Scottish Infrastructure

[Ziggy]

7 hours ago, Hedgecutter said:

Having just had a proper assessment, I think that Strathaven may be the only Scottish town I’ve never been to.  Perhaps the A71 was Talking Heads’ inspiration for Road To Nowhere.

As South Lanarkshire towns go, Strathaven is one of the better ones.

[Le Tout P'ti FC]

Bizarrely Strathaven is the town hosting the next gig I'm booked into, Tim Burgess is playing in a hotel in February. (The gig will eventually be cancelled, like everything else.)

I took the A71 home from Rugby Park last time I was there, on a whim. It looked like a more direct route on the map, but it really takes ages to get anywhere.

[Jacksgranda]

9 hours ago, Andy_K_97 said:

Aye, it's a very odd one. Before the M8 the A71 would have been the quickest way to get from south-east Ayrshire (apart from the A70 to Cumnock and Ayr) but I'm surprised they didn't just change the signs to something else closer like Stonehouse or Strathaven. Don't think I'd ever go that way to Edinburgh.

I've gone that way, also used it for going from Larkhall to Troon/Stranraer.

[Newbornbairn]

10 hours ago, DA Baracus said:

Perhaps a silly question, but why were trams originally phased out/punted way back whenever it was?

 

 

I think it's because at the time, buses were seen as a better option. Trams go a fixed route and are inflexible. Buses can go anywhere, can be re-routed quickly in case of roadworks/accidents and are cheaper. To be economic, trams have to be full so they can't really run a tramline to every housing development. Because buses can economically run on smaller numbers, they can go on routes which only take in a few houses!

 

This was all based on traffic figures of the time though. The rise in traffic means congestion slows buses down and makes them unreliable. Dedicated tramlines are traffic-free so trams can more or less keep to a timetable. 

 

[Newbornbairn]

IMO trams have an advantage nowadays as public transport is by definition used by the poor and criminal underclasses. Trams have a conductor aboard to keep order and maintain standards. Since buses did away with conductors, standards on buses have slipped to the point that proper people would never entertain the idea of going on them, certainly not without first donning bus trousers at the very least.  Face masks may have made this situation slightly more bearable. 

[effeffsee_the2nd]

3 minutes ago, NewBornBairn said:

IMO trams have an advantage nowadays as public transport is by definition used by the poor and criminal underclasses. Trams have a conductor aboard to keep order and maintain standards. Since buses did away with conductors, standards on buses have slipped to the point that proper people would never entertain the idea of going on them, certainly not without first donning bus trousers at the very least.  Face masks may have made this situation slightly more bearable. 

The pre forth valley hospital era Falkirk buses were actually pretty well run,  reasonable affordable and well used.  ever since they re- routed everything in 2011 they have been more or less empty and mostly used by concession card holders, My pensioner parents decided to use their pass to get home from a bar lunch on a Friday afternoon last year and noted how not one single passenger who got on paid a fair.

[Hedgecutter]

5 hours ago, Le Tout P'ti FC said:

Bizarrely Strathaven is the town hosting the next gig I'm booked into, Tim Burgess is playing in a hotel in February.

Naw he willnae

[Jim McLean's Ghost]

8 hours ago, effeffsee_the2nd said:

The pre forth valley hospital era Falkirk buses were actually pretty well run,  reasonable affordable and well used.  ever since they re- routed everything in 2011 they have been more or less empty and mostly used by concession card holders, My pensioner parents decided to use their pass to get home from a bar lunch on a Friday afternoon last year and noted how not one single passenger who got on paid a fair.

Blame the bus companies for that one. They have ramped up fares and made buses very expensive to use as a one off. It is almost impossible to find fare information for First Bus online for anything lower than a day ticket. And they have weird local restrictions that make no sense. For example Motherwell is in a different network area to Bellshill and Hamilton.

The way buses are run in some parts of scotland make Scotrail look like paradigms of efficiency and affordability.

[Hedgecutter]

To the best of my knowledge, it isn’t a case that concessions flash a pass and get on a bus, but that they scan their card and the government pick up the fare (albeit not quite full fare).  Since they brought in the Saltire card, bus companies won’t dare let you on without that card successfully registering a fare.

[ICTChris]

Car free design

 

 

[TheScarf]

In a local based gurn of mine, the amount of houses being built near me means they're putting in 2 new sets of traffic lights with pedestrian crossings.  One at the top and one at the bottom of the brae.  More time queuing.  Lovely stuff.

[Hedgecutter]

48 minutes ago, TheScarf said:

In a local based gurn of mine, the amount of houses being built near me means they're putting in 2 new sets of traffic lights with pedestrian crossings.  One at the top and one at the bottom of the brae.  More time queuing.  Lovely stuff.

Near me they’ve changed a 200m long country lane from a sufficiently wide one to something that now has bollards and two right-of-way changes along it.  I have right of way now... oh shit, now I don’t... oh wait, now I do.  Stoopid.

[TheScarf]

6 minutes ago, Hedgecutter said:

Near me they’ve changed a 200m long country lane from a sufficiently wide one to something that now has bollards and two right-of-way changes along it.  I have right of way now... oh shit, now I don’t... oh wait, now I do.  Stoopid.

