Arriva buses

no6bus · October 26, 2012, 06: PM

Well it finally made it to the mail. Confirmation that arriva are pulling out of the transport interchange.
You think by now they would have learned where to come to for their news .

Ps 6th September it was posted on here

mk1 · October 26, 2012, 07: PM

I checked the timetables when I got off the train tonight and there are yellow 'warning' notices up on 2 of the stops.

Perhaps a good time to remind ourselves of the birth of this problem child:

Friday July 30th 2010

A NEW £4m transport interchange has been unveiled for Hartlepool and experts are predicting it will improve the job-hunting prospects of townspeople. Rail, coach, bus and taxi services will also benefit from the newest addition to the town's transport facilities, which have been unveiled in time for The Tall Ships Races. The interchange was launched yesterday with more facilities to come in the next year. Coun Pamela Hargreaves, Hartlepool Borough Council's regeneration and economic development portfolio-holder, said: "The interchange will provide improved access to public transport for local people, making it easier for them to take advantage of employment opportunities across the wider Tees Valley area." Experts say people in Hartlepool can enjoy widened travel choices thanks to the project while outsiders will get an improved image of Hartlepool when they arrive. The interchange will also capitalise on planned rail services improvements on the Durham Coast Line between Middlesbrough and Newcastle.
Richard Lungmuss, Network Rail's route director, said: "We now have facilities that we can be proud of and we will be able to showcase these to the hundreds of thousands of visitors who will visit the Tall Ships event.
"We are working with the train operators to run as many as 60 additional services to meet the demands of travellers during this event."
Matthew Beeton, Northern Rail area director, said: "We know how important the end-to-end journey — how they get to and from the station, not just the train service — is for our passengers and the new interchange will help to make this as seamless and hassle free as possible."
Funding for the interchange came from Hartlepool Borough Council's Local Transport Plan, Tees Valley Major Bus Scheme Bid and the Tees Valley Metro initiative, to complement the Network Rail railway station improvements project. A second phase of station improvements, which also forms part of the Metro project, should start early next year. Iain Mclnroy, area managing director for Arriva North East, added: "Public transport is a vital part of any community and this investment will provide the people of Hartlepool with a modern integrated transport interchange."

steveL · October 26, 2012, 07: PM

How strange, I was just thinking about this as I got off the train from Newcastle today and saw a Durham bus pulling into Tumbleweed Junction. It had me wondering if the story was real or not. So there you go...another case of HTH being weeks ahead of The Snail.....and with the by-election over, maybe the site will even stay up for more than a few minutes

steveL · October 26, 2012, 07: PM

Notice the yellow 'school bus' in the picture which was used to transport the 'dignatories' from the Civic so that they didn't have to run the gauntlet of the 7 Pelican crossings to get there on foot.

for fawkes sake · October 26, 2012, 11: PM

When you think of it, this must be something of an embarassment for the local paper. They must have seen the HTH story so what was wrong in giving ARRIVA a call to ask if it was true? It would appear that people in the paper's offices just sit around waiting for official press releases to appear.

rabbit · October 27, 2012, 10: AM

Also, I am not clear of the proposed benefits of the money being spent on numerous road junctions around the town.

This money is coming from some public transport fund or other (The Tees Valley Bus Network Improvement Scheme?) and from HBC.

In other words from us lot.

It is supposed to improve bus transport (removing blockage or difficulties at road junctions/roundabouts).

But bus routes can get altered at any time in the future, thus making the cost of these junction improvements unnecessary.

steveL · October 27, 2012, 10: AM

I think it's a case of HBC grabbing it's share of the money while it's available. If they chose not to, then all of the money would probably be spent by Middlesbrough etc....and when it's gone, it's gone.

no6bus · October 27, 2012, 04: PM

Quote from: rabbit on October 27, 2012, 10: AM
Also, I am not clear of the proposed benefits of the money being spent on numerous road junctions around the town.

This money is coming from some public transport fund or other (The Tees Valley Bus Network Improvement Scheme?) and from HBC.

In other words from us lot.

It is supposed to improve bus transport (removing blockage or difficulties at road junctions/roundabouts).

But bus routes can get altered at any time in the future, thus making the cost of these junction improvements unnecessary.

it is beneficial to cars as well as buses, to be fair i cant understand some of the work, the hospital roundabout was sometimes a bit of a wait but nothing extreme, the top of oxford road/catcote road is now more dangerous with the filter lanes as when both are on there is a risk of a car and bus colliding. what would have made more sense would have been to sort out oxford road between st aidans and shrewsbury street

rabbit · October 27, 2012, 05: PM

Another "newly improved junction" is the one at Owton Manor Road and Catcote Road. Traffic coming from the Fens and turning right into Owton manor almost have to pass the junction first. This is due to the odd positioning of the three lanes in O.M. road.

Another odd one (although not a junction change) is the 20 mph speed limit past open fields on the road from Sapper`s Corner into Greatham. I would have thought 30 mph here would be more appropriate with a drop down to 20 mph once you got past the wheat.

testing times · October 28, 2012, 09: AM

HBC's reputation for modyfying junctions isn't good - the Tesco Roundabout, Hart Lane/Raby Road....the list is quite lengthy and I'm sure everyone can think of their own examples. We must be talking about a lot of money too.

fred c · October 30, 2012, 05: PM

Who is in charge of the roads in Hartlepool

? the constant gridlocks that motorist have to put up with are unfathomable....
The Mayfair traffic lights being one of them.....a condition of the planning consent should have a been to have overtime & weekend working to minimise the time the lights were there.

SRMoore · October 30, 2012, 05: PM

I don't have the details to hand but like John Majors 'war on cones' the current government are changing the law so that companies who dig our roads up/cause traffic problems due to works will be charged a premium rate for doing the work during daytime or peak hours. The other thing this will assist with is the annoyance of watching a road being coned off and dug up then left for 2 weeks before anything is done. Drives me friggin' mad!

SRMoore · October 30, 2012, 06: PM

Quote from: perseus on October 30, 2012, 05: PM
All good PM's leave their legacy. Churchill with his War effort, Thatcher and privatisation, Tony Blairs efforts to improve education... and John Majors removal of 5 sets of cones.

You are sh*tt*ng me right?

The Great Dictator · October 30, 2012, 06: PM

I'm told that each bus had to pay £100 to use the interchange, thats why they pulled out.