Wednesday, October 31, 2012

The watercooler

OK, THIS is the place for general chit-chat.

PLEASE leave 'New subjects' JUST for suggestions of new topics that may, or may not, get posted (and don't run a debate there); it gets difficult for me to manage otherwise. If it gets too much of a pain, I'll just have to close the site down or something.

Mike

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

With the ferry to soon come 'off chain' and the restrictions about to be imposed on eastbound A35 traffic from the Baker's Arms roundabout, (plus last year's repeated restrictions on the A351 in Sandford) does anyone else think that we DO need a reliable commuter rail link from Swanage to Wareham (Worgret) so that we have another means to reach Poole and Bournemouth?

An added feature might be that this could serve as another means for pupils to travel from Swanage/Herston to The Purbeck School, next to Worgret Halt.

Anonymous said...

Yes as soon as possible. Obviously the heritage timetable should not be compromised but a rail link to Wareham would be a huge boost to Swanage.

Anonymous said...

With connections to Poole Bournemouth and all points east, west and north, it would be so much better than using the car.What is the latest on progress to reach Wareham on a regular basis?

Anonymous said...

Good question.

Once the connection is complete and approved, or whatever the term is, for connecting services, it will come down to who runs such a service: the Railway Trust, a limited company or Virgin Trains. My understanding is that DCC (or PDC??) has several diesel locomotives tucked away for such a service; if so I would imagine some partnership between the Railway Trust and the County Council to create some sort of scheduled service. I would have thought the transfer of younger pupils to TPS would be a good reason to carry out a feasibility study. A firm contract to carry several hundred school children each day might give this project the viability to get it up and running.

Anonymous said...

A firm contract to carry several hundred school children each day might give this project the viability to get it up and running.

Why transport hundreds of children from Swanage to Wareham every day and back again ??
Who will pay for all these trips. ??

Anonymous said...

Who pays for the bus trips ?

Anonymous said...

Good question. Who pays for existing pupils who travel by bus from Swanage to TPS?

Anonymous said...

Also run a cycle path along the track :)

Anonymous said...

I think the council pay up to a certain age.

There is a blue plaque on the Swanage Station saying.....

"Pupils were brought from Purbeck and beyond by this railway 1929 to 1971"

Many schoolchildren used the train to get to school
some even coming from Lulworth after first catching a bus.




Anonymous said...

Bus trips from Swanage to Purbeck .

'If a Swanage secondary school site was established then it is estimated that there would be a saving of £209,000 per annum. This saving would be made to the Dorset Passenger Transport's budget as a
result of fewer children needing transport to the Wareham site.'
DCC website)

DCC supports sustainable travel to school.

'We will continue to work with schools and parents to deliver what is really wanted – ‘A good school locally’. Of course the natural result of achieving this is an increase in levels of active travel to and from school and stronger and
more sustainable communities.'

Anonymous said...

'Run a cycle path along the track'

I am all for that, if cyclists pay for it.

I think you may find that there is no room for one along the track next to an active railway, in any event. If it were an abandoned railway right of way, then perhaps.

Anonymous said...

Love the comment , " if cyclists pay for it "

They do:)

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/public/cyclesafety/article3591064.ece

Anonymous said...

Ah. The bottomless pot of cash. As if we are not cutting back. Gotcha!

Anonymous said...

Well if we are cutting back , lets stop spending money on road works and deal with the traffic jams. If anything , if a new road gets built or fixed , part of our cycle network should be done too.

Anonymous said...

I understand that cyclists need more lanes due to very busy roads. How about a tax on bikes with the money going for that purpose?

Anonymous said...

But cyclists who pay taxes pay for this already , some car drivers are cyclists aswell and they pay taxes for this aswell.

Anonymous said...

Isn't it the so called "bedroom tax" that pays for bike lanes? If you want more bike lanes campaign for bigger and better blocks of second homes in Swanage as developers here have to pay more than in Wareham. Funny old world isn't it.

Anonymous said...

But cyclists who pay taxes pay for this already , some car drivers are cyclists aswell and they pay taxes for this aswell.

7/11/12 1:41 AM
But car drivers pay tax on petrol servicing mots and insurance. what does a cyclist pay for?

Anonymous said...

Cyclists who work pay tax ok , so this goes towards things like this. Also cyclists are generally very healthily people so do the NHS a favour , also a bike lane costs the economy hardly anything compared to building roads. Also cyclists do pay for serving aswell and contribute to the economy more than you would relise .

Anonymous said...

Cyclists who work pay tax ok , so this goes towards things like this. Also cyclists are generally very healthily people so do the NHS a favour , also a bike lane costs the economy hardly anything compared to building roads. Also cyclists do pay for serving aswell and contribute to the economy more than you would relise .

.............................

One could make the same case for yachtsman wanting a yacht harbor in Swanage. Or surfers wanting a surf area. Or runners wanting a running path. Or - hey - even pedestrians who take their lives in their hands on the A351 from Swanage to Corfe.

Where does it stop? Cyclists seem to feel they are a 'cut above' others.

Anonymous said...

Not cut above others at all , they share the roads with cars and pay their way through taxes . So should all these taxes be geared around the car?

Anonymous said...

And cut above , of course we are , we are the best cyclists in Britain ie Tour de France , Olyimpics . Weather that counts for something I don't know but we must cater for cyclists aswell and come inline with the rest of Europe.

Anonymous said...

Why do cyclists' insist on using 'A Roads'[7/11/12 5:59 above] i.e. "the A351 Swanage to Corfe." A much quieter and more scenic route which is also slower and less vehicles is Burnhams Lane off Washpond Lane through to Corfe Castle on East Street.

RobO

Anonymous said...

Because the A351 is a road for all road users .

Anonymous said...

No shoe shop in Swanage anymore! What in the world is going on? Where do I go to buy shoes, apart from Poole or Bounremouth that is?

Anonymous said...

And before anyone says anything, yes I know that there's 'The Landmark' in Station Road. I'm after shoes that cost less than £70!

Anonymous said...

Charity shops.

Or Asda/Tesco Direct. Or online shopping.

Anonymous said...

That's great but having an 8.5 shoe size which aren't stocked by affordable sellers I like to try shoes on before buying to see whether a size 8 or 9 will be best. Farewell Shoezone, you'll be missed - at least in my household.