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Transport

B

Ben.

TS Member
This has been brought up many a time, and if there is another topic out there regarding this then I apologize. It seems to me, and many others that I talk to, that the transport system around the park is getting worse and worse. The park is only going to become more and more popular, with release of SW7, and the new accommodation block, my fear is that the roads around the park will only be able to sustain so much.

I mean, if you cant drive, there is very little else you can do to get to the park, recently I have taken the train, and the bus to the park, and it strikes me as odd that a park of this size, is relying on the same bus that transports staff, to also carry guests. it just seems sloppy and is majorly inconvenient, especially as the bus doesent arrive before opening time, and only on very selected slots.

There needs to be some form of investment, if not in roads (like the past ring road idea) then perhaps in some form of a park and ride system, anything to lessen the strain on the local area. this in turn would reduce space needed for the car parks on park, which would solve the expansion problem.

Anyway, that was a very unstructured rant, but my question is this, what should or could be done to create a more effective transport system?
 
I totally agree, the bus from Stoke takes the actual mic to get to Towers I know when I used to have a annual pass It was just easier to get a taxi from Stoke/Uttoxter to get there for early ride time.

There was talks a few months back though about the Alton train station opening again? If anyone could shed some light on this? As well as the relief road but that's highly unlikely! Think the last quote was just over £6 Million? Ouch..

With the high investment in the future coming years though I would think that the Resort do need to look in ways to improve of getting there especially within the next few years and what they have in store!
 
The plaza area could do with becoming more of a 'hub' to welcome everyone into the resort. It currently does a great job for users of the monorail but for those being dropped off, or arriving by bus it can seem rather confusing and poorly designed. Even if the bus stop were simple re-designed into a few designated bays with some shelters and benches it would be an improvement. Busses also ought to be better timed and more regular too
 
Well even if the station was to reopen there would need to be some form of transit from there to the park. And with eh coach park, even if it was re tarmacked, re fenced with permanent fencing and some white lines added, this would really help to distinguish it as transport from park. I even boasts on the map that the park is easy to get to because of its location, which couldn't be further from the truth, it seems to me that we are currently as capacity and the park cannot possibly sustain more visitors arriving using the currant system. So there is no real point in expanding if the clientele cannot get to the park.
 
Zak said:
I totally agree, the bus from Stoke takes the actual mic to get to Towers I know when I used to have a annual pass It was just easier to get a taxi from Stoke/Uttoxter to get there for early ride time.

There was talks a few months back though about the Alton train station opening again? If anyone could shed some light on this? As well as the relief road but that's highly unlikely! Think the last quote was just over £6 Million? Ouch..

With the high investment in the future coming years though I would think that the Resort do need to look in ways to improve of getting there especially within the next few years and what they have in store!
Click to expand...

http://www.mcrailways.co.uk/
^that's the company and all the information about the railway is on there.
 
Even if Alton station was to reopen however, am I right in assuming it wouldn't be on a main line and would certainly require a change from major stations such as Derby or Stoke? [I'm not entirely sure what the route would be however].

With regards to buses, despite the Towers bus and the 32A running to Uttoxeter, I still feel they need to run far more regularly, earlier and later. It's impossible for me to arrive at the start of ERT as for that I would have to take the half 7 bus from Uttoxeter. I can't even get into Uttoxeter at that time! Hourly services from half 7 up until half 10, and then the current timetable running alongside that would be perfect. The same for the return journey at night also.
 
mrbrightside said:
The plaza area could do with becoming more of a 'hub' to welcome everyone into the resort. It currently does a great job for users of the monorail but for those being dropped off, or arriving by bus it can seem rather confusing and poorly designed. Even if the bus stop were simple re-designed into a few designated bays with some shelters and benches it would be an improvement. Busses also ought to be better timed and more regular too
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i get what you mean take efetling for example you get off the bus an then walk down the path to the entrance so easy
 
Danny said:
Even if Alton station was to reopen however, am I right in assuming it wouldn't be on a main line and would certainly require a change from major stations such as Derby or Stoke? [I'm not entirely sure what the route would be however].

With regards to buses, despite the Towers bus and the 32A running to Uttoxeter, I still feel they need to run far more regularly, far more earlier and far more later. It's impossible for me to arrive at the start of ERT as for that I would have to take the half 7 bus from Uttoxeter. I can't even get into Uttoxeter at that time! Hourly services from half 7 up until half 10, and then the current timetable running alongside that would be perfect. The same for the return journey at night also.
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Well they could create a Park and ride system using the railway and a heritage DMU or something
 
As said, a park an ride system could work, but where? all the surrounding area is un-level farm land, a regular shuttle bus service would suffice, and i mean like 4 on the same route at a time, so there is always one at the station, one on park and two in transit. If this was to run like this to uttox, Leek, Stoke and Derby then we would be in business, then a real ticket offer could be advertised combining train, bus and park. This would be a great advertising opportunity, would reduce traffic through the village, less people in the car parks and more people through the gates.
 
