Shelters and Samaritans

Royal Parade is going to look a little different for a while as the City Council has come up with an interesting solution to the lack of bus stops sheleters:

Three converted shipping containers are to be installed on the north side of Royal Parade to act as temporary bus shelters.

The containers are roughly the same size as a double shelter and will have bench seating, lighting together with ramps and handrails and the first two will be put into position early next week.

They will stay in place until the new bigger shelters will be installed as part of the Royal Parade improvement scheme.

The containers will be installed early in the morning, so there will be no disruption to bus services. They will be outside

• Dingles between bus stops A15 and A16
• Debenhams near bus stop A20
• Poundland near bus stop A13.

Some benches will also be installed beneath the canopy along Royal Parade so that people have more places to sit while they wait for their buses.

Councillor Mark Coker, Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Transport said: “I instructed officers to leave no stone unturned in finding some temporary shelter for bus users on this side of Royal Parade.

“As a bus user myself I was really unhappy with the shelters being removed in winter, but as cabinet member for transport understood that we were left with very little option as the contract had ended with the old providers and we were simply not in a position to start the new improvement scheme.

“This solution is a little unusual, but it is practical and can be in place relatively quickly.”

A total of 12 shelters have been removed by old providers JC Decaux and the plan is for Clear Channel to install 15 bigger shelters along this key route with upgraded seating and more space for wheelchair users and pushchairs as part of the Royal Parade Bus Improvement scheme.

However, contract negotiations for the main scheme works are still ongoing, which has meant no shelters on Royal Parade between Courtenay Street and St Andrews Cross. The work is expected to start later in the Spring.

I have never really understood why the new shelters are taking so long or what the issues are with the new contract but its good to see they are taking action to produce some shelter.

In other news..

I finally managed to get out and about of the last week and spent a while in town catching up with photographing the current bus scene before things start to change with the new electrics over the coming year. One of the buses finally caught on camera is 571 in Samaritans wrap. It was also nice to catch up with a few people I have not seen for a couple of years – Lawrence & Richard especially!  I have promised myself to get out and about a bit more this year!