City of Stoke-on-Trent Local Transport Plan 3 Focus Groups

AECOM <strong>City</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Stoke</strong>-on-Trent Local Transport Plan 3 12Capabilities on project:Transportation“If you work at the hospital you’re knackered, aren’t you,if you’ve got an emergency like or you’ve got to dropsomebody <strong>of</strong>f or wait around you’re absolutelyknackered anywhere, you can’t park nowhere and likethe man was saying over there, it’s all resident parking,so you can’t even pull in anywhere, which is fair enoughI suppose.”“Another thing at the Festival Park they’ve just putparking meters there, it used to be free no matter howlong you stayed there but I think it’s about, is it fourhours.”Buses were felt to be unreliable and inconvenient as well asuncomfortable and unpleasant to use.“Because I don’t particularly want to stand outside in therain for about five hours or two hours or as long as ittakes in a traffic jam for a bus to arrive, you know what Imean, I can get in the car and just it’s more convenientand easier.”“You can be there and back by the time you’ve waitedfor a bus, can’t you?”“Another thing, I live near Keele and sometimes thebuses are absolutely chockerblock, so you have tostand anyway.”“Or they won’t let you on sometimes.”“Sometimes like you’re waiting for a bus and perhapsone doesn’t come for half an hour and then the samethree buses come at once.”“If you’ve got commitments during the day, you’ve got todrop children <strong>of</strong>f, you can’t catch a bus.”“Especially if, I work in Hanley, you try and catch a busfrom there to <strong>Stoke</strong> [-on-Trent] and then back toNewcastle [-under-Lyme], it takes forever.”Participants also felt that buses were not cost-effective.“… and buses aren’t that cheap.”“They’re really expensive.”Those who did not regularly travel by bus felt that they could bedifficult to use.“Well, I caught a bus recently myself and I wasfrightened, because it went to completely the wrongplace, cost me more money than a taxi would have costme and I didn't even know where I was going to ask forthe right bus stop.”“I find them quite hard to understand, like bustimetables, I don’t get them, they’re not easy and myson who’s fourteen he gets well confused with a bustimetable but maybe it’s because he’s not used tocatching it, I don’t know.”The parents were more likely to use public transport when inother cities“I was working down in London and I drove to the trainstation, got the train down there and tubed everywhereand then jumped in my car and got back.”“Again I think it’s more specific to an area that you livein as well, if you live in London you’re not going to drivea car across London, like pay congestion charges andsit in traffic, so you get on the tube because it’s easier,whereas in this area it’s easier in a car if you’ve got oneand it’s far quicker and it’s probably more costeffective.”“Plus it’s more cost effective I think as well, I went awayfor the weekend, I think I spent £70 on fuel and did like600 miles, whereas if I’d gone on the train it would havecost me best part <strong>of</strong> £300, you know what I mean, so itwas like the same crack again. It’s not as cost effective,I don’t think, public transport, most <strong>of</strong> the time.”Those who walk do so due to the convenience, cost andspeed.“I only walk to the post <strong>of</strong>fice. It’s quicker, I can drive toit, but there’s nowhere to park, so it’s easier for me towalk.”“I walk to work every other day, it’s far more costeffective.”3.1.5 Bus UsersThe majority <strong>of</strong> the trips made by participants in the ‘bus user’group were made by bus. Most <strong>of</strong> the places specified werefelt to be easy or very easy to travel to although a significantnumber, in particular the hospital in Hartshill, were felt to bedifficult to access. Regular bus users felt that travelling by busaround <strong>Stoke</strong>-on-Trent, in particular to the hospital inNewcastle-under-Lyme, was difficult. A number <strong>of</strong> participantsalso found it difficult to access their places <strong>of</strong> work by bus.