Plans to shake-up county transport

12:00pm Thursday 14th February 2013 in News By Bill Tanner

Councillor Graham Powell. Councillor Graham Powell.

A NEW ticket-to-ride public transport plan is launched by Herefordshire Council this week, with a plea to: ‘Meet us halfway’.

The council hopes to have its ‘half’ ready for a trial run in April or May, targeting a term-time week to keep as many cars as possible out of traffic-choked Hereford city centre.

The plan integrates bus and mini-bus services countywide with a network of publicly-accessible sites like pub car-parks as pick-up points for main routes.
 

“We accept the plan presents a huge culture change, but it’s a huge culture change we have to make. All we ask is that the travelling public at least meets us halfway,” said Councillor Graham Powell, cabinet member for infrastructure.

See the front page of this week's Hereford Times for more on this story...
 

Comments(37)

bobby47 says...
1:24pm Thu 14 Feb 13

Oh Graham! This is gold. Food from the Gods. This is right up there with 'Here You Can'.
'Meet Us Halfway'. Wonderful! Meet us halfway.
I do hope that the bus isn't going to display a poster on its flanks saying, 'Meet us Halfway'.
I ain't without some sympathy and compassion Graham. Yours is an impossible task. How to get vehicles to move along routes that belong to a past age and are pitted with craters. I do have some sympathy but in Gods good name, 'Meet us halfway'.
I mean, when I come staggering out of the battle cruiser, blind drunk, howling at the moon clutching my egg fried rice and pork balls the last thing Im capable of is meeting you anyone else or the bloody bus driver halfway.
I mean, who's to say where halfway is and how do you, anyone else or the bus driver know my starting point of the journey to determine my halfway and indeed your own halfway.
This could develop into chaos. Hundreds walking and staggering in the streets trying to determine what's halfway and what isn't halfway.
Are the buses going to have posters on their sides saying, 'Meet us Halfway'.
Graham, this good City of ours is burning and you are trying to help me light my hand rolled cigarette.
There is no logic to this latest gimmick and it'll go the same way as all the other dross and badly thought out schemes.
I know, Im a fool for seeing life this way and I do know your doing your best but I'd honestly like you to stop doing your best, take hold of Mr Jarvis's cheque signing hand, clutch it firmly and walk halfway to a distant destination and give us all some respite from the madness that is our Council Leadership.

Report this post »

mizza21 says...
2:20pm Thu 14 Feb 13

Pubic Transport in Hereford is very poor indeed.
As the old Maxim goes. "If it isn't there, people will not use it."
There's no integrated pubic transport policy because Herefordshire is so rural and it'd be very difficult and require a lot of pubic subsidy, which few politicians would have the appetite for and yet, most people would recognise something needs to be done.

This sounds like short term headline grabbing cobblers though.

I have an idea for you Mr Powell.
Build a big park and ride and have a great big ski lift type arrangement what goes to and from town over crocodile infested lakes.
That would get you on National News, not just local.

Bobby, why aren't you on strike?

Report this post »

Roger J says...
3:00pm Thu 14 Feb 13

Yet another pathetic hare brained scheme afoot, no doubt at our expense, they still can't seem to see a bypass is what is needed & also they apparently didn't have the intelligence to see this would happen when they pedestrianised practically all of the city cente - idiots the lot of them.

Report this post »

bobby47 says...
3:46pm Thu 14 Feb 13

Roger, They my good friend, the ones who have brought this upon our heads, they see things entirely differently.
We are the idiots. We are the blind fools who simply moan and groan about anything and everything and they believe that we haven't the ability or vision to see how marvellous things are and are going to be.
Believe me, they, our leadership have the Berlin Bunker mentality and they are taking us down with them and there is nothing we can do to halt our slide.

Report this post »

courtesycall says...
5:58pm Thu 14 Feb 13

meeting them half-way is such a good idea which explains why the photo shows Cllr Powell sticking 2 fingers in the air.

Report this post »

Roger J says...
6:12pm Thu 14 Feb 13

yeah bobby47 we moan & groan but they never listen to anything they are told & often enough with all their secret meetings we never find out until after the bloody event.

