News from Stockton-on-Tees Borough Public Transport Users’ Forum 15th February 2014

1. Eaglescliffe Station

• Owing to Network Rail approval process delays, the physical alterations (new waiting facilities, improved accessibility, increased car parking) are now expected to be completed "this calendar year".

• First Trans Pennine have no intention of stopping at Eaglescliffe within the current franchise & their current timings would not permit it. To an extent not yet clear, decisions about the future of rail services in the N of England, including the terms of the replacement franchises, will be devolved from Whitehall to a local government body, Rail North (http://www.railnorth.org/), to whom representations about stopping here in the term of the next franchise should be directed.

• Grand Central trains for the weekend after next are fully booked owing to a Sunderland FC final match. The extra trains on 2-3-14 will not call at Eaglescliffe.

• A new railcard is being launched for those aged 25 to 60 - "Two Together", costing £30 and giving one-third off fares. As an alternative to bringing photos, purchasers may come to Eaglescliffe Station between 1000 & 1600 on 5-3-14 to be photographed.

1. Bus Services along Yarm Road

   News from Stockton-on-Tees Borough Public Transport Users' Forum 15-2-14 is below. Liberal Democrat Councillor Alan Lewis is asking Stockton Council's highways officers whether they consider that it is currently impracticable to turn round buses in Eaglescliffe or Yarm (please see below) and what can be done about it.

• There were several questions about punctuality & reliability, inc. buses in convoy. Arriva's Acting Depot Manager, Mark Gibson, blamed chiefly the roadworks in Stockton High Street. A bus coming in from Yarm Lane, U-turning at Maxwells' Corner and returning along Yarm La. has to pass through 2 chicanes twice, being potentially held at 4 sets of traffic lights. This can take 8 min. Arriva are therefore going to ask the Traffic Commissioner if they can revert to the route via Tower Street, Riverside Road & Church Road, then down the High St, for the duration of the works.

• Several people & I asked why, when 2, 3 or 4 buses were running in convoy, 1 or 2 were not turned short of their destination so that they could pick up their timetable slot on the way back. Mark Gibson said that:

  • They did not like asking people with bags etc. to alight & change onto another bus.

  • This was even more questionable for wheelchairs & buggies.

  • Yarm Town Hall was no longer considered safe for doing a U-turn. In the past, owing to parked vehicles, buses had been scraped.

  • The D-island at the foot of Worsall Road was not considered suitable in normal traffic conditions, although it was used during Yarm Fair.

  • Asked whether there was a problem of radio communication with drivers in Yarm town centre, as some mobile 'phones had no signal there, he said that buses no longer had radio communication, but with another device the bus office could plot every 22 seconds where the buses were. If a driver thought that his journey should be curtailed, he should ring the co. on his own mobile 'phone, for which he could reclaim the call charge.

• The new timetable w.e.f. 16-2-14 allowed more time for rush-hour buses by reducing the frequency to every 12 min.

• Arriva are not taking over the evening bus service, which will be operated (still as the 577) as now by Leven Valley, but only as long as there are enough passengers to make it commercially viable.

• No-one is willing to operate the 551 (the first 2 morning buses Mon. to Fri; the first 4 Sat.) from 1-4-14 because there are insufficient passengers.

• The phrase "at least every 10 minutes" in the new timetable meant that the gap between buses should be no more than 10 min

• Some Smartphone users could download the app. (Arriva website) which showed where buses were in real time.

1. Bus Services along Durham Lane

This topic was the subject of several questions from people attending Saturday's meeting of Stockton-on-Tees Borough Public Transport Users' Forum. These covered both the lack of weekday daytime through services to & from Stockton and the changes to the existing weekday daytime services by Arriva w.e.f. today.

• The evening (577) and Sunday (7A) services between Stockton & Yarm, which in both directions run up and down Durham Lane between Tesco & Kingsmead, will continue, despite the withdrawal of the Stockton Council subsidy from the evening service w.e.f. 1-4-14. However, Leven Valley made it clear that the continuance of the 577 was on a "use it or lose it" basis.

• Such a service on weekday early mornings (551) would cease with the withdrawal of SBC subsidy w.e.f. 1-4-14. No-one is willing to operate it on a commercial basis.

• No-one will operate a weekday daytime through service. Arriva said that another operator was on part of the route and this made the route unviable commercially. I understand that one of the reasons for the withdrawal of the Stockton - Kingsmead leg of the old X6 was that another operator's service was reducing Arriva's takings between Hartburn & Stockton. From 1-4-14 Stage Carriage will operate along Darlington Road outside school-run times & Arriva will route its hourly Stockton-Stillington service to cover the Dunedin Avenue area.

• The reduction in frequency of the Kingsmead - Yarm - Ingleby Barwick - Middlesbrough daytime weekday service X6 to an hourly 17 was to reflect loadings. At rush hours the new X17 would be more frequent.

• The longer journey time on the 17 to & from Middlesbrough (due to going via Thornaby Town Centre) was to meet a demand for better services between IB & Thornaby.

• Length-of-journey times had been adjusted to allow for traffic delays. These had been made worse recently on the X6 by roadworks in Newport Road, Middlesbrough.

• The normal gap between arrival at and departure from Kingsmead would now be 13 minutes, to allow recovery time if there were Yarm traffic jams.

• There were complaints that the 1523 departure from Eaglescliffe Tesco to Yarm etc. would allow insufficient time for Egglescliffe School students leaving at 1515 to catch the bus, so they would have to wait an hour for the next one & younger children would risk being bullied or getting harmed. Also, there would be overcrowding & bullying if all children used one bus. Many children were unaware of the changes. Drivers in the past had left the stop before the X6 time of 1520. Arriva said that they had been in constant touch with the School, the 1520 had never been overcrowded, staff had travelled on the X6 at school-run times telling pupils about the changes and giving each a new timetable leaflet. The 1523 from Tesco was timetabled to leave Kingsmead at 1515, allowing an extra 5 min. for loading at Tesco. Drivers were instructed not to leave if they saw pupils waiting to cross to catch the bus.