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Thursday 19 February 2015

Woodbridge Shuttle Cock-Up And DDA Farce

You may have noticed that there are a few sets of roadworks taking place at the moment. Just a few mind you. A lot of them seem to be concentrated in the Woodbridge area, with whole parts of the region effectvely cut off. Major roadworks mean that right now Wickham Market, Kettleburgh, Rendlesham, Eyke, Tunstall and Snape are without their normal bus service to Ipswich. If you live in Kettleburgh, Tunstall and Snape its a case of tough luck as no alternative provision whatsoever has been provided. However, Suffolk County Council have thoughtfully provided shuttle services from Wickham Market, Rendlesham and Eyke to connect with the diiverted 64/65.

However, as you would expect with all things Council all is not simple. The shuttle service from Wickham Market, which replaces the 64, remember, normally leaving at xx50, now leaves at xx15 and connects with the 65, so 30 mins difference arriving at the destination. Coming the other way if you want to travel from Ipswich to Rendlesham instead of catching the 65 as usual, changing at Woodbridge, you now have to catch the 64, again 30 mins difference. Makes perfect sense. Not only that but as you will see the Council have failed to take into account disabled passengers or less importantly the buggy and trolley brigade.

I had to go on my regular trip to Wickham Market today so was able to sample both these services. It should be noted that my journey from Saxmndham to Wickham Market took an HOUR longer than usual, as I had to travel via Woodbridge and double back. Surely the shuttle could have operated to/from Marlesford to give passengers travelling both ways an easy connection. The Wickham shuttle was operated by JR Ewing Executive Travel in a rather plush Mercedes 16 seater minibus.

JR Executive Travel JR11 BUS at  Wickham Market
You will notice the Suffolk Links minibus behind - more on that later.

The Rendlesham Shuttle, however, was most unexpected. First's ex Excel and just about everything else coach 20515 was being used, and that really was an opportunity not to be sniffed at, so as I had allowed extra time to get home anyway I used that to take a trip to Rendlsham and back. Still gives a decent ride and heating was most welcome!

20515 at Woodbridge
Still showing her former employment
20515 at Redwald Rd, Rendlesham
Now the really knowledgable of you may have noticed something - neither vehicle had a ticket machine - therefore no fares were being charged or taken. I can only assume that the Council have hired both vehicles on a Private Hire basis and have foregone any revenue. I guess they save on Concessionary Pass payments too so probably evens out. However, there is the wheelchair and buggy access issues. Obviously the coach is exempt from DDA until next year, but what about the minibus? My local 196 is operated by a 14 seater Transit minibus with no wheelchair access, yet all the Suffolk Links minibuses, as in the pic further up the page all have wheelchair ramps. We have seen Beavers disappear from the rural roads so why does it apply to some but not all?

Well if that Wickham Shuttle is effectively a Private Hire then like the Bernies contracts that could use Ollies on it after DDA then the same applies to this. But that is irrelevant as having checked the regulations (and there are a lot of them) DDA only applies to vehicles carrying 22 passengers or more. WHAT??? Yes that's correct, only vehicles carrying 22 passengers or more need wheelchair accessibility etc.. Now correct me if I'm wrong but DDA stands for Disability Discrimination Act. It is designed so no one is excluded from using bus services regardless of disability. Except if you live in the sticks it seems, because if your bus service uses a vehicle carrying less than 22 passengers then you don't count, and by default are still discriminated against. Yes there is On Demand transport, such as Suffolk Links and Dial-a-Ride, but they all need to be prebooked. It does beg the question - when is discrimination not discrimination and why on earth haven't the disability rights groups been jumping up and down over this. Thousands of perfectly decent, usable buses will be scrapped over the next two years, yet a mobile shoebox with less than 22 passengers can carry on without a care in the world. Talk about a postcode lottery.

So to finish with another rare sight in Woodbridge! I seriously dislike that frog!

E200 44519 in Woodbridge on the 65 to Ipswich

6 comments:

  1. Don't know about 50 shades of grey, 20515 is in several shades of white. Bout time for a repaint methinks........

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    1. Both 20515 and 20514 were meant to be painted blue, Excel livery Ithink but I'm not totally sure if that has been shelved or not.

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  2. The paint program has been sidelined until after the end of the financial year,which i believe is the end of March,so as from April repaints will start again so i was told when the repaints at Simon Morris stopped,so it's yippee! get them camera's out again chaps,lol..

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    1. I have received the following email from Andy Saunders, which he has kindly given me permission to publish.

      Hi Steve:

      I couldn't agree with you more about the DDA farce. As you pointed out
      the Wickham Market shuttle is not wheelchair accessible, but First 20515
      is notionally accessible, as it is fitted with a lift. But does the
      timetable allow enough time for loading and unloading a wheelchair? I
      doubt it.

      On the subject of Beavers, these are still in use by one operator in
      Suffolk - Suffolk Norse. They operate them on several services,
      including the 179 and 163 into Ipswich. They have a wheelchair lift
      accessible via doors at the back, but I suspect that use of this would
      require seats to be removed, not something that can be done for the
      casual intending passenger.

      I have checked Suffolk County Council's "Suffolk on Board" website this
      evening, and this has info about the 64 changes but no mention of
      changes affecting Kettleburgh or Rendlesham/Tunstall. So they don't
      help intending passengers. Regarding the Wickham Market shuttle, the
      vehicle in use could quite easily negotiate Broad Road and Border Cot
      Lane, so a connection to Marlesford would be feasible, as you suggest.
      With a bit of thought on SCC's part, it would also be feasible to do a
      Snape and Tunstall to Marlesford shuttle.

      Don't get me started on the subject of destination displays on these
      non-DDA vehicles. As well as the ones in your photos, PF Travel have a
      bit of paper with small writing (when they have one at all) and Suffolk
      Norse's Beavers have a tiny scrolling LED display which by the time it
      has scrolled through, the bus has gone past and you've missed it.

      Enough ranting for one evening. Keep up the good work.

      Thanks for the comments, Andy i had forgotten about the Norse Beavers

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  3. Destination displays are an integral part of the DDA requirements so it sounds as though Suffolk Norse's technically compliant Beavers (provided they are required to comply on account of their seating capacity) are in fact non-compliant by virtue of the inadequate destination displays.

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    1. There was an annonymous reply to this which for some reason didn't show up so here it is::

      Suffolk Norse's beavers are classed as mobility buses though they do stage work so are exempt from DDA rules at present, Destinations are a problem on them but get around it the same way because of rural mobility use.

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