Musical bus stops
Haymarket Bus Station is located at the north end of Newcastle-upon-Tyne city centre. It is a very busy station serving Newcastle, North Tyneside and Northumberland and it is very badly run. I've used this place for years and never cease to be amazed at how shockingly bad the organisation is, and watching one girl miss her bus this evening has prompted me to vent.
First, a little more background. The roads around Newcastle are not the best and they get busy. Once the clocks have changed and late Autumn arrives they get busier. If there is even the slightest hint of rain, they get busier still. Result: buses run late.
So to this evening. The X1 was due to leave for Blyth at 17:25. It arrived in good time to deposit its passengers and meet that departure time. However Stand T, where it was supposed to park up, was occupied by the X4 that was running late. The X1 parks up at Stand S prompting the queue of people waiting at Stand T to push their way through crowds and round barriers to get on board. The X4 leaves. Stand T is now empty, but the X1 stays on S. A girl arrives at T and mills around as if waiting for a bus that isn't there yet.
With me so far? Ok, the bus that is due to leave from Stand S at 17:30 arrives, thinks about parking up on T, but instead beeps his horn to alert the X1 of his arrival. The girls waiting at Stand T sees what's going on, realises her bus is at the wrong stand and rushes round the various queues and barriers to get on the X1. The X1 driver backs out of Stand S. As it's not yet time to leave, I think he's going to park up in T to return karma to the bus station. But no, he leaves early ignoring the girl who has just tried to get on board.
So this poor girls arrives in good time but misses her bus.
This is by no means an isolated incident. Even when the weather is fine and the services are running almost to time, they have a knack of parking buses that aren't needed for a while on stands that are. There is an almost constant migration of people as buses arrive at the wrong stands, and never any information about such changes. No one controls the flow or positioning of the buses. It's a complete farce.
First, a little more background. The roads around Newcastle are not the best and they get busy. Once the clocks have changed and late Autumn arrives they get busier. If there is even the slightest hint of rain, they get busier still. Result: buses run late.
So to this evening. The X1 was due to leave for Blyth at 17:25. It arrived in good time to deposit its passengers and meet that departure time. However Stand T, where it was supposed to park up, was occupied by the X4 that was running late. The X1 parks up at Stand S prompting the queue of people waiting at Stand T to push their way through crowds and round barriers to get on board. The X4 leaves. Stand T is now empty, but the X1 stays on S. A girl arrives at T and mills around as if waiting for a bus that isn't there yet.
With me so far? Ok, the bus that is due to leave from Stand S at 17:30 arrives, thinks about parking up on T, but instead beeps his horn to alert the X1 of his arrival. The girls waiting at Stand T sees what's going on, realises her bus is at the wrong stand and rushes round the various queues and barriers to get on the X1. The X1 driver backs out of Stand S. As it's not yet time to leave, I think he's going to park up in T to return karma to the bus station. But no, he leaves early ignoring the girl who has just tried to get on board.
So this poor girls arrives in good time but misses her bus.
This is by no means an isolated incident. Even when the weather is fine and the services are running almost to time, they have a knack of parking buses that aren't needed for a while on stands that are. There is an almost constant migration of people as buses arrive at the wrong stands, and never any information about such changes. No one controls the flow or positioning of the buses. It's a complete farce.
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