I would like to see some "Alton Gateways", which is an out-there idea I came up with a while back. The idea is that in large towns within a 15 mile radius, there will be a car park with a small buss station by it, along with a small ticket centre for park tickets. People could simply locate the nearest gateway, park their car there, then take a direct buss to the park, along with their ticket! This would reduce traffic problems, along with queues to get tickets.

It terms of advertising, There would be a flag at the gateway, & a "Find Your Nearest Gateway" option on the website.

Obviously this is aimed at the people who live at those towns, Leek, Uttoxiter etc. Also, people who don't want to use so much petrol there by not having to travel as far.

Just thought I'd put some ideas in!

:)
 
Re: Transport

I have to travel around 120-30 miles to towers, and my last journey the longest part was the 15 mile bus journey from stoke...

I think a relief road would be required if they plan to expand the resort in 2014.

Sent from my phone using Tapatalk, please excuse any ridiculous mistakes!
 
During the TTF@10 event they said they have no plans for a relief road anytime soon, and the council doesnt see the need either (basicly neither Towers or the council want to pay for it. There are some similar and cheap ways they could improve the roads around the resort, some of them are very narrow, it wouldnt cost much to wider a few of the rides so its easior for buses and cars to pass. Also some of the junctions are a bit confusing and cause traffic problems, for example when coming from Uttox in the Alton village you have to turn right and then straight left, it would be easior if they altered the road to make the traffic going to Alton be the main road, and the other way can be a turning. That would then keep the traffic moving.

They also need to sort the layout of the roads on the park, guests seem to get confused by them all the time, and they simply cant handle the amount of traffic that they have, I think traffic lights near the park enterance would work well during park opening and closing. Finally they also need to sort out the state of some of the roads in and around towers.

I have never got the towers bus, but I know plenty who have and they all say how bad they are in terms of there timetables. You always arrive after park opening and usually have to leave before the park closes. Espeically during scarefest or fireworks, when the last bus is about 5.30 or something silly.

Im unsure a park and ride system would work, and where it would go. The council would never let alton build some giant car park anywhere near the park as it would just look horrible, so the nearest place would be somewhere like Uttox, which is still quite a distance which I feel many people wouldnt want to do to get to a theme park.
 
Transport links are ATs downfall. The roads to AT are not the best, and on busy days traffic in the form of private cars stacks up on the roads around it.

Options.

Bus/coach
The easiest to implement, as they already have a limited service. If Alton invested in adding more capacity to the system, and linked into other public transport system will greatly improve access to AT for many people.

Funding AT / Travel tickets

Park and ride
This would need investment in land away from the park. Then the land would need turning into a car park,bus stop and passenger waiting area. Investment in fleet would have to come along with this, to service the P&R sites.

Funding AT / Travel and parking tickets

The two options above would also need upgrading of Bus infrastructure on ATs site.

Road Upgrade
Expensive as last quote was in excess of £6 million. This does not get around on site parking and public transport issues.

Funding AT or Staffordshire County Council / Highway agency

The three options above would also need upgrading of road infrastructure on ATs site.

Rail
With a track in use between Leekbrook and just outside Oakmoor and the trackbed still intact from Oakmoor and Alton Towers. although that section of trackbed is in the hands of Staffordshire County Council, Churnet Valley Railway (CVR) are in discussion to take ownership of the trackbed. and have an agreement with Moorlands and City Railway (MCR) to run this.
I hear you ask why CVR have an agreement with MCR operating arm. simply as MCR are in the process of re opening the Stoke to Leekbrook and Leek to Leekbrook lines, giving access to leek on the one side and The west coast main line on the other.

Funding CVR/MCR partnership and Staffordshire County Council

Personally I think we will end up with the rail option, as it driven by an outside group that already has it as part of their project plan and potential revenue streams.
 
And then its a case of getting from the station to the park, its a fair old trek, especially if you intend to stay over ans thus have bags to carry. There needs to be some sort of link with the station to the park.
 
Public transport definitely needs addressing. As I only recently learnt to drive I've been relying on public transport for the 3 years I was living in Birmingham and like Fredward said that last 15 miles on the bus is by far the longest part of the journey. Plus I've had one occasion when a bus didn't even turned up and another when I was told it was staff only.