Yeah they've done that here too on the road next to the Ness-Side Tesco, because of, you guessed it, a new housing scheme being built.  Which is right next to one that's been there for 40 odd years.  Zero need for it, it's not even a busy road.

 

Edit - There's only about 15 houses going in this new scheme so the traffic volume increase on the road will be next to nothing.

Edited October 9, 2020 by TheScarf

[effeffsee_the2nd]

16 hours ago, MixuFruit said:

That's astonishing only pensioners were using the bus in the middle of a weekday.

well aye nowadays that's true, 10-15 years ago if I was going to Falkirk for a sesh I would regularly get the bus in, they we're regular enough that the wait time was more or less the same as calling a taxi and were about 1/5th of the price = more money for pints, now the schedule is irregular, they take a far more convoluted route to get there and fares are not beating day time taxi fares by much anymore, in fact the local rag ran a story a few years back that for a carless family of 4 it was cheaper to taxi from than to get a bus, that's fucking mental

[Newbornbairn]

Swedish artist illustrating just how much public space we've sacrificed to cars. 

[Hedgecutter]

1 hour ago, effeffsee_the2nd said:

well aye nowadays that's true, 10-15 years ago if I was going to Falkirk for a sesh I would regularly get the bus in, they we're regular enough that the wait time was more or less the same as calling a taxi and were about 1/5th of the price = more money for pints, now the schedule is irregular, they take a far more convoluted route to get there and fares are not beating day time taxi fares by much anymore, in fact the local rag ran a story a few years back that for a carless family of 4 it was cheaper to taxi from than to get a bus, that's fucking mental

I feel that this is a major turn-off for a lot of people considering getting a bus.  When I lived in the city centre it was usually quicker to walk from my flat into the centre, but not many people seem to have the willingness to walk like I do.

A big success in Aberdeen however is the (Stagecoach operated) airport bus that takes a direct route into town and is easily 30 mins faster than the previous First Bus service that is still more expensive.  I've seen drivers pull up to people who weren't flagging down the bus, close to begging them to get on.  In the long run, it's nearly always quicker to wait for the next bus.

One of the more extreme services I've come across is the Aberdeen to Inverness #10 service which takes over 4 hours to make a trip that is a 2.5hr drive, this being due to detours into into Inverurie, Huntly, Forres etc.  Very happy to pay the extra for the train instead.

[thisal]

On 08/10/2020 at 09:15, effeffsee_the2nd said:

The pre forth valley hospital era Falkirk buses were actually pretty well run,  reasonable affordable and well used.  ever since they re- routed everything in 2011 they have been more or less empty and mostly used by concession card holders, My pensioner parents decided to use their pass to get home from a bar lunch on a Friday afternoon last year and noted how not one single passenger who got on paid a fair.

Or the old fogies thought everyone with a season ticket or paying by phone were getting a free ride.

[welshbairn]

30 minutes ago, Hedgecutter said:

I feel that this is a major turn-off for a lot of people considering getting a bus.  When I lived in the city centre it was usually quicker to walk from my flat into the centre, but not many people seem to have the willingness to walk like I do.

A big success in Aberdeen however is the (Stagecoach operated) airport bus that takes a direct route into town and is easily 30 mins faster than the previous First Bus service that is still more expensive.  I've seen drivers pull up to people who weren't flagging down the bus, close to begging them to get on.  In the long run, it's nearly always quicker to wait for the next bus.

One of the more extreme services I've come across is the Aberdeen to Inverness #10 service which takes over 4 hours to make a trip that is a 2.5hr drive, this being due to detours into into Inverurie, Huntly, Forres etc.  Very happy to pay the extra for the train instead.

I've met people on the 35 service from Elgin to Aberdeen wondering what the f**k they're doing in Buckie and bewildered when they find out it takes nearly 4 hours to get to Aberdeen, 1.5 hours by train.

Edited October 9, 2020 by welshbairn

[Hedgecutter]

32 minutes ago, welshbairn said:

I've met people on the 35 service from Elgin to Aberdeen wondering what the f**k they're doing in Buckie and bewildered when they find out it takes nearly 4 hours to get to Aberdeen, 1.5 hours by train.

Oooft, schoolboy error.  Very handy for the more awkward Highland League ground though (Buckie, Deveronvale, Turra and Formartine... kind of), or the ice cream aficionados amongst us. 

Hopefully I won't need it anytime soon.  

Eta:  I've also met people who have driven the A96 and expected a nice dual carriageway all the way.  Instead they get something like the road from Menstrie to Kinross for ~70 miles.

Edited October 9, 2020 by Hedgecutter

[G51]

17 minutes ago, Hedgecutter said:

Oooft, schoolboy error.  Very handy for the more awkward Highland League ground though (Buckie, Deveronvale, Turra and Formartine... kind of), or the ice cream aficionados amongst us. 

Hopefully I won't need it anytime soon.  

Eta:  I've also met people who have driven the A96 and expected a nice dual carriageway all the way.  Instead they get something like the road from Menstrie to Kinross for ~70 miles.

The A96 is genuinely one of the most terrible roads around. It's up there with the A9.