At a full council meeting in Basingstoke last night, Councillors were voting on their annual budget, and I am sure that will have included many things like an increased Council Tax premium for the towns communities. One thing that was also confirmed though, was the cancellation of the Centre Shuttle bus service between the West Ham Leisure Park, the town centre and the office district at Basing View.
This was originally brought up back in previous council meetings, and although it appears that I did not report on it earlier in the year, I did tweet about it earlier in the month:
Basingstoke & Deane Council rejected an amendment from Councillor Andy McCormick (Labour) to remove the planned cancellation of the Basingstoke Centre Shuttle was rejected and the service will come to an end in the coming months.
I remember the service being there in the days of Courtney Coaches and the Optare Solo buses that used to tout for business. If I was going into the town then I would sometimes use it rather than using the town centres car parks. It always came across as a sort of park and ride facility, with branded car parking at the top of the car park, and cheap fares for all day travel along the route.
Councillor Mark Ruffell, is quoted as saying
“The service is inadequate. It’s taking the wrong people from the wrong place to the wrong destination. It will never deliver what it was meant to deliver in the first place.”
Statement by Cllr Ruffell, as reproduced by the Basingstoke Gazette here and at 8.19pm here – formal council minutes are not yet available
Well it looked like a hybrid of a Park and Ride service and a connection to the Leisure Park to me. The Council seems to disagree though:
He says it encourages people to drive into the centre of the borough to then go where they want cheaply. He says it “contributes to congestion” and that most people using it “are from outside the borough”.
Further comments from the Basingstoke Gazette – pending Council Minutes
Well It did become…. haphazard
The thing is, with what the Centre Shuttle had become before the pandemic, are we really surprised?
The service tries to do a lot, but often does not appear to do nothing. Back in 2016 which is not long after Stagecoach South took over the service, it was running at least every 15 minutes from 0700 to 2230 on weekdays (from 0800 and 1000 Saturdays and Sundays).
Now I am sure, someone could correct me now, that it was reduced then to finish at around 2000 to 2030. During the recent service reductions, it certainly is, but I seem to remember this happened before that?
The route itself also seems to carry a few deviations. I think the example that sticks in my mind the most is the diversion via Wickes & Morrisons, that due to the road layout is in one direction only. With only all day tickets on the bus, rather than return tickets, it is not as though people will be penalised to go around the service loop to get there, but even so.
What could be done to Centre Shuttle?
The question is possibly more to how can more markets be targeted more effectively?
I think the council lost sight of the potential of the service. Just because it runs up and down the dual carriageway all day every day, I think that other service changes have made this a less important feature of the Centre Shuttle now.
The Park and Ride
One of things that could be better integrated into the scheme is the fact that two of the Stagecoach services, 8 and 76, both now sprint out of town. They cross over the recently rebuilt Thorneycroft Roundabout, and call on the edge of the Leisure Park at Greenway. The only thing that then becomes a downside is the fact that the advertised car parks for the Centre Shuttle are at the other side of the site.
The impression I get here, from half way down the county, is that this is not the aspiration of the Council though. The summary of the meeting from the Basingstoke Gazette suggests to me that the Council would prefer the out-of-borough commuters to not congest the Leisure Park. Surely providing a better connection to the top of the Leisure Park should be prioritised to do just that?
Could it have been done with a slip road, from the Thorneycroft Roundabout to the car park at Milestones?
I would suspect that this would be a money question. The funfairs and circus tops probably pay a lot of money to be there.
The core market for this park and ride would be office hours and weekends. So why target this market outside of this time? 0600-0930 weekdays, maybe 1130 to 1300 for the half day and lunchtimes, 1630 to 1800.
The Leisure
The other part of the Leisure Park, focused away from the park and ride, is the leisure element. There is quite a mix on offer, from bowling and swimming to bingo; but how many of the people come from the town? I would suspect that many would come from other parts of the town and get the shuttle bus as a connecting service.
Granted the spread of those people is also going to be much wider than the commuter group; the bowling alley probably opens mid morning, the bingo traditionally has a lunchtime and an evening session, the cinema has shows all through the day.
For those that are still in need of a direct service to town, there is still the 8 and the 76. Normally anything from 6 to 9 buses an hour doing that sprint down Churchill Way West. So why not use the Centre Shuttle to connect a few more communities directly to the leisure?
It takes about 10 to 15 minutes for a run from town, along Worting Road to the Leisure Park. It maintains a connection to Wickes & Morrisons at the top and offers an alternative to Stagecoach South’s existing route 11.
This would also quell the concerns of the Council representatives who have complained about the erosion of bus services in South Ham over the the years.
By interjecting this route into the park and ride timetable, it still provides an all day connection.
The Council probably are right
But with the Manydown development going ahead and the planned re-development of the Leisure Park, you would hope that they are not pinning their sights on some fantasy light-rail / rapid transit integration, or even a Worting Railway Station.
I think they are missing somewhat of a trick though:
- Continue the ‘express’ Leisure Park – Basingstoke Town – Basing View during the peaks and aim it at the commuter market (every 15 minutes / 2 buses)
- Off Peak / Weekend / Evening services Milestones – Cinema / Bowling Alley (both directions) – Worting Road – Town – Basing View (every 30 minutes / 2 buses)
- Evening services back to 2230 to cater for the core leisure traffic
- Flexibility for additional direct services for special events / Christmas as is the case now.
What do I know though? I simply look in from the outside and wonder why the South Ham members of the Council shout about a loss of bus services to South Ham, when you could have it and keep it within the existing cost base.