Go  |
New |
Find |
Notify |
|
Reply |
|
Admin |
New PM! |
New Member
|
Does Boston have or have considered a park and ride scheme?
|
| |
|
New Member
|
As someone who has lived in Boston now for a number of years I was saddened by the programme and the way it went about it's subject. Boston does have a traffic issue for a number of reasons but the programme failed to recognise all of the key issues.
1. Two A roads coverge from the North and South and cross a river on one major bridge is the main problem. All the dock traffic from the south has to turn across the flow of traffic at this bridge as well which really doesn't help. Look at Boston and it's surrounding major roads on a map. The layout is best described as egg timer. Boston is the middle part where the sand struggles to get through. There is no other major route.
2. The standard of road behaviour is generally poor for whatever reason. Jumping lights. Blocking Junctions etc are everyday problems which must arise from the frustration of the traffic but this only increases the issue. Better policing of these junctions is needed. Use of cameras etc. may help. Riding a bike in around Boston town centre roads is best described as death defying! My mum has given her bike up after being clipped twice by vehicles passing too close.
3. Boston's two major supermarkets are on one side of the town forcing all the locals who live on the other side of the town to drive through the town to get their shopping. So if you travel from the north of Boston to the supermarkets you have to get through nine junctions which either have traffic lights or a roundabout on them. One of these supermarkets is only 3 or 4 years old. What on earth were the towns planners thinking of!!!??? The programme made no mention of this major issue.
4. I agree the school run is an issue and that the roads are a 100 times better in the school holidays. Is this just Boston? I don't think so.
More school buses? Better planning of cycle lanes and more of them? Boston used to have a lot more cyclists. Are Boston people lazy? Are they fed with getting barged off the road? Are they fed up with getting their bikes stolen when left securely in the town centre? I've had three stolen or stripped of running gear. Again is this just Boston?
5. Public transport is awful but that is a national issue not just a local one to Boston. I think all small rural towns across Britain have the same public transport issues. Expensive trains and infrequent buses.
I was so disapointed that the programme failed to recoginse Bostons specific issues and that Boston was branded nationally as a fat lazy town that just can't be bothered. Not at all. I agree there are too many cars and lorries on the road but it is a national and global issue as well. Give us an alternative. We don't all have a ten minute walk like the programme was keen to focus on. Again it's the silent majority that suffer day in day out by farcical planning locally and nationally on all issues by sucessive councils and governments.
|
| |
|
New Member
|
I agree, cycling in Boston IS very dangerous. My work collegue was "cleaned up" by a car turning into the petrol station on Sleaford Road one evening and ended up in the Pilgrim! And he was in the cycle lane!!!! It seems that most people who work or travel to Boston have the traffic problem and it's causes well sussed out, as noted by Rubberdinghy! The egg timer is a great analogy, and one thing is for sure, it isn't going to be solved by people leaving their cars at home. Although, the traffic in town is much better during "Half Term Heaven".....what a difference! Getting rid of the "Mummy Mobiles" does go a long way to lessening the fight to get into work in a morning!
|
| |
|
New Member
|
quote: Originally posted by miss_emily24: I find this programme so frustrating, as a 2nd year geography student who through my studies has seen the clear impacts that humans have had and are having on the globe, I know that we need to take drastic measures to slow and ultimately stop the effects of global warming. And its not only the state of the world around us we need to tackle, the health of the people of Britain also needs to be addressed. The complete bone-idleness of the people of Boston in tonight’s episode really opened my eyes to what complete narrow minded uneducated people we share our country with. How can people justify driving such a short distance from their council estate to school to pick up their children or go to the town centre? If people didn’t make unnecessary journeys and instead of driving cycled or walked the school car park and the area around it would be a much safer place both for their children and others who have decided to take the positive step of leaving their car at home. If everyone left the car at home not only would urban areas be safer but the issues of obesity would be combated. The parents of Boston are just passing the message that its okay to use the car for everything, how are we going to change, if this is the message that is passed on to children by their parents. People like Zoe in tonight’s episode should be ashamed of themselves, though they do represent today’s thinking, that we will live for today and not care about the effects on future generations!! WELL DONE KRIS!!  Emily
I can't add much more to this really, except to say that I found the attitudes of the people of Boston jaw-dropping, to say the least. In the 1960s I lived on the east coast of Lincolnshire and I remembered Boston as a sleepy market town with little traffic, sadly no more. Yes, it's true there were more railways then, but few goods went by rail, road transport was always preferred even then. I also remember Lincolnshire as a very flat county, ideal for walking and cycling. I now live in picturesque Devon and I cycle around 80 miles per week, hills and all! If I can do this now in my 60s (and I have friends in their 70s and 80s who also cycle), then I'm sure the folk of Boston should be able to manage. It's attitudes which need to change! Good luck to the programme makers! |