Report this post »

bobby47 says...
7:05pm Thu 14 Feb 13

Good God! When I read the Post from my good friend Courtesycall, my initial reaction was, 'I'll be damned if I swallow this one up, digest it and say bloody nothing'. But my friend is right, Graham is sticking to fingers up to us and what's worse, being a lip reader of questionable ability, I can tell you that Graham is muttering, 'meet me halfway or I'll batter you with my baseball bat.
Good grief! That its come to this. Councillors subjecting us to mindless violence.
I ain't having this. Im going to the top with this one.

Report this post »

fmrbill says...
8:39pm Thu 14 Feb 13

councillor graham I am prepared to meet you half way no probs, AS LONG as you can meet me half way on my 1.9% council tax increase and in fact why dont i ask the whole hog and say meet me half way on my full council tax bill for 2013/2014??. I know the answer will be NO BUGGER OFF from you councillors, so heres my response to you ref this bloody stupid idea.NO BUGGER OFF

Report this post »

CJM1957 says...
8:26am Fri 15 Feb 13

They don't have a clue about people's journeys or the cost of public transport do they? School buses are expensive for one child and if you have two or more or a group of friends to pick up, it is definitely cheaper to take the car, especially as the school is often en route to the workplace. It is also more reliable! My car is always on the drive when I want it, I don't get soaking wet waiting for it and the driver is always pleasant (well nearly always!) Buses on the other hand are completely unreliable, often dirty and school buses particularly are overcrowded and unsafe as no-one has a seat belt. They often turn up late and sometimes not at all, people get soaked in the rain waiting and to top it all, sometimes get shouted at by a rude driver because someone doesn't have the exact change. There are few proper pull-ins for buses in Hereford so the traffic snarls up behind them. To make things better, get rid of traffic lights, build foot bridges at busy junctions (Asda) and have a sensible economic park and ride scheme for visitors to the City. Also ban HGVs over a certain weight, make them use the motorways instead of the A49 which is a short cut to and from Wales. Move the football ground next to the cattle market and turn Edgar Street intoi a half decent car park so that motorists don't have to drive round and round the city looking for somewhere to park. Don't meet us half way, for goodness sake, go the whole way for once!

Report this post »

William Rudd says...
11:02am Fri 15 Feb 13

Traffic lights on Newmarket roundabout need turning off.This alone would reduce traffic congestion on Blueschool St & Edgar St.

Report this post »

bobby47 says...
11:29am Fri 15 Feb 13

William, there a guy called Colin James of Belmont Voice. He's been running a campaign for ages to get the Council to switch off Asda Lights and consider doing the same throughout some parts of the City.
Of course, it's unlikely the Council will ever get round to thinking about it but its a common sense approach to a problem.

Report this post »

Dave The Dumbest says...
12:10pm Fri 15 Feb 13

If we all go ' halfway ' do we only pay half fare or do we still pay full fare even though we have walked half way. And what if there isn't a bus top half way from where I live and half way from where I want to go ?

Report this post »

Herefordian07 says...
12:45pm Fri 15 Feb 13

What a good idea, I will definately meet councillor Powell "Halfway" on the road to damnation, I will hold his trembling two fingers as I pass him through the gates of hell as a kindness for the Hell this Council has and is putting us through on a daily basis.
Seriously, do they think these policies up after taking illegal substances or are they congenital idiots, I think I have just answered my own question, sorry everyone.

Report this post »

bobby47 says...
1:05pm Fri 15 Feb 13

Graham, Come on old friend. I do know you are there. Sat with your laptop desperate to transmit the words, 'Get stuffed Bobby and all the rest of you'.
Do it! Do it! It ain't personal and you won't offend me or anyone else.
I like you. You're a good man. Deluded and completely detached from reality but, nevertheless, I like you and your blind optimistic loyalty to the madness that's swirling around you because of the chaotic decisions that have been made on our behalf.
I like you. I like your coat. As soon as I saw you in your coat, I thought, 'What a lovely coat. Id love a lovely coat like that.
The coat I like. You, I like. Your blind obedience to your masters I like, but your plans, schemes, dreams and all the other dross you are charged to wheel out I don't like.
So, transmit your message, say what you think and I won't try and drag you into a political debate.
My very warmest regards to you Graham.

