It looks like the life changing interchange is becoming even more like the archetypal post apocolypse film.set, wind whistling through it and fixings creaking in the wind, devoid of human life ...as Arriva now appear to have given it the elbow and appear to have decided it makes more sense to pick up their passengers where it's convenient to the passengers as opposed to expecting them to walk to where the planners want them to walk to.
If thi is the case, apart from a coiple of National Express visits a day, it's stands deserted.
and breaking news the pope resigns!
Quote from: no6bus on March 03, 2013, 06: AM
and breaking news the pope resigns!
I never even knew he was operating a bus service from there, ...well if he can't do it who can......?
There must be a case for large spending projects like this to be looked at again a year or two after their completion to examine if they achieved what was claimed they would achieve when they were first proposed. If I remember rightly, it was even claimed that the Interchange would improve people's employment prospects. I could live with the present low level of use if there was a plan in place to improve the frequency or range of train services or a plan to build a new shopping centre where it should have always been - behind Church Street.
I don't blame the bus companies in any way for not using the Interchange - they are the ones who would know best where their passengers are and it's a pity more attention wasn't paid to their opinion in the first place.
Just a thought; Now that it is no longer in regular usage are vehicles allowed to drop off / pickup outside the railway station? Cars are still coming in the No Entry at Church Street.
There was eleven yellow taxi's down there on Friday some parked three abreast, not including those that where 'legally' parked in the designated taxi bays.
The automatic doors on the Glass Waiting Area on the platform were jammed open, it was freezing in there I thought the whole idea was to keep the cold out.
The best part of the Station is the cafe..lovely grub and very reasonable too.
I think there's a lot of truth in what Steve says about the way things work - crazy as that is. There's also a lot of truth in saying that the original mistake was in locating the shopping centre where it now is rather than redeveloping Church Street - but we are where we are. There doesn't seem to have been any thought at the time that Middleton Grange was built as to what to do with the Church Street area once the relocation of the main shopping area in the town was completed. The area is now a half-baked mix-match of functions that suggest that no one has been really sure what to do with it.
My own thought is that HBC should approach Durham University with a view to making this area an education hub of some sort combined with the CoFE and the Art College - a faculty for Marine and Green Engineering would seem like a good avenue to explore.
Anything to increase the general occupation of the area would be a step in the right direction and turning it into a learning and academic centre may be one way forward. It wouldn't do the image of the town any harm either.
As for the Interchange, the reality is that we have ended up with two of the most expensively constructed car parks in the country. The rail station is much improved but that's down to Network Rail.
The best part of the Station is the cafe..lovely grub and very reasonable too.
the rat race aint bad either a couple of them 9 proof ciders keeps the cold out ;)
http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=rat%20race%20hartlepool&source=web&cd=1&sqi=2&ved=0CDAQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ratracealehouse.co.uk%2F&ei=_00zUcvQE-fL0AXE-ICgDA&usg=AFQjCNHXKV4poI9cuMebIvmGNhoKReCIKQ&bvm=bv.43148975,d.d2k
Yea I like the Cafe too. They should put one of those signs up on the platform advertising take-away coffee so that half-asleep commuters are reminded they can take a cuppa on the train.
How about a campaign to name it the Drummond Interchange.
A fitting tribute to a man who promised the world and nothing turned up, not even a banana.
Don't be to hard on the man.
When he drops a bollock it isn't just any old bollock,
it's a 'World Class' bollock!