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Local Travel Plan 3

March 6, 2010 in Climate Change, Cycling, Politics, Swindon, Thoughts | No comments

A few notes before I start this post, and hope it doesn’t turn into a rant.

  1. I’m really sorry that I’m turning into a transport geek/bore.
  2. I think the LTPs are a good thing.
  3. I know one of our council transport people a little and she’s brilliant, hard working, and very good at what she does.
  4. Swindon actually seems to be doing pretty well against it’s LTP2 targets.  This is worthy of praise.
  5. I KNOW this is a complex issue and I’ll never understand it fully.  What I’d like to see though, it some real, forward thinking leadership from the people in charge.
  6. I’ve not read ALL the information about LTP2 and LTP3, so I may have missed some vital stuff, for which I partly apologise, and for which I partly blame the inadequate management summaries! ;-)

I make no apologies for this post being long.  It exists for two reasons:

  1. To make me read and understand some of the LTP documents and record my thoughts.
  2. To record my thoughts on the LTP3 consultation.

OK, here we go then.

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Free Stuff!

November 21, 2009 in General | 1 comment

Photo by Coradia1000 - http://flickr.com/photos/salford-ian.jpgI feel like I’ve been a bit of a whingebag lately, so it’s time to redress the balance!

One of my recent criticisms was of the council, who, despite being cash strapped, have thrown a load of money at cheap parking in the town centre.  Not a great way to become ‘the UK’s number one sustainable community’ – we should be incentivising people to get out of their cars and onto public transport, their feet, or their bicycles.

But up to the plate steps inSwindon – ‘a Business Improvement District (BID) company, in charge of managing the Town Centre…mainly financed by our members – the businesses based in the centre of Swindon’.

Yes, while the council themselves are making it cheaper to drive into town, the local business in the town centre have teamed up with our local transport companies to provide free bus travel on the evenings of the four late-night Christmas shopping days.

I’m sure that both incentives will be good for local business, but I’m baffled about why the local business are stumping up the cash for the option that’s better for the town.

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Busism?

May 14, 2009 in General | No comments

Buses…Hmm…seems wrong.  Busses?  Nope. Definitely buses.

Anyway.

Follow my revelation about rush hour last week, I decided that this week, when carrying my precious laptop between work and home, I would do something I’ve been meaning to for ages and get the bus.

Buses, to me, seem to be one of those thing that have an inner circle.  They’re like a cult.  If you don’t understand them then you feel left out and like you’ll never be a part.  (Probably a lot like cycling, and church!) And it took me some amount of overcoming my fears to find myself at a bus stop, awaiting the number 8, 54 or 55.

You have to know the routes, and the fares.  You have to have the right change.  And, most importantly, you have to know when to get off.

But, actually, it wasn’t all that bad at all.  It helped that the drivers were much more helpful than in London (I should point out that I LIKE the bus system in London!!), happily advising on which fare to buy.  And it helped that I’ve come to know West Swindon quite well – though why the buses take such a circuitous route I’ll never know.

I didn’t get stuck in traffic, I got to sit and read a book and chill out for 20 mins.  It was probably a bit slower than cycling and driving, and there’s the unknown wait time to be included, but I enjoyed that.  I abanodoned myself to the fact that I was at the mercy of the system and actually had a good time.

And, you know what, I’ll do it again!  I have joined the cult of bus!

P.S. I’m almost a bus spotter in Swindon.  I think it’s quite cute that Thamesdown Transport name all their buses things like “Sultan”, “Lightning”, “St Agatha”, and Hercules (list here, if you’re really interested), and I should probably be keeping a list of those that I have seen…BUT, I should point out, I most definitely am not!

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