflict with any proposed development on the former hospital site?

Richard Sanders in his letter suggested two way routing along Baxter Gate and have bus stops all along High St as an interchange. However The Rushes or Ashby/Derby Sq might work better as the following buses do not use High St: Skylink to Nottingham, no.4 to the station, the Sprint, South Notts from Nottingham and the no.3/13. Also it would require a right turn from the IRR; Would this be permitted? Also is Baxter Gate wide enough? It would require a lot of 'policing' for it to work correctly, would the street wardens be able to do this a well as Ashby Sq and the Rushes? I very much doubt this. Also would it really work as cars would need to get to Carrillon court car park, to Frederick St area and Ashby Rd.

What about the buses, such as Skylink Nottingham, X27, no.2, which either arrive from Market Place or High St, go along Baxter Gate, Fennel St and then either continue along Derby Rd or the Rushes/Market Place so making a loop. Where would you propose that they go? Perhaps along Ashby Sq?

Buses through a pedestrianised town centre works well in Oxford and in Hinckley

Buses would only be allowed one at a time through the Market Place and at a very slow speed. Bus users, not just the bus companies want/need buses through a pedestrianised centre. Would buses through a pedestrianised town centre be really so bad for car drivers/pedestrians? I don't believe safety would be an issue as there would be a slow speed limit imposed which bus drivers have to adhere to. Similarly air pollution would be radically improved with the reduction in general traffic numbers through the centre.