Where do all the cars on Wollaton Road come from, especially Friday and Saturday mornings?

First, a fun pic of sorts of the little wool / knitting shop on Wollaton Road close to The Cricketers pub by the traffic lights at the road's junction with Albion Street.

Today has been Broxtowe Borough Council's 'Small Business Day' and I love the KnitBits Wool shop simple seasonal display. Having been in a few times with Susan I know that the owners are friendly and helpful — which, in my now considerable experience, is typical of Beeston's many fine small shops.

Below is an extract from my 2018 Beeston map showing you where KnitBits is:

This morning was wet, cold and miserable but I still had to go shopping for a few odds and ends. I try to avoid supermarket shopping on Fridays and Saturdays and I can't remember a Saturday when Wollaton Road from Wollaton Crescent down into Beeston has not been a solid line of traffic. Most times I usually beat the cars but today I had an L10 as my marker. It met me as I turned out of the Crescent onto Wollaton Road and only passed me for the last time as I turned onto Albion Street. I took this two pics:

Here the L10 has stopped outside the Thistle Teahouse. In some ways it has to be one of the best ways to begin a visit to Beeston. Off the L10 or L11, a cup of tea or coffee, then a leisurely walk into town.

And here it is again, front view this time, as I overtake it by the Abbey Road / Wollaton Road pedestrian crossing. This poor L10 was trapped in a solid line of traffic the whole time we were together and the driver had yet to negotiate the Station Road / Middle Street traffic lights which, because of the tram, can catch this little bus for ages. I have long been of the view that buses should have priority at traffic lights just like the tram. The L10 rarely leaves Beeston on time and I know this fact well because it is the bus Susan and I use most times we travel into Nottingham and it is rarely on time. The reasons for this are another story for another day.

The question I want to ask right now is 'Do Broxtowe and Nottinghamshire councils know where all the cars pouring into Beeston via Wollaton Road come from, especially on Saturdays?

I ask because with modern number plate reading technology it should be easy enough to plot where all these vehicles come from and if, as I suspect, this is mostly local traffic, why can't we have a more frequent bus service along Wollaton Road to reduce the need for car use?

On wet, cold, miserable days like today I understand why folk use their cars, but if we want people to get the bus habit then you have to provide high frequency daily bus services throughout the Beeston area. Once upon a time Wollaton Road and Dennis Avenue both had frequent bus routes and lost them for reasons not to do with lack of use. Again another story for another day. Right now I want to flag up the need for a traffic survey mapping where all the Wollaton Road traffic comes from, then for new or revised bus routes to be introduced which take account of where road users actually live.

Finally, consider this fact. If it wasn't for Nottingham City Council Wollaton Road and Dennis Avenue wouldn't have the limited Monday–Saturday daytime buses they presently enjoy — another good reason why I'm a fan of Beeston joining with Nottingham and not the county should the Conservatives retain control of Broxtowe come next May's borough council elections and support the borough becoming part of a unitary county council.

And as I walked back home up Wollaton Road, having done my shopping, this L11 was sitting in traffic waiting to have its photograph taken. It was already close to mid-day and running late. It had come all the way from Arnold and kept good time only to end up late because of all the cars on Wollaton Road.

The tram was created to serve a network of long-stay car parks around Nottingham for the benefit of drivers and their passengers (if they have any) whilst those who rely on buses are left standing in the rain and wind waiting for buses made late by other road users. There is something wrong with a logic that says it was worth spending hundreds of millions on a tram when the same money could have created a low fare, high frequency 24/7 bus network across our conurbation to the advantage of all. We have the tram, so we should make the best use of it we can. The same people who argued for the tram argue for HS2 and the arguments are as spurious now as they were then.

In the meantime bus routes are axed and services reduced. Next week a story from 1947 when the old Beeston and Stapleford Urban District Council was busy complaining about bus services in Beeston and along Wollaton Road among others.