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 36Capabilities on project:Transportation“Well, they just don’t go to where you want to and whereyou need to go.”“But if you want to go to Tunstall, then it’s a few buses,do you know what I mean, they’re just not accessible tothe locations that you need to go to.”Another issue that the young people had was that the busesdid not run late enough and were not frequent enough onSundays.“We have a few drinks sometimes and we get the busdown there but we have to get the taxi back, becauseit’s after 12 o’clock, but it’s just as cheap to get thatback if there’s five <strong>of</strong> you or four <strong>of</strong> you.”“They have the service on Sunday, I think they shouldbe half an hour, not an hour on Sundays, because youget a fair few people in the pubs on Sunday.”Improving bus services was seen to lead to improvements intraffic flow, especially during the school run.“They should improve the school buses that are runpurely for the schools.”“Like those yellow things they have in America.”“There’d be less traffic, then.”“It’s mainly, when the kids are <strong>of</strong>f school it’s not so bad.”Overall however, participants felt that trying to persuade peopleto use more sustainable modes <strong>of</strong> transport was unrealistic.“People just don’t have the time for that, do they? Ifyou’ve got to drop your child <strong>of</strong>f at school for 8.45 andthey’ve got to be at work for 9 o’clock, they’re not goingto walk to school, are they?”“It’s too inconvenient.”3.5.2 Older PeopleThe top three areas in terms <strong>of</strong> spend amongst the olderpeople group were as follows; the percentage <strong>of</strong> the total olderpeople group spend is shown in brackets:- Works to Highways & Streets (23%)- Walking & Cycling (19%)- Management & Maintenance (18%)The group felt that the maintenance <strong>of</strong> roads, in particularpotholes, was important in terms <strong>of</strong> spend.“Can we put one on the bottom, potholes?”“The council have gone on record, haven’t they, forsaying it’s cheaper to pay the allowances to people thanto repair.”Participants felt that even if public transport were improvedthey would still travel by car and those with free passes did notuse them. Buses were felt to be inconvenient and timeconsuming.“As long as I am fit to drive my car I would never usepublic transport.”“A lot <strong>of</strong> our friends now, they’ve got their bus passes,but they don’t use them.”“Because half an hour or an hour you can go to Hanleyand do shopping and come home, on the bus you’rethere all day.”“If it was cost effective to get into Hanley on the bus,then I would do it, because trying to find, especially thistime <strong>of</strong> year, trying to find parking spaces, but then theproblem is dependent on what you’re buying and tryingto get back on the bus.”“Yes, you can’t buy a lot if you go on the bus.”“You can’t get on the front <strong>of</strong> the bus with a pushchair.”The group did not think that all elements <strong>of</strong> works to highwaysand streets was important and felt that the money would bebetter spent elsewhere.“What stopped me from giving them more money waslandscaping and tree planting, I don’t really care what itlooks like, as long as it gets me from A to B quicker.”