Bendy-bus'tram' Plan, Stratford to Atherstone

[Madhatter]

A Bus that works like a tram is being considered to offer passengers a quick and easy route for destinations from Atherstone to Stratford.

The bus rapid transit scheme will use dedicated bus lines along much of its route. It will travel From Stratford to Coventry through Bedworth and Nuneaton and finish at Atherstone. It would cost around 14 million to set up the scheme in Nuneaton and Bedworth alone, but promises a high Quality service from Nuneaton to Coventry, and and would provide much needed links to the Ricoh arena and the George Eliot hospital. It could also provide a much needed Tourist boost to Atherstones Booktown.

Nuneaton councillors seem to be against the idea, they say dedicated bus lanes will be unpopular and it should make use of the existing routes.
During a discussion local members of Warwickshire County Council, Lee White of the Transport Planning Unit explained, "It can run on public roads, but whether it is value for money when it uses public roads is another matter."
The 'tram' Could provide fast journey times if run on dedicated bus lanes, taking people right in to the heart of Nuneaton pedestrian zone.
A public consultation exercise is expected before any bid will be made to Central Government.

[JoshBaskin]

This sounds great, but I doubt that it will ever happen, we never seem to get anything up here, they think the county ends at rugby. I wonder if it will have special tracks through Atherstone, and where they'd go.
There isn't anywhere really is there, unless they chopy all the trees down on witherley road.

[Admin]

Bendy-bus 'tram' plan considered
A bus that works like a tram is being considered to offer passengers a quick and easy route for destinations stretching from Atherstone to Stratford.
The bus Rapid Transit scheme,which would rely on dedicated bus lanes to reach its full potential, would especially cater for people travelling from Nuneaton through Bedworth and in to Coventry.
It would cost around £14 million to set up the scheme in Nuneaton and Bedworth alone but promises public transport of the highest qualityoperating between Nuneaton and Coventry every twenty minutes and using its own bus stops. It would also offer one of the first direct public transport routes from Atherstone to Stratford upon Avon.
A bid is now being considered to central government with the aim of securing the necessary funding within the next two years.
But when discussed last night by local members of Warwickshire County Council, the need for dedicated bus lanes through Nuneaton town centre was a cause for some concern.
"It can run on the public roads, but whether it is value for money when it uses public roads is another matter." explained Lee White of the Transport Planning Unit.
Cllr Richard Chattaway,who has experienced the BRT scheme first hand added:"If you ask people if they want a better bus service they will say yes. If you ask them if they want bus lanes and all the traffic that comes with it, then I think you would get a different answer."
In Nuneaton town centre the scheme could run through the pedestrian area or using current bus routes, while it could also operate between the George Eliot Hospital and Bedworth, also providing a link to the Ricoh Arena.
These proposals were criticised by the chair of the Area Comitee, Cllr Barry Longden, who said: "If you're going to have one of these bendy-buses going up the A444 you're going to get trouble," adding "if you're using bus lanes in Coton Road and what not, forget it, people in Nuneaton and Bedworth are not going to want bus lanes."
Cllr Pat Henry agreed: "It has taken us many many years to get the traffic out of the town centre and I don't think it will be welcome. I think it should use the current bus route," but she added: "If I can get in something that takes me from Stockingford to Warwick then I will be happy."
Independant consultants have been investigating ways of improving public transport along the north-south corridor, stretching from Nuneaton to Leamington Spa, with links to Atherstone and Stratford.
But Conservative councillor John Ross said they had been looking at the wrong form of transport: "Its an absolute no-no. The roads are not able to accept the extra width. I think the answer is to use the rail network we have already got."
A public consultation excercise is expected before any bid is made to central gevernment.

Coloured picture of the bus on that site accompanies the article in Heartland Evening News - Thursday, May 25th, 2006 Headline story page one.

[Madhatter]

It uses a busway, a dedicated narrow lane separate from the normal road, sometimes parallel to the normal road, sometimes not, OR it uses the bus lanes.
All irrelevant because after a debate about this on another site it has become obvious that the Evening news Article is misleading. It was NEVER in the proposals for this to come to Atherstone, it was always going to end at Nuneaton. Likewise it was never going to Stratford, it was only going as far as Kenilworth.
What it means is You can use this with bus links to get from Atherstone to Stratford, so the direct bit is misleading.
Silly us forgetting that we don't exist because we're the wrong side of Nuneaton
I fail to see what the point of it is if it's only going from Nuneaton to Kenilworth and begrudge the money being spent on it.
Reading that report above, it's quite worrying how many councillors apparently 'thought' at that meeting, they never seem to have thought anything through here, they just do it. Even worse is what they are thinking, how the hell did they suddenly become experts on such things, and why are these thought being taken as being representative of what the public think.

I don't think it right.

[JoshBaskin]

Neither do I, but It was as expected. NorthWarwickshire is a non entity. Warwickshire Stops at mount fuddy duddy. They can't even admit to having Camphill estete in Nuneaton.