Report this post »

Clarkester says...
1:23pm Fri 15 Feb 13

Where is he going?
He's on the out of town side of Holmer Road.
Has he just been skateboarding?
No, that wouldn't be right... If he had been skateboarding, and then walked halfway to meet his bus... the other half of the journey would take him to... I think, the entrance to the allotments on Holmer Road. Surely he could walk that? It's not far. Unless he banged up his ankle whilst skateboarding and had hobbled to the halfway bus stop...
It's all a theory at the moment.

Report this post »

Grid Knocker says...
1:30pm Fri 15 Feb 13

@ Graham Powell: cart-before-the-hors
e old fruit. Tackle your FIRST priorities FIRST, before coming up with all these crazy ideas from expensive pr consultants ("Then we'll brand it with a catchy phrase, eh Grahasm? How about 'Meet Us Halfway'?). How is it that Hereford is just about the only city in Britain which has embraced park-and-ride? Such a simple concept that even a cabinet member for transport policy should be able to get his head round. You park the old jallopy outside the city limits, hop on a bus and get driven into (and around the town). Even little old Ludlow's got one!

Report this post »

Miss Taken says...
3:56pm Fri 15 Feb 13

So Graham Powell, I have tried to meet you halfway and looked at the possibility of completing two of my weekly journeys by public transport and failed miserably!

One of the journeys requires a trip 7.4 miles out of the city for a 1 hour medical appointment. To do this by public transport, I would need to leave the office at 3pm to catch the 3.30pm bus, which gets in to the destination at 4.06pm. I would then have a 54 minute wait until my appointment time. After the appointment I would have to wait 46 minutes for a return bus which would get me back into Hereford at 7.04pm, followed by a 15 minute walk home. If I take the car, I leave the office at 4.30pm (saving my employers and me an hour) and get home at 6.20pm.

The second journey is far more clear cut - once a week I visit a friend after work. They live in a village 7 miles outside of the city. I can get there by means of a bus at 5.54pm, but the last bus from the village into Hereford is at 5.05pm - hopeless.

So Graham Powell, I will continue to make my journeys by car until you provide the means for me to make them by public transport.

For info, before some smarty pants says it, I cannot cycle due to my disability. Besides which the country roads are lethal for cyclists.

Report this post »

WYSIATI says...
8:03pm Fri 15 Feb 13

Not too many constructive comments so far.

Public transport for Herefordshire never going to be easy - more and more people have cars and use them and as someone said above the costs of providing buses is going to be prohibitive.

So working on reducing congestion if possible during the working week is surely a good idea - we all complain about the congestion don't we?

It also seems to me that the traffic is far worse in term time than the holidays - so there must be an element of school related traffic (as well as people on holiday presumably having some small effect too).

We can moan and complain or we could think about new ways to provide for those who can't afford cars - car sharing, buses on demand, internet-based ways of sharing lifts or organising public transport. But if we sit still on our hands and complain we'll see fewer and fewer buses till there are none and that will be that.

In Switzerland you send a text to the rail company and then get one back offering the next options to go from where you are to where you want to go - we're never going to be quite like that but there's a lot could be done to make what we have work better - and that may mean coming half way

Report this post »

littlewhitebull says...
9:12pm Fri 15 Feb 13

Have spent ages recently travelling from Holmer Road via Edgar Street to Ross and other points south of river. All during off peak times, yet traffic going 'southwards along Edgar Street very congested. The lights at the Edgar Street/Newmarket Street junction allow only about 4/5 vehicles across, because traffic travelling eastwards towards Widemarsh Street and back towards Tesco/south of Wye, block the way! Council have been made aware of this, but say their traffic surveys don't see a problem.
Those of us who see this problem daily during our work, are trying to be helpful in highlighting this problem, but our experiences are shunned as silly - yet we are trying to be positive and helpful.
When you drive back north of the Wye, the traffic during the day is pretty good, yet the queues on Edgar Street all the way back to B&Q are still there.
If our council won't listen possibly they could sit and watch the situation - the best way to monitor what is really happening.

