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The Public Transport Thread

If you're from Glasgow, Edinburgh or Newcastle then you could take an early express train to Manchester or Leeds then use the coach but that would cost a lot. Same with Cardiff and Bristol you could change at Birmingham.
 
Yep, only bus services running are the 32a from Stoke (£2 scheme) and the X41 from Stafford (Not on £2 scheme). Both are operated by D&G Bus (Centrebus)
 
This seems poorly thought through at best, opportunistic at worst.

For example:-

Manchester Piccadilly > Stoke on Trent Open Return (Off Peak) £13.70.

Taxi from SOT to Towers approx £20-25 (each way).

2 people travelling and you’ll pay about the same overall, for a fraction of the journey time with greater flexibility. 3-4 people and it will be cheaper per person.


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Matt N said:
They do, however, seem to have snubbed the entire South West, if I’m not mistaken. The closest any of the coach routes seemingly get to here is Birmingham; they don’t come to Bristol or Cardiff. There is also a whole route to London and the South East.
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I suppose you've answered your own question that London gets one just because it's London. Sounds like a horrible journey though.

I suppose if you were that desperate coming from this neck of the woods, trains from Bristol Parkway, Bristol Temple Meads, Cardiff Central, and even as far afield as Exeter St David's to Birmingham New Street are pretty ten-a-penny, so you could hop on the coach from there. It's easy and quick to get from this part of the world to Birmingham and London. It's going anywhere else beyond that that's often the problem.
 
For coaches to be effective I’d say they need to be scheduled to arrive half an hour before park opening and leave half an hour after closing. Surely customers would rather wake up at the crack of dawn than only have a few hours in the park, and the busiest hours of the day at that.
 
The late closures might cause some difficulty if they left after park close as young families likely won't want to stay on park until 8:30 (or later at Scarefest/Fireworks) and arrive home past midnight. If there isn't demand for two coaches then they might have to compromise.
 
Mick said:
For coaches to be effective I’d say they need to be scheduled to arrive half an hour before park opening and leave half an hour after closing. Surely customers would rather wake up at the crack of dawn than only have a few hours in the park, and the busiest hours of the day at that.
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That is thoosie talk though.
Such services are demand led...if the majority wanted a very early start, it would happen.
 
The biggest problem with public transport is that it is dependent on traffic. On busy days, a bus arriving for opening could be delayed quite a bit just getting onto Towers property. The area isn't designed for the volume of cars they get, let alone busses. As much as there is public transport to Towers - it is not a park for people without cars... unfortunately.

The only way I could every see public transport being a viable way to reliably get to and from the park is if there was a dedicated bus entry to the resort site. I can't see JCB allowing a bus to drive across their test site (fun as it would be) and the re-opening of the railway is a tad unlikely.
 
When I think of coaches, I either imagine school trips or old couples not talking to each other on their way to the Lake District. Surely this is aimed at casuals? People wanting a full day out will still drive.
 
Thameslink Rail said:
The late closures might cause some difficulty if they left after park close as young families likely won't want to stay on park until 8:30 (or later at Scarefest/Fireworks) and arrive home past midnight. If there isn't demand for two coaches then they might have to compromise.
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But they could still try to get you there at 10am and leave around 5.30. Doesn't have to take into account the 8pm closing but simply allowing a full 10am to 5pm day would be a start.
 
jon81uk said:
But they could still try to get you there at 10am and leave around 5.30. Doesn't have to take into account the 8pm closing but simply allowing a full 10am to 5pm day would be a start.
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I completely agree, I was responding to someone who said they should leave after park close.
 
Matt.GC said:
When I think of coaches, I either imagine school trips or old couples not talking to each other on their way to the Lake District. Surely this is aimed at casuals? People wanting a full day out will still drive.
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Lots of carless families from the northern towns still do loads of coach trips to the Towers, Blackpool and the like from spring bank weekend right through to scarefest.
All these towns have coach trips from local firms, for local people.
It is fun when you have to stand in the front and give directions to the driver.
That was in the early days of the Black Hole, with the landlords daughters.
There should be a joke in there somewhere, but I'm too afraid to look.
 
I just wish there was buses from uttoxer train station there's one at like 9:20 but I can't get there for 9:20 from Gloucester station without catching a train at 6am which sod that and then there's only one bus back to uttoxer at like 5pm and only alternative are £25 each way taxis.

But towers has never been known for great transport links anyway.
 
I will always maintain that they're missing a trick with a mainline station so close, with pre-opening arrivals from London, Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester...and all the connections via those places...and such a shoddy last leg of taxi, or pray you get on the one bus.

It isn't good enough.

ScottishChris said:
The area isn't designed for the volume of cars they get, let alone busses. As much as there is public transport to Towers - it is not a park for people without cars... unfortunately.
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The volume of cars could quite easily be decreased by replacing at least 10 cars, more likely 20, with one 50 seater coach. But obviously for the coach to entice people away from driving, the times, price and comfort levels have to be perfect.
 
Ryan said:
I will always maintain that they're missing a trick with a mainline station so close, with pre-opening arrivals from London, Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester...and all the connections via those places...and such a shoddy last leg of taxi, or pray you get on the one bus.

It isn't good enough.
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Out of interest, which mainline station are you referring to?

As far as I can see, the closest railway stations appear to be Uttoxeter and Blythe Bridge, which are both at least 10 miles away and both appear to only run more local services.
 
A shuttle service from Uttoxexter would be a winner, if the services to that station weren't so limited. I live next to the Bristol - Exeter Mainline. Penzance, Exeter St David's, Cardiff Central, Birmingham New Street, and London Paddington all have regular and quick direct GWR services. Cross Country services (the longest train journey in the UK between Aberdeen and Penzance runs through here) will get me to Manchester Piccadilly, Derby, York, Newcastle, and Scotland with a change at Temple Meads. But trying to get a service anywhere close to Towers is just rubbish.

I had a quick look on Trainline to see if I could get to Uttoxexter in time to get some form of transport to Towers from there in time for park opening tomorrow morning. It came up as follows:

Because it's too early for trains, I'd have to get the Bristol Airport Flyer from the station to the Airport at 4:16am. Change at the Airport.

4:43 Airport Flyer to Bristol Temple Meads. Change at Temple Meads.

6:15 Cross Country service to Derby. Change at Derby.

8:47 East Midlands Railway service to Uttoxexter. Find a way to get to the park.

A 6:26, with a change at Temple Meads and Stoke will get me to Uttoxexter at 9:57.

Both cost £100.90 return for 1 person.
 
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