| |
|
New Member
|
I have been really interested by this programme and can’t believe how many people will drive such a short distance! I do try to walk to work or to the local shops whenever I can, and if lots of people did the same it could make such a huge difference. However, public transport really needs sorting out to help people leave their cars behind for longer journeys because there is little incentive to at the moment. I live just 3 or 4 miles outside our town (not exactly out in the sticks) and today am taking my car for its MOT, so thought I would drop the car off, walk 20 mins to the retail park and get the bus home. But I've found out I will either have to leave work an hour early to catch the bus at 4.30, which I can’t do, or leave work normal time and make a dash for the next bus at 6. If I miss that bus, the next bus is tomorrow morning at 10!! And with trains - my friend is travelling from London to York tonight and he has had to pay £190! It would cost you about £70 in petrol, so why would you choose to travel by train? Admittedly you can get cheaper fares if you plan well in advance but that’s not always possible. I have investigated going on the train one day a week, as on that day I work about 10 miles from home, but I can’t get there in time – I either have to take a bus to the station then a train into London then a train out of London and then walk on the other side (an hour and a half journey), or a bus into town and another out again (over an hour journey, although the first bus of the day leaves too late for me anyway), or I drive 2 junctions down the A12 (15 minute journey). Which one do you think I choose??
For shorter journeys, I don’t think there is any excuse, but I don’t think our public transport system inspires people to leave their cars behind.
I do think that for some people, especially women, there are safety concerns. For example, I don’t like walking home from work in the winter because I have to walk down a quiet country lane in the dark and I don’t feel safe. When watching the programme about Boston, I thought this is probably the case for a lot of hospital workers who start/finish very early in the morning or very late at night and feel it is too risky to walk alone.
|
| |
|
New Member
|
I wish forum members like pedal pusher wouldn't label a whole town as bone idle. I find the label rude and extremely ignorant. That is not the case.
The school run/rush hour is a problem but the problem exists in every town. Boston is quite an isolated town and the surrounding villages and smaller towns use Boston for banking, Shopping etc. Read my first post.
The programme heavily focused on one person and her attitude towards walking 10 minutes. My wife walks two miles to and two miles back from my son's school everyday which takes her 20-30 minutes, each way, depending on how quick our son is. She finds it's quicker to walk than to drive. I either walk or cycle to work because it is quicker and healthier. My friends an their partners who live and work in the town do the same. Kris was extremely naive to think that a upper middle class woman would have an effect on a council estate and its tennants and also to adrress a football crowd as well. Very brave but to expect a positive reaction from either was not realistic in any town! Boston is a much bigger place than the one council estate! I think the little reaction she did get was people wishing to be famous for 5 minutes and there was nothing more to it than that. Cynical I know but more realistic I think. The programme also only focused on 1 housing estate in the town. The hospital was an unfair place to choose. I would be surpised if the whole of the hospital did a 9-5. More like a 7-7 or a 6-2 or a 2-10. With those kind of shifts whose has the energy to walk or bike? As well consider the safety and security of the individual.
What about the rest of Boston and the surrounding villages and smaller towns that use Boston? Kris focused on Boston market. The programme did not show Boston on a non Market day. Again it would've have given another point of view. All of Boston's car parks are in the middle of the town forcing the cars into the very centre of the town. We have no park and ride. We and visitors to the town have have no choice but to drive and park in the very centre. Kris would've utilised her time better by interviewing cutomers at one of the two big supermarkets as well as the market. She would've got a bigger cross section of Boston's population from both.
Boston's 2 main supermarkets are both on the south side of the river forcing everyone north of the river across the one major bridge.
We have a large dock whose link road crosses the one bridge. The two main A roads cross the one bridge. Surely any modern flow of traffic would grind to a halt at some point with such a road layout as Boston's. In the summer we also have to put up with all the holiday traffic coming through the town to Skegness. Kris should see it then!!
I'm all for peoples point of view but the programme was heavily edited and did not even show the two other major employers it visited over the 3 weeks of filming. Why not?
I have friends who work at the hospital featured and non of them knew of the meeting Kris held. They, like me, are fit and healthy people who can walk, or bike, for more than 10 minutes and who would've been and are still interested in all things green and to make ourselves have a heathier and better standard of living and lifestyle.