Report this post »

Themightyboosh says...
9:42pm Fri 15 Feb 13

today at around 10am i was waiting for somone and started looking at the buses
out of 12 large buses that passed.
5 were empty thats 20 wasted car journeys
and the fullest had 6 passengers.
each of these takes up the space of about 4 cars
and has a massive thirsty turbo diesel engine.
its just so wasteful.



i realy just dont see the point

Report this post »

Ubique5740 says...
7:15am Sat 16 Feb 13

Last November I asked HCC if they were planning to have a Park and Ride on the run up to Christmas . The reply is below . I just hope that they do their sums for what is planned

"Providing the service for the five pre-Christmas Saturdays less revenue was £15.7k. Operating costs amount to 77% of the total, the rest being spent on promotion and signage.
•
There were 1759 passenger journeys with each passenger making two journeys. The subsidy per passenger return journey calculates at £17.32 / passenger "

Report this post »

William Rudd says...
10:31am Sat 16 Feb 13

I know for a fact that the park n ride at Aylestone Hill had very few passengers during the 2011 run up to christmas.
Park n ride needs to be run by a private company.all year round

Report this post »

Biomech says...
1:41pm Sat 16 Feb 13

As usual the HT is full of facts and information.

Could someone else please explain how what is described above is any different than a public bus service?

Report this post »

megilleland says...
9:55pm Sat 16 Feb 13

Experienced the local bus service last night. We arrived at 9.55pm to catch the 10.05pm departure from the bus station at Tesco, along with 12 other passengers, to travel on the 74 service to Newton Farm - which then failed to arrive. We would have to wait another hour for the next bus at 11.05pm which together with the travelling time of 15mins to Newton Farm meant that we would have got home nearly one and half hours later. Not a good advert for using buses. This happens quite regularly on this service and the £6.70 taxi fare didn't help either. That's why I cycle in Hereford - 8 mins from the centre to my home and 14 mins from the railway station.

Report this post »

mr.dig says...
11:50pm Sat 16 Feb 13

as william said @10h31. privatise park and ride and lets go for it., i am lucky to live by wyevale and i can walk into town. takes me an hour each way ,but i can go in the lich and wobble home . who needs public transport?
dg..

Report this post »

JohnBoym458 says...
10:54am Sun 17 Feb 13

Well Graham, seems like you haven't got much support for this scheme........Shock!
!! Horror!!!! lol

Report this post »

Graham Powell says...
1:53pm Sun 17 Feb 13

I am going to guess that I won’t be the keynote speaker at your annual correspondents luncheon, which is a disappointment.

We have school transport, community transport, patient transport and subsidised public transport operating under various contracts across Herefordshire and when, in our recent budget consultation, we asked residents for their views, 83% of residents agreed that integration of these services, wherever possible, made sense. There is no doubt that we could provide a better rural service, and spend less money, through a process of integration. I am going to work with the council officers and local communities to try and deliver services that meet need, and reduce the the current dependence on cars. Wherever residents live we ought to make it possible to reach a bus service, at least once a week, that will allow travel to the local market town and beyond.

During school term time there is, within Hereford, a marked change for the worse in the volume of traffic, in particular in the morning rush hour. When school children are asked how they would like to travel to school a majority want to walk or cycle. We have to provide cycleways and walkways that make it safe for that ambition to be fulfilled.

I and many others believe that it is possible to make a difference to the traffic congestion in Hereford by enabling and encouraging the use of sustainable travel as an alternative to the car. The alternative to trying to make a difference is, of course, to do nothing but complain about the lack of action by others. I’ll let the correspondents work out for themselves which camp they are in.

Park & Ride – it won’t work effectively until we have dedicated bus lanes and that’s some time away. I am looking at changes that will make a difference now and are deliverable.

I notice that one or two correspondents have had difficulty with scheduled bus services not conforming in accordance with the published schedules. I would encourage those who suffer from this experience to register their complaint with the operator – and if that fails to deliver a satisfactory response let me know and I’ll take the matter up.

Report this post »

Ubique5740 says...
2:11pm Sun 17 Feb 13

Thank you Cllr Powell for your Post. I think that I will have to wait until your final plan is publicised before I comment.
There is a lot of work to be done before Students can ride to school safely . In my village the school have "walk to school days " Because of the unsafe road network and speeding traffic (which NOBODY in any sort of authority is concerned about ) the parents park at the local shop and walk the children the 200m to and from the school.

