IS this the daftest bus stop in Britain?
Buses stopping on Barlow Moor Road in Chorlton-cum-Hardy can no longer pull up next to the bus stop and instead have to stop in the middle of the road to let passengers on, causing long queues of traffic.
Engineers have designed a section of pavement jutting out into the road right next to the bus stop as part of a "quality bus corridor" - which is supposed to ease congestion.
But bewildered passengers have branded the change "pointless" and say it has only made things worse.
Regular bus user Dave Evans, 59, from Edge Lane, said: "I take the bus to work every day and the traffic now is definitely worse. The layout was fine before but now the bus holds up all the traffic, including other buses."
Maria South, from Priory Avenue, said: "It's a waste of money, I've heard a lot of people complaining about it."
Simon Smith, owner of Big Cup caf', next to the bus stop, said: "The amount of cars that bump into the kerb because they don't see it until they're near it is frightening. There's going to be an accident sooner or later."
District
Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority is introducing `quality bus corridors' as part of a government-backed scheme costing £1.4m.
Chorlton is the latest district in Manchester to get the corridors and similar schemes on the A6 in Stockport and on Wilbraham Road through Rusholme and Fallowfield have attracted controversy.
But a spokesman for GMPTE said: "The additional pavement at the bus stop on Barlow Moor Road near the Groby Road junction is designed to make it easier for passengers to reach the bus without having to make their way through parked cars.
"A decision was taken not to provide a bay for buses to pull into as this would have increased bus journey times and reduced the number of parking spaces.
"Passengers were previously held up while bus drivers waited to pull out of the bay and back into the main flow of traffic."
He said most people gave their support during a major consultation.
Is there are a road scheme which drives you crazy? E-mail our transport reporter at clarissa.satchell@men-news.co.uk or phone 0161 211 2180.
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Your comment about "quality bus corridor" - which is supposed to ease congestion is incorrect. The idea is to give the bus priority, not the car.
You should publish a retraction and researh a little better, cos you know nothing about transport.
You should not be so biased towards what is popular, the car. So what if the cars have to queue.
The whole of the so-called 'improvements' to the bus services in Chorlton have been a joke: from the curtailing of the services which used to go through to Southern Cemetery, but now stop at the bus station (useless), right through to the insanity in the centre at the Four Banks. And as for removing the bus stop right next to the precinct (the most popular stop in the suburb), what the hell are GMPTE playing at?! And what brainiac came up with the idea of getting rid of the audible signal on the pedestrian crossings? Now everyone just stands in confusion at the lights, wondering whether or not to cross, as it only needs one person to be standing in front of the waist-high illuminated display for the rest of the pedestrians to be unaware of whether it's safe to cross. What the heck was wrong with the old style lights, where you had both an audible tone telling you when it was safe, plus a flashing green man ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE ROAD, HIGH UP WHERE PEOPLE COULD SEE IT.
Just as I have done in the past, people here are expecting local authority actions to represent "improvements". It is part of an agenda to make driving even more infuriating, so we all eventually get out of our cars. It's not a matter of "public servants" acting in our interests. There are deliberate intentions behind things like this, and we all just put up with it. The fact that things were "better before" illustrates this.
"Naz's" comments illustrate the kind of selfish, self-superior attitudes which have brought this about. There is no democracy in the QBC. I wasn't consulted at all, and I'm severely affected by the chaos, as are most of the traffic users of Chorlton.
We car users do not have to justify or apologise for our actions. We use cars to get to work because the bus services are so limited and unreliable, which has nothing to do with cars, and everything to do with bus profitability.
Naz should climb off his high horse and support democracy, not the kind of green facism which is destroying our infrastructure.
Naz most likely uses his "skills" to contribute to the science of poking spanners in the works, so that disruption to all, can be maximised. "Where there isn't a problem, we'll create one" He'll never admit it of course, and will use other non-related arguments to defend his position. All these people stay silent when the public complains about how their taxes are being spent. The fashionable green arguments about stationary traffic belching out excessive fumes for all and sundry doesn't enter into it! That argument will only be considered when it suits them. For the record, I now avoid Chorlton wherever possible. I don't think my attitude is good for the businesses there, but hey, who cares in the local authorities anyway?