https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/14359...TheSunNewspaper-_-20160713-_-News-_-515490611
Apols if already done. Can't be arsed to check tbh.
Apols if already done. Can't be arsed to check tbh.
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£1.4m bus stop built to help transport Albion fans has to be scrapped
- Thread starter Wozza
- Start date
Can't work out from the Sun article where this bus stop is. It doesn't look like the one over the railway bridge... so where is it?
Peter Grummit
Well-known member
It's in the Argus too. http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/1461...e_opening_because_of_health_and_safety_fears/
Why fans would use that stop rather than the Falmer station one, I'm not sure. Maybe to access the buses from Lewes after the game, to jump the bus queue at the station stop?
Most of the expense has been in building access ramps to the bus stop, so not to have done a safety audit on the layby itself does look very daft. Can't believe B+H buses would not have been consulted at the design stage, which would have been the time to raise the issue. Is it right on the boundary between B+H and East Sussex? Maybe an issue in terms of co-ordination/responsibility, although it is Highway England's road. Not sure there is room to extend the layby to allow buses to get up to speed. 50mph signs are still in place on the road, so situation would be worse once these are removed.
Shambles.
PG
Why fans would use that stop rather than the Falmer station one, I'm not sure. Maybe to access the buses from Lewes after the game, to jump the bus queue at the station stop?
Most of the expense has been in building access ramps to the bus stop, so not to have done a safety audit on the layby itself does look very daft. Can't believe B+H buses would not have been consulted at the design stage, which would have been the time to raise the issue. Is it right on the boundary between B+H and East Sussex? Maybe an issue in terms of co-ordination/responsibility, although it is Highway England's road. Not sure there is room to extend the layby to allow buses to get up to speed. 50mph signs are still in place on the road, so situation would be worse once these are removed.
Shambles.
PG
Peter Grummit
Well-known member
It's the one that serves Falmer village, next to the footbridge that links the pond area to the Swan.
PG
Thanks... so used by people coming westbound from Lewes?
It's not going to be 'scrapped' is it... but perhaps modified a bit? (perhaps not such an exciting story... if it ever was one!)
beorhthelm
A. Virgo, Football Genius
- Jul 21, 2003
- 35,302
a £1.4 million bus stop? wtf? for what, some rails, kerbs and a ramp?
It's bloody handy (or was...) if you are coming from Lewes and you fancy a pre-match scoop in the Swan.
Has there been any changes to the bus stop itself, rather than the bridge and access? It struck me that the bus stop is exactly the same and therefore is no more dangerous than before. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Thunder Bolt
Silly old bat
It says re-opened, so it appears it's the same bus stop in the same place. I'm assuming the £1.4M includes the work on the footbridge as well. The Argus doesn't say it's been 'scrapped', but closed for the present.
Highways England said most of the money was spent on repairing the footbridge with minimal costs to upgrading the bus stop and lay by - which has been shut by the bus company.
A Highways England spokesman said: "The upgrade we’ve recently completed on the Falmer footbridge involved replacing important components on the bridge and rebuilding the access ramp to the bus stop on the westbound A27. The changes to the bus stop itself were minimal. Safety is Highways England’s top priority and we are working with Brighton and Hove Buses to try and reinstate services from the bus stop as soon as possible. In the meantime passengers will be able to use the next stop at Falmer station."
Brighton and Hove Buses confirmed the bus stop was out of use at present for "health and safety reasons" but could not provide more detail at the time.
Yeah, the headlines used on these articles are sensationalist garbage. Once you actually read the articles, it's clear that the vast majority of the £1.4 million wasn't spent on the bus stop. It was spent on needed repairs to the footbridge. The bus stop changes were simply done at the same time while they were there doing the foot bridge (probably because that saves some cash). Probably explains why the Health & Safety element wasn't assessed - the bus stop improvements were done as a side-project, not as the main project, and as a result there wasn't enough consultation done with regards what actually needed to be done.
Taybha
Whalewhine
Peter Grummit
Well-known member
Having driven past there most days for the last 6 months, I dont think that's right. Most of the time, money and effort was spent on earthworks and footpaths/railings infrastructure to allow a DDA compliant ramp to access the bus stop - which is of no value if the bus stop is shut. A small amount of time/effort was spent on the footbridge across the A27 itself.
PG
Thunder Bolt
Silly old bat
I've also driven past there regularly, from Kingston roundabout, to go up Falmer Road, and observed all the steps on the north side being replaced. You can see the difference in the colour of the materials from the old to the new.
Highways England have said as much, in the Argus article, I quoted, in italics, in my previous post.
c0lz
North East Stand.
Simple answer would be make it a lot longer so the bus has chance to accelerate and have warning signs further down the road.
And take another six months and a couple of million......There have been diggers etc there for months. Whether it was neccessary or not divided opinion..I believe it was to enable easier disabled access.
The Albion Roar
97.2FM
As has been said ad infinitum on this thread, the £1.4m was spent on the footbridge.
The bus stop changes would be a lot less than that.
Mackenzie
Old Brightonian
It looks pretty straightforward to extend the bus stop. Plenty of wide verge they could use prior to the stop to add distance, but I agree that it's daft that they didn't do this in the first instance.
To be fair, on matchdays there's a bus from Lewes to Falmer every 10 minutes until about 7. Sundays, granted, are rubbish!
Hillian1
( . ) ( . )
Surely there's a load of Pikeys on Stanmer that could put some tarmac down?