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

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AECOM <strong>City</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Stoke</strong>-on-Trent Local Transport Plan 3 15Capabilities on project:TransportationMaintenance issues and the condition <strong>of</strong> the roads were also <strong>of</strong>concern to drivers.“Well, the state <strong>of</strong> the roads are bad.”“And big holes in the road.”“Potholes.”“There’s always road works, but there doesn’t seem tobe nothing done.”“But I think it’s just regeneration, a lot <strong>of</strong> road works,they’re changing, they’re putting large shops in andvarious things that are going on and <strong>of</strong> course it resultsin all sorts <strong>of</strong> road works and hold-ups and also affectspedestrians, because it’s not so easy to get from A to Bif you’re crossing.”“I think it’s just a nightmare, <strong>Stoke</strong>-on-Trent.”“I don’t think the roads are made to cope with the trafficthat’s coming through.”“I think the infrastructure is just not built for it, really.”especially for children and reduced journey times. Somementioned that new developments needed more consideration.Comments by group follow.3.2.1 Young PeopleParticipants in the young people group felt that congestion wasone <strong>of</strong> the main issues that needed addressing in the LTP. Itwas felt that this was exacerbated by bus stops and lay-byssituated along the roads. They also thought that bettermaintenance <strong>of</strong> the roads in winter was needed, especially interms <strong>of</strong> gritting the roads in the city.3.2.2 Older PeopleOne <strong>of</strong> the main issues that older people thought needed to beaddressed was the road layout. It was felt that there were toomany traffic lights and that road works and buses stoppingalong the major routes added to congestion.“Anybody that’s new to the area, coming round,especially round the <strong>Stoke</strong> [-on-Trent] area here, on theA500, there’s that many traffic lights, it’s confusing, theyknow where they’re going, but other people who don’t…”“Is it just me or do you find all the new road works thatthey’ve just put in from the A500 and even outside thecivic <strong>of</strong>fices, I find it a nightmare, people are tooting andwe were looking where we’d go to go and everybody’sso impatient.”Two suggestions put forward were a bypass and a dedicatedbus route.“If they could use dedicated bus routes on the mainroutes, because not from a bus users point <strong>of</strong> view, butas a driver, there’s nothing worse on a busy road whereyou can’t overtake a bus that’s stopping every 400yards or whatever.”3.2 Local Transport Plan 3Participants were given a definition <strong>of</strong> a local transport planand then asked what issues they would like the council toconsider in LTP3. Respondents tended to focus on specificlocal issues such as resolving congestion, improving the localroad network and road maintenance. They mentionedimproving cycle paths, providing shuttle buses and a park andride citing examples in other areas. Bus service considerationswere felt to be improving driver attitudes, cheaper fares3.2.3 WomenThe local road layout was also felt to be problematic by thewomen group and was thought to add to the congestion in thearea. The A34 and A500 were thought to be especiallyproblematic, in particular due to parked cars along the route.“I think the A34 is quite a big problem, becausegenerally it’s always busy along the A34, whether it’s
AECOM <strong>City</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Stoke</strong>-on-Trent Local Transport Plan 3 16Capabilities on project:TransportationTrent Vale end where I live or whether it’s moreNewcastle [-under-Lyme] end or whether it’s sort <strong>of</strong> likegoing towards Stafford, if you’re going that way alongthe A34, then I think the A34 with it being the main bitthrough the city.”“The A34 is like, one minute it’s like a dual carriagewayand the next minute it’s got cars parked on it and thenit’s 30 miles an hour, it’s crazy.”“It’s surprising that we can actually have parked cars onthe A34. I know it’s only sort <strong>of</strong> either 30 or 40 miles anhour generally on most <strong>of</strong> it through the city, butespecially down by Tesco’s, near where I live, there’sparked cars along there, so there’s no point it being adual carriageway, because you can’t actually utilise bothways.”Some participants in the group felt that more parking wasneeded.“I’d like parking just where I work, I don’t know if it’ssomething to do with the government, but I work up atVodafone Hanley and they aren’t apparently allowed tohave more than so many parking spaces, so there’s somany <strong>of</strong> us Vodafone workers have to kind <strong>of</strong> find, well,first <strong>of</strong> all we’re all parking along the road, so thenthey’ve made that double yellows, it’s like where the hell…, I’ve got a daughter, I don’t want to be walking,finishing sometimes at 8 o’clock at night having to walkin the dark to my car. So really I probably should thinkmore about getting buses but then again it’s like timeconsuming to get back to pick my daughter up.”Several ideas to ease congestion were put forward by thegroup. These included park and ride sites, car share schemesand investment in the local bus services.“I know the hospital had shuttle buses as well, when Iused to work at the hospital, they were always reallygood from site to site, so they should do something likethat, shouldn’t they?”Several participants felt that provisions for cyclists in the areaneeded improving in order to encourage people to get out <strong>of</strong>their cars.“But they also need more cycle paths round here,because my husband works in Burslem and we live inNewcastle [-under-Lyme] and he’s recently bought a£200 bike and he’s ridden it to work twice and he nearlygot run over by lorries both times and he’s just totallyput <strong>of</strong>f, he says you can’t breathe it’s that smoggy, heused one <strong>of</strong> them masks like Japanese people wear intowork and he said it’s really dangerous, because at timesthe cycle path disappears, they only put it to go so farand then it disappears for a while and you’re like oh,where does it go.”“Yes, I go to work on my bike and it’s all right if I wantto get on the canal but getting to the canal.”3.2.4 ParentsIn terms <strong>of</strong> issues that needed to be included in the LTP, theparents focussed on improvements to the bus services. It wasfelt that routes should be improved so that they are quicker andeasier to use and take people to where they need to go.“Actually making the bus stop in <strong>Stoke</strong> [-on-Trent] onthe way to Hanley would help, instead <strong>of</strong> doing a directroute.”“Just probably ease <strong>of</strong> access to where it’s going, like ifyou’re going to be on a bus you want to be able to getthere quicker than the rest <strong>of</strong> the cars that are sat thereto encourage you to use the bus. Else you’ll just jumpin your car, won’t you, why spend £3 to go on the buswhen you can spend 50p on petrol.”It was also thought that buses should be made more reliableand cheaper. Parents were especially concerned about theprice <strong>of</strong> child fares and thought that these needed to be eitherreduced or scrapped altogether. Participants looked to Londonas an example.“That’s what I felt last time I caught the bus, the taxididn't turn up and that’s the reason I got on the bus andhe went completely the wrong way, because I think Iwent from Basford, Newcastle [-under-Lyme] to likeHanley, but it went all the way through the Festival Parkand I thought where’s it going, it’s like a magicalmystery tour, this is and it was more money than thetaxi would have charged me, probably.”“It’s cheaper for me to get a taxi than a bus with mykids.”“There isn’t enough discount for children.”“Children should be free on the bus.”
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City of Stoke-on-Trent Local Transport Plan 3 Focus Groups

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