Beeston's buggibus network goes public

Click in the map to enlarge. This is an exercise of the imagination. Much of the map is deliberately blank. The idea is that you imagine where the little buses go and if you don't live in Beeston, then you can create your own network of little buses to take you where you want to go!

Coming soon a new (or is replacement?) café and bus map imitation.

The signage is up and through the windows there is a glimpse of what is coming. Until 2 December 2016 this location on Beeston High Road was occupied by Gourmet Delights. I did a posting to mark its demise.

At the time of Gourmet's closure the staff thought it was going to become another estate agent. In the event it has stood empty for nearly 15 months before becoming a café again, this time called Coffee & Cream. No opening date as yet, but  in the meantime one has to admire those responsible for their confidence. Others struggle, but you cannot visit them all and we do have our favourites.

On Friday I will be going to one of my favourites to enjoy a rare Stilton Roll with some coleslaw made on the premises. A picture I promise. Last  Thursday it was the best egg bacon & sausage roll you can buy in Beeston for a snip (£5) at Rosie Lea's on Wilkinson Street, off Wollaton Road and within yards of the entrance to Broxtowe Borough Council offices (the July 2017 blog post I have linked you includes a map).

Talking of maps, I have only recently noticed that Nottingham City Transport's September 2017 edition of their bus map (as impressive as always despite the fact that it stopped showing the tram and 'L' LocalLink bus routes a couple of years ago) includes student halls of residence across the city. It seems too much of a coincidence not to be linked to my inclusion of student accommodation on my Beeston map. I may be wrong of course, but it I praise NCT for doing it all the same:

Finally a reference back to my last post about my ideopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and thank you to those who have contacted me. The post has actually breathed new life into BeestonWeek. Life goes on and people like me are very much part of Beeston. I have never been happy in 'exclusive' groups of any kind, despite joining them, so I am not about to dash off and spend my time exclusively in the company of fellow sufferers — which is why continuing a regular post here takes on a new importance.

Local not global deli days out and new Civic Society pocket companion map.

I have recently created a map for Jo at the Local not global deli on Chilwell Road (click to enlarge):

I was quite strict with myself and did not include Skylink days out because this would involve a walk down to Queens Road, whereas this map is all about where the buses and tram travelling along Chilwell Road in Beeston go. Add in Skylink and list grows by 50%:

Sawley Marina

Castle Donington Musuem

East Midlands Airport Aeropark

Donington Park Grand Prix Museum

Diseworth Museum

Kegworth Museum

Loughborough Town Hall Art Gallery

Loughborough Great Central Railway.

I have also created an extended version of my original Beeston & District Civic Society Pocket Companion map. The 2016 version includes an inset map for Stapleford town centre and the map has been extended to the west to include Toton and to the the est to include Wollaton. To do this on an A3 sheet of paper, the map has to be distorted if you want to include any detail.

I am thinking of including hotels and b&bs in the next version. Space is always the decider.

The Civic Society map will be made available this coming Saturday at the Beeston Festival and the Lakeside History Fair on the south side of the University of Nottingham main campus beside Highfields Park. It is a pity the two events are on the same day, but such is life!

Another version of the map will appear shortly with all the Heritage Open Days in the area this coming September marked. Watch this space.

Beeston transport connections direct and the disappearing bus routes

Earlier versions of the map below first appeared on my old parkviews blog in 2013 and it has always had its own page (see roundel in right-hand column).

More information about all the the places of interest I have marked on the map can easily be found on the web. If you know of any I have missed please tell me and I will add them. It has been designed so that it can be printed A4 landscape in mono or colour. To see a larger version simply click on the map.

It is the only map of its kind insomuch as it shows all bus services running to and from Beeston (there is one new County Council subsidised daytime service missing, which I will add later).

Promoting Beeston is a two-way street. It is a hub as well as a destination. From Beeston you can reach all manner of places and if you add Beeston railway station to the mix, then the list expands ten-fold. When I have the time I will add all the places served by train direct from Beeston.

Promoting Beeston is not helped when local bus services disappear from bus maps. This is the Beeston section of Nottingham City Transport's latest Journey Planner dated February 2015.

NCT presently operate the L10 and L11 'Local Link' services from Nottingham City Council…

…and here is an L10 climbing out of Beeston along Wollaton Road towards Derby Road on the north side of the town centre. Since moving to Beeston this has become a bus I use regularly to take me to Nottingham city centre. It runs every hour Monday–Saturday, except evenings.

Now look at the NCT map section above and notice that it shows no L10 or L11 (which runs along Wollaton Road and Dennis Avenue) even though the services are operated by NCT. The map has a information panel on the back headed 'What's New' which explains why all the NCT Local Link services have disappeared from the map. It reads:

Link Bus services are no longer shown on this map (because) of ticketing changes which prevent the use of any NCT tickets or Easyrider passes being used'.

Now the crazy thing is that Nottingham City Council own NCT and subsidise the operation of Local Link bus routes. In fact they actually have a second fleet of buses operated by Nottingham Community Transport which now operate many of the Local Link routes.

Confused? 

This problem has been with us since bus de-regulation by the Thatcher government in the id-1980s and the last Labour government (1997–2010) did nothing to change the situation. They just continued doing what Thatcher started.

So there you have it — Beeston bus routes which do not appear on a bus map published by the company which operates the services, which are subsidised by the council which own the bus company operating the services.

It's a crazy situation which has needed attention for years. I intend to use the coming general election as an opportunity to ask all the prospective candidates to explain why they support this state of affairs or to say what they intend to do about it if they become the next Member of Parliament for Broxtowe.