I found the programme very disapointing and sensationalist at best. People really shouldn't judge Boston just on the edited 'evidence' of this programme alone.
|
| |
|
New Member
|
LISTEN UP Not impossible at all! I am single Dad with 3 children full time. We went car free in August 2007 and with no regrets. Practical stuff: I work full time and have an annual bus pass to get me into the city centre of Leeds for work. Pass costs £10 a week. We have all our shopping delivered by Tesco's. It takes my 15 year old daughter 15-20 mins to order all the shopping for 2 weeks (you can re-order previously ordered things). There are two days when I have get a taxi to meet commitments, but taxis are cheap enough in Leeds. My folks live in Cumbria, we hire a car from Avis to visit them, and we hire a car to go on holiday. Car hire is 20-30 a day. Going completely car free works for us because we are 10 mins walk from a bus route where the buses run into the city every 10 mins ... but that’s common in around Leeds. We walk and cycle allot more.. listen , blokes I tell you my life stress has reduced considerably, I no longer have to maintain or worry about a car, I don't have to clean a car, journeys are very relaxing - you even get a free paper 'the Metro' to read on the bus in the morning. I bought myself a pocket radio to listen too on the bus too. I haven’t worked out how much money we have saved .. but I drove 2 litre petrol ... thank god I am not filling that up anymore. Cheers  Richard, Oakwood, Leeds. |
| |
|
New Member
|
Not impossible at all! I am single Dad with 3 children full time. We went car free in August 2007 and with no regrets. Practical stuff: I work full time and have an annual bus pass to get me into the city centre of Leeds for work. Pass costs £10 a week. We have all our shopping delivered by Tesco's. It takes my 15 year old daughter 15-20 mins to order all the shopping for 2 weeks (you can re-order previously ordered things). There are two days when I have get a taxi to meet commitments, but taxis are cheap enough in Leeds. My folks live in Cumbria, we hire a car from Avis to visit them, and we hire a car to go on holiday. Car hire is 20-30 a day. Going completely car free works for us because we are 10 mins walk from a bus route where the buses run into the city every 10 mins ... but that’s common in around Leeds. We walk and cycle allot more.. listen , blokes I tell you my life stress has reduced considerably, I no longer have to maintain or worry about a car, I don't have to clean a car, journeys are very relaxing - you even get a free paper 'the Metro' to read on the bus in the morning. I bought myself a pocket radio to listen too on the bus too. I haven’t worked out how much money we have saved .. but I drove 2 litre petrol ... thank god I am not filling that up anymore. Cheers Richard, Oakwood, Leeds. |
| |
|
|
I have watched all three of the Woman who stops traffic programs with great interest, and tonight's program with particular interest because I live in a few miles of Durham City centre. I've been open minded and in the first 2 programs I agreed with most of the points raised by Kris. That changed tonight when she was representing an area I know well. I was dismayed by the totally inaccurate representation of Durham City and it's surrounding areas. First of all the Newton Hall area is a large area. The area she was describing as being less than a mile away from the "major employers" is the area closest to Durham better known as Framwellgate Moor. If you live in the middle of Newton Hall you are are about 2 miles away from the "major employers" and if you live on the outskirts then you are around 3 miles away. The cycle path that was shown in the program is no only so badly lit that it's only safe to use in daylight hours, so fine in the summer but no use in the winter. The Park and Ride service is well used, despite what the council spokesman said. I wouldn't have won both environmental and consumer awards in the past year if that wasn't the case. And as a anecdotal I regularly use a bus stop that is also a park and ride service stop, far more people use that stop for the park and ride service than any other bus service. Most importantly I have to raise the issue of Mayor employers. The first major employer on her map was the police headquarters in Aykley Heads, the second one was Durham County Council at County Hall. Both of these employers do employ a lot of people but I doubt they are the largest employers in the area, smack bang between both the Aykley Heads and County Hall there is The University Hospital of North Durham. No where in the program was that mentioned in regard to traffic considerations. In my opinion it was a very very inaccurate view of Durham and its surrounding areas. And that's from someone never owned a car and who uses buses every day.
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ Looby ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
|
| |
|
|
quote: Originally posted by looby75:
I have watched all three of the Woman who stops traffic programs with great interest, and tonight's program with particular interest because I live in a few miles of Durham City centre.
I've been open minded and in the first 2 programs I agreed with most of the points raised by Kris. That changed tonight when she was representing an area I know well. I was dismayed by the totally inaccurate representation of Durham City and its surrounding areas.
