Transport Problems In The
Moor Park / New York Area (pt1)
- A Report

EASY ACCESS 325-326.

This bus is scheduled to run every ½ hour but due to its unreliability this service can leave parents standing at bus stops for an hour, often in the most inclement weather conditions where they have no shelter.

Easy access ramps are often not lowered to correct height for larger buggies to enter/exit easily leaving parent/guardian struggling to reach pavement.

Often drivers will not allow more than 3 pushchairs on at a time despite there being room available.

It was felt that a lot of this was due to pushchair owners ignoring the rules on pushchair parking.

SUGGESTIONS MADE:

• Rules need to be enforced more rigorously.
  
• Passengers ignoring rules should be asked to leave bus.
  
• Allow stated number of pushchairs to travel on any given journey.
  
• Not enough easy access buses available on any route.
  
• When easy access is taken off at Verne Road change over stop please replace with another easy access bus and not an ordinary one.

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FARE CHARGES.

Recent fare changes particularly concerning children have caused a great deal of confusion to Parents/Carers and Children alike.

Parents/Carers raised the issue around children's safety as they are unsure how much money a child will need to complete their journey.

Is this due to company policy or drivers charging different prices because they do not know what the correct fares are?

Passenger phoning company are told fare changes are due to a minority of people abusing the system by staying on circular routes for long periods of time, this applied to youths.

There were a lot of complaints about the rapid rising cost of travel with no improvement to services.

SUGGESTIONS MADE:

• Bring back set fares for children.
• One price concession ticket fares.
• Fare setting between companies.
• Joined up thinking between companies is a must.
• Stop rapid fair increases and give affordable transport to the needy.
• Revise fare stages to reflect fairer fare pricing.
• Deals with offenders don't penalize the whole community.

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GENERAL COMPLAINTS.

• After 5.43pm there are no 44 buses traveling to New York leaving community members with a ten-minute walk carrying heavy bags of shopping, this is hard on the community especially the Elderly/Disabled members.
• Very little transport in the evenings.
• Workers returning home after 5.43pm often have up to 1½ hours added to their journey time.
• New buses are put on but information is not given to the Community. This service is then removed through lack of use.
• Buses that run earlier than scheduled (arriving at stop 9.25am) are causing problems for Elderly/Disabled passengers.
• Some drivers are refusing to recognize concessionary tickets leaving them to wait until next scheduled bus comes along.
• If two different numbered buses come along at the same time one bus stops while the other continues on ignoring passengers waving him to stop. This results in an extra long wait for passengers until the next bus comes along.
• Buses not arriving at all. This crosses different times of the day especially before and after school particularly the 356 North Shields/Newcastle buses. When enquiries were made to company the reason given was that the bus was taken off for the school runs due to a shortage of drivers. This reduces the normal half hourly service to an hour.
• Passengers put hand out to signal driver to stop. Bus driver looks the other way and deliberately drives on. On occasion passengers had to get taxi's to keep appointments particularly with G.P's. or Hospitals ect:
• Since the opening of the UCI cinema at Silverlink there are no more evening buses laid on. It is a long and dark road to the cinema and people do not feel safe.
• Bus Time tables were printed by area/zones and gave information on all buses and companies in that area/zone. Now it is individual companies, which means you have to collect a pile of leaflets, some of which are hard to find.
• Passengers arriving at bus stop just as the door closes are left standing at stop despite banging on door to attract driver's attention. Driver chooses to ignore them.
• Older buses with rear engines have fuel emissions inside bus that are so strong it makes passengers feel nauseous especially on longer journeys.

While it was recognized that drivers have a very difficult job dealing with some members of the public it was suggest that some drivers assume every passenger is the same and can be unnecessarily rude on occasion.

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BUS SHELTERS.

Who Is Responsible:

Between the Dun Cow New York, Westminster Avenue and Vern Road changeover stop there are a total of 18 bus stops and only 9 shelters.

• Two shelters are full three sided brick construction with roof.
• Five are four-sided metal construction with roof.
• Two consist of a roof and back structure only.
• All metal constructed shelters are in poor condition.
• The 2-sided variety does not provide protection from the elements. Our elderly residents and mothers with young children in buggies frequent all the bus stops on this route. By the time a bus does arrive they are often cold wet and miserable despite umbrellas and waterproof coats.

For the last six years Moor Park have requested that the bus shelter be reinstated beside Phoenix Court Sheltered Housing complex on Westminster Avenue. This request has been ignored despite appeals from Local Councilors. WHY?

It is generally accepted that Westminster Avenue is not a built up area therefore people standing there are particularly vulnerable during inclement weather. This applies especially during high winds. Often children and frail elderly people get blown out onto the road.

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CONSULTATION.

Dictionary definition of Consultation = Seek advice, information from. This developed into quite a discussion around what consultation meant to the community.

Most felt it was only another method being used to make communities think the service providers in charge care. Consultation is all well and good but what happens next, will services change, will services get better.

Having held the Collingwood Community Forums for the last few years it was felt we had done nothing else but talk about these issues. Who is actually going to put things right and when?

It was generally felt that meetings were just talking shops with no action following.

Moor Park Community Centre has worked with two NEXUS employees on a regular basis for the last few years to discuss issues surrounding transport or the lack of it where praise and criticism for transport went hand in hand.

This was recognized by the Community Group as being beneficial to both sides. As workers depended on public transport to get around it was felt they could really identify with the problems the Community faced. However no changes have resulted from these meetings.

Most people genuinely felt it was a waste of time talking as Service providers only pay lip service to the public and nobody really cared enough to change things.

A report in the Evening Chronicle 12th October 2000 stating the 59a bus was being axed causing fury to the people of Backworth. It stated that Nexus have asked Arriva to extend the 356 routes in its place.

How will that extension affect the people of New York Village, will it make this vital, but totally unreliable bus service, even more unreliable.

The general feeling was that bus companies were more concerned with money than people.

Moor Park/New York is part of the Collinwood Ward, which is one of the C.D. (Community Development) wards. The area has a high ratio of unemployed, single parents and elderly residents who depend on Government Benefits to live.

When calculating benefits the law allows a certain amount to live on each weekly. Some benefits are paid on a two-week basis. This calculation does not take into account public transport costs. Does this mean we are meant to walk everywhere?

The Community Members spoken to for this report came from user groups at Moor Park Community Group and passengers waiting at bus stops. The numbers included:

The car owners spoken to said they would not give up their cars to use public transport because:

1. Public transport far too inconvenient and unreliable.
2. Fare charges too high, would rather use their car.
3. If car unavailable would prefer to take a taxi.

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The following quote was found in a book and is displayed in Moor Park Community Centre along side our Tenant Compact/Best Value information.

This report was presented to North Tyneside Environment & Transport Partnership Board in Nov 2000.

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