Report this post »

Ubique5740 says...
2:27pm Sun 17 Feb 13

I am fully aware that I am drifting off the theme, but as we have a Cllr reading the posts I believe that it's worth doing .
There is no mention of the horse meat situation in the HT , I do wonder why.
Yesterday, Saturday , I was listening to BBC H and W , the News Reader said that HCC had refused to say if they are carrying out an enquiry regarding the scandal of horsemeat mixed with other meat for human consumption . To say that HCC refused to answer a simple question is unbelievable . Parents of school age children need reassurance from the Council . In their hour of need the Council have failed. Is it because they do not buy local for school dinners and are forced to purchase the cheapest?

Report this post »

bobby47 says...
2:39pm Sun 17 Feb 13

Hello Graham, Well done for coming on here. I knew you would because you've got character, courage, a sense of responsibility and a lovely coat.
Don't ever take anything personally. It's not personal and if I thought for a moment I was hurting you I'd stop and as reluctant as I am to say this, that includes Mr Jarvis.
Please give some thought to the suggestion from Colin James of Belmont Voice. Switching off the traffic lights at Asda and one or two other key areas.
As for cycling, give some thought to cyclists being able to mount the pavement in some suitable areas and making these routes places that cyclist can use but giving the cyclist the instruction that pedestrians have priority.
Publicise our litter problem and invite all to pick it up and pop it in a bin.
As for some potholes, particularly on estates and reasonably safe places, get hold of Cordinators and get communities to do some of the minor work themselves.
I do realise that this suggestion is flawed in many areas but if the Council deposited materials to do the work, communities might respond and improve things themselves.
Once again, it ain't personal Graham and thank you for your Post.
My very warmest regards to you.

Report this post »

Grid Knocker says...
6:21am Mon 18 Feb 13

@ Biomech: You hit the nail on the head there, mate!

Report this post »

silentbull says...
7:26am Mon 18 Feb 13

I drive a car because i need to get to work ON TIME!!!!
i work shifts i work in Hereford but live at least 13miles away
Before 6 in the morning there's NO BUS SERVICE
After 12 at night for another shift there's NO BUS SERVICE
On the odd occasion that I've caught the bus (not for work as its not workable)its expensive , takes well over an hour to get to the destination also noisey and dirty.
By car i can be in Hereford (usually park in merton Meadow)from my front door within 20mins .

Report this post »

TwoWheelsGood says...
10:19am Mon 18 Feb 13

I think rather than asking the public to meet Mr Powell halfway, he needs to be asking the bus companies to meet the needs of the consumer at least half way. They could start by providing buses that are clean, don't belch huge clouds of diesel smoke into cyclists faces, run on time, provide real time information at stops etc etc. I live in the City. In other words, they need to invest some real money into the service.

Report this post »

JohnBoym458 says...
11:01am Mon 18 Feb 13

10 out of 10 to you Graham, a concillor responding to what are mostly negative posts. It is good to see that you have outlined measures to help resolve the growing traffic problem in Hfd, along with the dispicable bus service. Notice i said "outlined measures" and not solutions......Lets face facts Graham, the council have little to very little support of the people of hfd, you waste our money because you are incapable of making the correct decisions that are needed to help make it pleasurable to live in. In any other line of work, people who perform as badly as Hfd City Council are given their marching orders, yet you people make rediculous and expensive decisions and still sleep soundly at night.
But heyho, you still have a very nice coat!!!!!
Oh, and yes, this is another negative post...............I wonder why???????

Report this post »

Biomech says...
2:29pm Mon 18 Feb 13

I also commend Graham on posting.

Can someone explain the "meet us halfway" part - what exactly do they want us to do?

Report this post »

silentbull says...
3:57pm Mon 18 Feb 13

Biomech wrote:
I also commend Graham on posting.

Can someone explain the "meet us halfway" part - what exactly do they want us to do?
Fill the holes in the roads
Police our neighbourhoods
Walk or Bike to work(even though its not practical with most people living in the country)
Don't worry about the signs as there's more coming
Take our own rubbish to the tip(maybe give it to an elderly neighbour to burn for heating?)

Just a few, there's prob many more

Report this post »

Mr.Herefordian says...
2:13pm Wed 20 Feb 13

JohnBoym458 Good points but you must get your Councils sorted, we are where we are thanks to Herefordshire Council Cabinet, not Hereford City Council. Keep up the good work.

Report this post »

click2find

About cookies

We want you to enjoy your visit to our website. That's why we use cookies to enhance your experience. By staying on our website you agree to our use of cookies. Find out more about the cookies we use.

I agree