Alternate Universe

[marky]

"The bus station is used by 27,000 passengers and 1,400 buses and coaches every  weekday."
This Tees Valley idea seems to be a bit hit and miss to me. When a donation is needed, we're suddenly part of the Tees Valley. When it comes to dishing out the money, we're relegated to an also-ran. £57m to improve the bus network in 'the Tees Valley'. How much of that actually came our way?
We must have one of the poorest bus services of all the towns included in this area so surely we qualify for a significant share?

Read More http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/2012/09/15/baroness-tanni-grey-thompson-pleased-at-middlesbrough-bus-station-revamp-84229-31836984/#ixzz26d1TGmUg

[marky]

It's not sensible to generalise. This £57m is Government money but a fair amount will have been spent by the local authorities making the case for it, including HBC. Judging by the share of it we seem to be getting, then I would say it has not only been money wasted by HBC but wasted on a scale which would dwarf any piddly amounts spent on a local by-election.

[fred c]

Councillor Nicky Walker, Middlesbrough Council's Executive member for transport, said:

"These improvements are all about making public transport as efficient and accessible as possible. The focus is firmly on investing in vehicles, better passenger information and a more punctual bus service, as well as ensuring as many people as possible can access the network."

Read More http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/2012/09/15/baroness-tanni-grey-thompson-pleased-at-middlesbrough-bus-station-revamp-84229-31836984/#ixzz26ddEAwoG


When will we have joined up thinking like this about local transport in Hartlepool.

In the recent election an awful lot of Labour candidates mentioned they would be looking into "Improving" the local bus service.

No sign of any improvements so far.....

[steveL]

I seem to remember Drummond suggesting this pot of money as a possible way of re-introducing services but I can't see it being used to subsidise routes myself - doesn't seem to be that sort of scheme.

[Vincent]

The "Tees Valley Major Bus Scheme" achieved final approval from the Department of Transport in June 2010 confirming £37.5 million of central government funding (£87.6million in total)

Hartlepool plan to spend £9,187,250.90 on improving its infrastructure over a 5 year period to 2015 with £3,991,500.00 to come out of "Local Contribution"

The Interchange scheme was £2,770,000.00 (fees £200,000) The Hartlepool Taxpayer paid £2,470,000.00 DoT paid £300,000.00

[no6bus]

"The bus station is used by 27,000 passengers and 1,400 buses and coaches every  weekday."
This Tees Valley idea seems to be a bit hit and miss to me. When a donation is needed, we're suddenly part of the Tees Valley. When it comes to dishing out the money, we're relegated to an also-ran. £57m to improve the bus network in 'the Tees Valley'. How much of that actually came our way?
We must have one of the poorest bus services of all the towns included in this area so surely we qualify for a significant share?

Read More http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/2012/09/15/baroness-tanni-grey-thompson-pleased-at-middlesbrough-bus-station-revamp-84229-31836984/#ixzz26d1TGmUg

difficult to spend it when local councillors back heel proposals ! http://www.hartlepoolconservatives.org.uk/news/%C2%A360000-gift-bus-company-met-opposition

[steveL]

The "Tees Valley Major Bus Scheme" achieved final approval from the Department of Transport in June 2010 confirming £37.5 million of central government funding (£87.6million in total)

Hartlepool plan to spend £9,187,250.90 on improving its infrastructure over a 5 year period to 2015 with £3,991,500.00 to come out of "Local Contribution"

The Interchange scheme was £2,770,000.00 (fees £200,000) The Hartlepool Taxpayer paid £2,470,000.00 DoT paid £300,000.00

The Original Plan was for this to cost £2.4m as Vincent says, but it ran way over budget because it had to be redesigned and a load of overtime was thrown at it to get it completed before the Tall Ships (they made it by hours  ). The final bill for the Interchange was £4m - plus the cost of the coach hire to transport Councillors from the Civic Centre to the Interchange in order to open it.!