Beeston Worm Map update

I have it in mind to extend my worm map to include the University and QMC Hospital bus and tram links. As a first step I have updated my original Beeston Worm Map dated 2016. You can see both maps on my Beeston Warm Map page to which you can find a link in the right-hand column.

Beeston Loyalty Map draft no.2 looking for a sponsor

I did a post a few days ago of my first draft of this map. This is my second draft. Slowly it progresses! My aim is to find a sponsor so the map can be published in January, before I go off the scene for a few months whilst I recover from open heart surgery.

Usual rule applies. Click on image to enlarge.

The following bus and tram information will appear on the reverse side of the map.

New Beeston 'worm map'

Remember the rule, click on to enlarge. It's that easy.

This is a version of my entry into the Civic Society's annual photographic and art competition. Hope you enjoy the preview.

As you can see my first post in a long time. Health issues have made me park some of my activities and I am afraid the weekly blog has been parked ever since, but it still seems a good home for my maps.

Busting the Nottingham tram myth — bus and tram journey times in and around Nottingham

As I have admitted in my last two postings, I have a bee in my bonnet about the Nottingham tram and all the claims which are made on its behalf. Today, the Nottingham Post is at it again. This time it is actually pointing out that the Nottingham tram is down on its performance targets. Given that the network has doubled in size, it seems logical to expect more problems — simply because there are now more opportunities for delays, accidents etc.

I keep tweaking my map showing bus and tram journey times in and around Nottingham and surprise myself. A few who have seen the map have questioned its accuracy, because they find it hard to believe that the bus still has a quicker running time than the tram to Beeston, the QMC and Hucknall for example, and that the City Hospital is just a 11 minute bus ride from the city centre (Milton Street).

I have amended my Ruddington times from the city centre. Instead of the Victoria Centre, I have used the Angel Row timing point instead. This reduces the journey times. I have also changed the Ruddington Business/Country Park time to the hourly Kinchbus route 9.

I have printed off copies of all the timetables I have used and added a list detailing the routes etc. in the sidebar on their own page in the next few days.

The point is that all my journey times start in the city centre and the tram only shows the Old Market Square on its timetable downloadable as a pdf file.

Whatever way you look at it, the tram does not out-perform the bus in a number of ways: the bus is actually quicker (and you get a seat) going to Beeston, Hucknall and the QMC Derby Road entrance (the tram takes you direct to the QMC Treatment Centre on the south side of the QMC).

City Transport routes 68/69 from Bulwell may take 3 minutes longer to reach the city centre, but like the 36 and Y36 from Beeston, it stops right outside the Victoria Centre. Add on tram walking time (and factor in bad weather conditions on some days), the bus is simply a better option.

My page in the Post on Saturday explains why buses still have many advantages over the tram in Nottingham.

I could go on, but the aim of my unique map is to get you considering the facts for yourself, to check your own journey times and to look beyond the hype which surrounds the tram.

I believe there will be no more tram lines running along Nottingham streets. The long-term disruption in Beeston and Chilwell caused by tram construction work have soured attitudes towards new street tram lines. The future has to be with converting some existing railway lines to light-rail 'tram-trains' and there are plenty of opportunities for this (something I wrote about in the Nottingham Post in July 2013*). Here is the map I produced at the time:

As I always say, simply click on the map to enlarge and I do have pdf versions at 300dpi.

I could go on, but I think my maps speak for me and I have yet to see any comparable Nottingham public transport related maps.

The Robin Hood travelcard and Kangaroo ticket should cover the whole of the Nottingham travel to work area and this includes parts of Derbyshire and the City Council's efforts in this direction should be supported by Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire county councils. If or when we get a 'combined authority' including the Derby–Nottingham conurbation, the first task of the elected mayor should be the creation of a 'twin-city' public transport authority (PTA) to ensure we have just one universal travelcard like in London. It's quite simple if you have the will and commitment.

We shall see

NOTE: * Couldn't get link to story on Post website to work - sorry.

Another look at bus journey times around Nottingham

I admit to having a bee in my bonnet about the new City Council Robin Hood 'oyster style' travelcard, which has not got off to a very good start, but I think the politicians know this and want to show willing.

I also think the County Council should be in there with the City, supporting them with money, to make sure the Robin Hood card is the success it can be. 

Not all the bus companies are taking part and I suspect that those who are, are calling the tune, making the card more expensive and geographically restrictive.

I hope the map below is self-explanatory. The usual rule applies. Click on the map to enlarge it.