First of all the Newton Hall area is a large area. The area she was describing as being less than a mile away from the "major employers" is the area closest to Durham better known as Framwellgate Moor. If you live in the middle of Newton Hall you are are about 2 miles away from the "major employers" and if you live on the outskirts then you are around 3 miles away.
The cycle path that was shown in the program is no only so badly lit that it's only safe to use in daylight hours, so fine in the summer but no use in the winter.
The Park and Ride service is well used, despite what the council spokesman said. I wouldn't have won both environmental and consumer awards in the past year if that wasn't the case. And as a anecdotal I regularly use a bus stop that is also a park and ride service stop, far more people use that stop for the park and ride service than any other bus service.
Most importantly I have to raise the issue of Mayor employers. The first major employer on her map was the police headquarters in Aykley Heads, the second one was Durham County Council at County Hall. Both of these employers do employ a lot of people but I doubt they are the largest employers in the area, smack bang between both the Aykley Heads and County Hall there is The University Hospital of North Durham. No where in the program was that mentioned in regard to traffic considerations.
In my opinion it was a very very inaccurate view of Durham and its surrounding areas.
And that's from someone never owned a car and who uses buses every day.
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ Looby ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
|
| |
|
New Member
|
quote: Originally posted by looby75: quote: Originally posted by looby75:
I have watched all three of the Woman who stops traffic programs with great interest, and tonight's program with particular interest because I live in a few miles of Durham City centre.
I've been open minded and in the first 2 programs I agreed with most of the points raised by Kris. That changed tonight when she was representing an area I know well. I was dismayed by the totally inaccurate representation of Durham City and its surrounding areas.
First of all the Newton Hall area is a large area. The area she was describing as being less than a mile away from the "major employers" is the area closest to Durham better known as Framwellgate Moor. If you live in the middle of Newton Hall you are are about 2 miles away from the "major employers" and if you live on the outskirts then you are around 3 miles away.
The cycle path that was shown in the program is no only so badly lit that it's only safe to use in daylight hours, so fine in the summer but no use in the winter.
The Park and Ride service is well used, despite what the council spokesman said. I wouldn't have won both environmental and consumer awards in the past year if that wasn't the case. And as a anecdotal I regularly use a bus stop that is also a park and ride service stop, far more people use that stop for the park and ride service than any other bus service.
Most importantly I have to raise the issue of Mayor employers. The first major employer on her map was the police headquarters in Aykley Heads, the second one was Durham County Council at County Hall. Both of these employers do employ a lot of people but I doubt they are the largest employers in the area, smack bang between both the Aykley Heads and County Hall there is The University Hospital of North Durham. No where in the program was that mentioned in regard to traffic considerations.
In my opinion it was a very very inaccurate view of Durham and its surrounding areas.
And that's from someone never owned a car and who uses buses every day.
|
| |
|
New Member
|
As a Durham resident I totally agree with the last post.
The positive "spin" the programme attempted to portray to cover for its lack of achievement was scandalous. Could I add a number of issues the programme failed to address ( or ignored).
1.It concentrated solely on one area which is on the outskirts of Durham and failed to cover all major routes into the City Centre which are twice as bad. For those of you who know the area, what about the near gridlock at Stonebridge / Nevilles Cross , Gilesgate Bank , A167 into North Durham , The New Inn / University South side etc etc. that occurs everyday. The preview for this programme stated that the people of Durham were unaware of the impending traffic problem.......... what rubbish its been like this for at least 5 years on these routes.
2. On the day of the campaign the congestion on all of the above routes was probaly the worst it had been all Winter. Firstly due to the weather and the common practice of closing the A1M for an accident and using the A167( City Centre) as an alternative route.I totally disagree with the claim that traffic was down 11% that day.
3. Why were the kids asked to congregate for a walk to school outside the local pub and be dropped off there by cars ????? A bit pointless to say the least.
4.The majority of rush hour traffic must go straight through the City centre to gain access to the A1M and A19 as they work in Newcastle, Sunderland and Teeside.They have no alternative as Durham itself isnt exactly the main hub of employment in the North East. Its a University City.
5. I witnessed the "congregation" of cyclists in the Market place to celebrate the apparent success amounted to no more than 30 people. Hardly groundbreaking ??
I could go on .... its clear however that as with the previous programmes in other areas , CH4 and that annoying woman didnt do their homework.
|
| |
|
 | Please Wait. Your request is being processed... |
|
