Duncan said:
What some debaters on this blog seem to be missing is the prospect (still a few years off) of the reconnection of the railway.This will enable high spenders to come down for a day in mid November, to eat at the new expensive restaurant, buy the higher value goods in the new upmarket shops and stay overnight in the boutique hotels. No I'm not being sarcastic. As roads will inevitably be priced to discourage driving and rail fairs are high it stands to reason that the users of the new service to the jurassic coast will have money. we need Swanage to be ready. Thats why there MUST be change here and it needs to start soon. Those who advocate Swanage staying as it is can't have realised that change is inevitable. Surely those who have been here for more then ten years can't have missed all the changes in that time, let alone the 40 years I've had. Swanage is lovely. The only sensible debate is how we plan and manage the evolution of this town to retain the best of it.Duncan
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13 comments:
"We have come a long way to see the world heritage site. can you direct me to it?"
You are standing on it! "What"?
"Where is it?" "This is it"
Sounds like a bit of a Con to me.
There is one huge disadvantage here....That one clogged up road in.
A few of us tried years ago to bring in employment to the area. All that looked at it, pointed out the same thing...The dead end!
Hear hear, Duncan. Let's have some positive posts about what can be done rather than what can't. And if things have been tried in the past and failed, it doesn't mean they will fail again.
For my part, I've proven with the Blues Festival that you can bring hundreds of people spending a lot of money into the area for very little outlay. I could do more if I could get the right backing.
Why go to the expense of reinstating the train? A bus connecting with each departure and arrival from Waterloo would do the trick for a fraction of the cost.
The bus company isn't interested and the train people are!
The problem with the rail network is that is serves the retail and work destinations of a hundred years ago. The bus routes are little better. A restored rail link, if the fares policy permits it will make it easy to come here for a day out from London and the south west suburbs. We have the advantage that the beach is close to the station and for anyone with pushchairs etc this makes a material difference. The problem is that the destinations served going the other way are not a great deal of use to many residents. The same goes for buses. Fancy a night out at the cinema. Hop on a bus to Tower Park? No chance. Shopping? All the big shops have moved to retail parks. Do the Swanage buses call at them? Fat chance. That leaves you with rows of fashion stores in the Dolphin centre set up to cater to non car driving teenage girls or precisely the same mix in Bournemouth.
Lets use the re-opening of the Swanage link to press for a re-think of the public transport network in east Dorset in general to bring it in line with modern needs. That way there is hope of a sustainable year round service of real use to the community not just a glorified theme park ride.
whats 20km sorry im old
It is true that the bus service is pretty poor. The reason is the structure of unregulated and privatised bus routes. You only have to look at the priorities of W&D. Running 5 minute services on the high use Poole to Bournmouth corridor. Rural routes continue to suffer. This will only get worse as the impact of free travel for oap's is felt next year. The subsidies from local authorities will be further stretched. In Swanage only the 150 is really attractive commercially due to tourist use in the summer months.
Kieth's proposals are interesting, but I fear the level of investment needed is unrealistic given the likely costs of the link-up on the rail line alone. It will all depend on where the money will come from. will it be all private finance or will local government be allowed to price roads and use the funds to cross subsidise public transport?
Why does the local transport system have to be in Public hands and be subsidised to work? The fact is it doesn't work because there is no demand. It’s difficult to see how much more expensive you could make it to drive a car (in Purbeck), yet if public transport was free I can't see too many more people using it. Let the market sort it out! See how cheaply we can now fly between cities using private companies instead of nationalised carriers. Please don't point to our poor roads as a disincentive for people to come: Look at the millions who brave the route to Cornwall! In peoples minds it is the quality of the destination that counts.
On the whole I do agree with Dave H, but the flying bit - remember their fuel is untaxed.
If we look around the world, public transport that works is highly subsidised - not english way
British Airways fuel was untaxed too, but until the likes of Stelios Haji-Ioannou and Freddy Laker turned up only the rich could fly. As for the green issue, roll on nuclear fusion.
True, many public transport systems are subsidised. But what cost to the country of not providing transport? When I was a kid the subsidy to British Leyland was the equivalent of £2500 per car in real terms, but that did not make them a bargain. They were appalling.
Let’s put public money into a high speed rail line between Wareham and Waterloo. People can take the car, taxi or bus as far as Wareham. It is ludicrous that you can drive to Waterloo quicker than going on the train.
What possible point is there of restoring the rail link to Wareham? It is not intended to be part of the local transport network is it? You can't expect volunteers to provide a service except basically for tourists in the Summer. It would require an incredible subsidy far in excess of subsidising a regular bus service. It would also be very slow.
So why not tarmac over the railway line and have a dedicated inter-town bus route?
As Henry Ford said: "if I had asked people what they wanted they would have said a faster horse".
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