Besides getting a Taxi (or hailing a very kind TST member ;) ) there is no other way to get to the park.

Let’s do a quick comparison to the other parks I’ve visited by public transport when I’ve been exploring Europe (and was therefore forced to use public transport). It should be noted that some of these parks are minor compared to Alton’s well known status:

- Liseberg: From Gothenburg Air Port, bus into town, tram straight to the park entrance. Rough time 30 minutes
- PortAventura: From Barcelona Air Port, train into Barcelona, train to PortAventura, 10 minute walk to the park entrance. Rough time 1 hour 30 minutes (but it’s been a while)
- Europa Park: surprisingly this isn’t easy either; bus from Baden-Baden Air Port, train from Baden-Baden station, transfer, quick bus journey from Ringsheim station. Rough time 2 hours
- Phantasialand: Train from Cologne airport, Tram from Cologne, Bus from the end of the tram line which arrives direct at the park. Roughly 1 hour
- Tripsdrill: Train from Stuttgart Airport, change to number 5 line until the edge of the city, bus direct to the park. Roughly 1 hour

- Alton Towers: Roughly an hour bus journey from Stoke-on-Trent, and that’s without counting where you’ve come from in the first place.

Now location wise Alton is never going to be easy to get to unless they build a main road straight from the motorway. I also think it’s quite interesting that the largest park I’ve been too (Europa Park) is also a bit of a trek. In fact it took us even longer than what I stated above to get there this year because we came from Stuttgart. But in the case of Europa it gets away with it because it sells itself as a full resort worthy of multiple days, an option that Alton could consider.

But in the mean time they could really do with improving their public transport somehow. The most basic option would be two types of buses; a direct one from the station and a staff bus that takes the longer route.
 
For me its a nightmare to get to towers, with 2 train changes and then the 1hr bus journey, in total taking around 2-3 hours to get there. From the midlands. I wouldnt mind the short park time if you could go during scarefest (I know they dont exactly do this on purpose, they cant just change for events), but having the last bus at 6 is just awful :( There must be some method around this?
 
I think variety of factors result in the lack of any major public transport links to the Alton Towers Resort from major transport hubs such as train stations and bus stations.

One of the main things is the type of journey required. It's actually quite hard to provide a seasonal transport infrastructure, especially when a large percentage of potential footfall want to travel at the same time. What I mean by this is that most guests want to arrive at the park between a certain time (i.e between 9.30am and 11am) and then depart again around the time of park closure. This is then made even harder by the length of the journey, if it was a relatively short journey you can get away with operating a 'shuttle' and keep people waiting for a small amount of time but your looking at a minimum direct journey time of around 40+ minutes in a bus to the nearest existing infrastructure point such as bus and train stations,

You also then have the issue of the regulation and monitoring of registered service bus services such as this. All routes have to preregistered with the Traffic Commissioner, any changes need to have at least 90 days notice. Any notice of variation submitted also needs 90 days notice and then is subject to approval and comes at a cost of several hundred pounds.

In quick summary though, using Scarefest as an example, there's actually major logistical problems of extending the operational hours of the bus routes: i.e submitting the notice of variation and the associated costs, updating timetables which is required by regulation of the bus industry, however drivers would be over their driving time, so you then need a whole new set of drivers to provide the man power to operate for a few extra hours.

FirstBus will see the route to Alton as a cash cow and will be happy with the fare revenue they are taking, as again they can't afford to be having vehicles sit around when the park's season finishes.

The in-house bus operation operated by Alton Towers Resort does work well to a degree, but there is a demand for more capacity. However from the impression I get, the main aim is for staff transportation.

I think given access to the right information, fact's and figures a well thought our plan could be put into place which is appropriate for the level of demand.

I'd be first in line to start a new private commercial service to the resort, however the passenger footfall (and the spread of the footfall) would need to be enough to warrant making it viable as an express service from bus/rail stations only.
 
I hate standing up on that Alton towers bus and hate leaving a hour before all the staff get on. They really do need to add extra busses like over school holidays, last thing what family's want to do at the end of the day is to stand up on the bus. Out if curiosity how much is a taxi from stoke to the park?
 
Dungeons master said:
I hate standing up on that Alton towers bus and hate leaving a hour before all the staff get on. They really do need to add extra busses like over school holidays, last thing what family's want to do at the end of the day is to stand up on the bus. Out if curiosity how much is a taxi from stoke to the park?
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About £40 from Stoke, half that from Uttoxeter. Isn't the Alton Towers bus stopping as of the start of this season anyway? Leaving only the 32A as a means of getting to the park from Uttox.
 
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