On Friday 8 January the Nottingham Post ran a front page story about how the tram had reduced bus services in Beeston by '25%'. The story contained a number of errors, including a reference to the 17, which stopped running between Beeston and Toton before the tram started. Its demise came as no surprise to me, but this is not ‘Beeston’ news by any stretch of the imagination — which is why I ignored it. See my blog post from a year ago: http://beestonweek.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/beestons-flying-dutchman-bus-and.html

The Derby Road service (Stapleford Club Class), may have been cut, but Trent-Barton have doubled the frequency of the i4 and YourBus have started the Y4 (following the same route as the i4), so there are now many more buses running along the Derby Road between the Priory and Bramcote islands than there were. How this can be interpreted as ‘a cut’ is beyond me, nor is it really Beeston. It is too far out of the town centre.

The 510 change will be seen positively by folk living on Queens Road, who can now catch a bus direct into Beeston again, after the 36 returned to it original route, once Chilwell Road re-opened. For some this is a good news story. I actually chopped a paragraph from my piece about the 510.

On Saturday 9 January, the Post published a full page by me about the tram and its impact on local bus services. My take was very different and was something I had been invited to write some days ago. 

Unnoticed magnificence, The Food Bar and Beeston's woodhenge

I try to walk the main shopping street from Park Road to Marlborough Road every couple of weeks and continue to be amazed at what I miss. I call it 'walking eyes wide shut'. We all do it. Not looking for the unexpected that is, and last Monday was another such day. 

It's like walking past The Flower Shop on Chilwell Road and never photographing it before. It really does bring a touch of brightness to the street. Every street should have one. I am tempted to do a blog post devoted to Beeston flower shops, so watch this space.

A tram figured in my last post and here are another two. You wait four years and then they all start coming together. One trundled past me as I walked down Chilwell Road...

...and when I walked back a few minutes later there was another tram coming towards me. It really can't be long now until we have a date for when the trams go operational and start carrying passengers.

At the beginning of this post I mentioned things I miss. I have to confess that it was only last Monday that I took in the full magnificence of this building. I have walked past in countless times. It is Beeston telephone exchange. Around the countries there must be hundreds like in style if not size, but the point is it is the only one in Beeston and for this reason should be treasured.

It hides behind the south side of Beeston High Road off Acacia Walk and to its west is the Tesco car park, from where I took this photograph.

Another change I missed was the cafe I had marked as 'Brunch' becoming The Food Bar, where I stopped for coffee and a chat with its owner Tom. There was a steady stream of regulars whilst I was there calling in for take-away 'fresh salad boxes' and 'wholegrain wraps', all made on the spot by Tom. On the menu is something called, if I remember correctly, 'dry coleslaw'. I will be going back soon with Susan. His crayfish tails looked delicious and so did the other fillings The Food Bar has to offer.

Tom recently won the 'New (Beeston) Business of the year' award in a competition organised by Beeston BID. His bananas were also ripe and ready to eat, as you may just see in the above pic of Tom standing behind the counter in The Food Bar. Well worth a visit and his prices are good. Just £2 bought me a good black coffee (very hot with a clean fresh taste that lingered).

The Food Bar is also open EVERY DAY (8.30am–5.30pm). Most Beeston cafés don't open on a Sunday and a few do not open on a Monday. Another big plus point for Tom.

As I continued my walk along Beeston High Road I looked down into Broadgate Park and overheard someone asked 'Who's that?'  Back came the reply 'Queen Victoria'. I didn't think it was, but I couldn't remember who it was. I have looked at it a good free times over the years and it is yet another example off what we can miss or easily forget.

It is a memorial to the Boer War and on the reverse side are the names of Beeston soldiers who died. Another reminder of our imperial past and of lives lost long ago in a pointless conflict.

Another shop I have never photographed until now is Charlie Fogg's. The very first shop at the eastern end of Beeston High Road. We have been going there for years, having shoes and bags repaired, for keys and a couple of shopping trollies. Always helpful and a shop where I seem to meet people I know.

I turned back and walked up Marlborough Road towards home and took one final photograph for the day of what I think of as Beeston's very own 'Woodhenge'. The first time I saw it, it seemed quite out of place. Now I would miss it. I rather like the idea of a quiet public space in Beeston defined by huge upright timbers surrounded by stones and gravel.

Whoever is responsible deserves our thanks for sharing his or her vision with all who care to walk past and stop awhile. Five minutes later I was home. I walk past it every week and Woodhenge is one thing I always notice!