With all the talk revolving around transport in Blackpool I felt compelled to write an article on it. We seem to have terrible luck in Blackpool with transport links.
Gazette correspondent and Labour sympathiser Terry Bennett once wrote a ridiculous letter to the Gazette moaning about transport links to Blackpool. I must admit he was right in his actual comments but in typical Labour supporter style he tried to blame everything on the Conservative Council eventhough the problems he pointed to were all PRIVATE sector decisions.
We had an air link to London for a while but then Ryanair pulled the plug and later pulled the plug on Blackpool altogether which was a big blow to our air links. Today there was a very exciting story in the Gazette saying Blackpool has links to New York (somewhere I would love to go) but with a change at Dublin.
If you want to get a train to Birmingham, London or anywhere else far away you need to change at the slum of Pretend City. We used to have direct links to London and Portsmouth. But then Virgin got their paws on it kept it going for a while and then dropped us. I like the excellent suggestion proposed by Zim Flyer to have an open access train company to restore a direct London link and if that was to happen then great, but for god sake do not let Virgin take over again!
Roads in Blackpool are not that bad, we have the M55 and then Yeadon Way to take you into town but that’s when the problems start. Traffic is murder on the Promenade. I tried to cross the Promenade at Central Pier and it was like trying to cross the M6. Also for some silly reason the junction of Church St and the Promenade is still blocked off which is causing mayhem for buses especially when inconsiderate motorists keep driving down Corporation St. Also Houndshill is a nightmare to get to. You have to drive all the way up Albert Rd and then come all the way down Adelaide St because they didn’t reopen traffic both ways on Coronation St which makes sense to me.
We need a proper transport interchange. Now apparently the long-awaited and much scaled down Talbot Gateway promises a new interchange for buses, taxis, coaches and trains (maybe trams) if it ever gets off the ground.
Finally another great problem is the oversaturation of speed cameras in Blackpool which Terry Bennett also moans about or random fixed income generators he calls them. I am no fan of speed cameras but I find it hypocritical of a Labour supporter to attack them when they have rapidly appeared under Labour. There are too many speed cameras and I do hope their positions will be reviewed soon enough.
As I have said previously, I hate the road system in this town. Most of the cock ups are down to the highways dept run by Peter Cross and the bunch of no hopers that work under him. Such as designer man Matt Edwards, who goes to work looking like he’s just come from a function, like an end of term school prom, none of them could design a playground.
Take the time the large concrete planters appeared all over the town. Those brainless council workers put them next to pelican and zebra crossings, the end result was that a motorist could not see a child waiting to cross the road. They had to have it spelt out to them how stupid a place it was to put such a large object. There were many other similar stupid places, they have now appeared at the end of Church st and the Prom.
Another totally brainless way to deal with a situation, are the shipping containers they use to block off the access roads to Seasiders Way at Christmas time in order to stop traveller’s camping. This is done so as not to spend money doing it the proper way. It also saves the police doing the job that they are paid to do. God help us we don’t want to overwork the police do we and stop them from hounding the motorist instead of the Irish traveller’s.
Then there is Westcliffe Drive, Roy Fisher actually lost his seat on the council with that cock up. All the emergency services were consulted on that one and they all told the powers that be not to do it, they were of course ignored. Then there are the bus drivers who have suffered abuse from motorist because they are being used as traffic calming, well that’s what the brainless muppets in the council call it, along with seats in the middle of the road.
Birley st yet another cock up. The fire brigade have admitted they cannot get their cherry picker rescue vehicle down there because of the totally out of place steel structure. This is a machine that’s been used a lot at recent big fires, so for gods sake don’t ever get trapped in a burning building down there. Lets not forget also, they will have to move all the café paraphernalia out of the way first before they can get any emergency vehicle down there. So don’t have an heart attack in Birley st on a nice sunny day.
So the saga goes on. The St Johns plaza cock up, the lack of a proper ring road and so and so on
Actually I don’t find the speed cameras a nuisance – but then anyone who’s driven through Preston a few times would feel the same. On the whole they’re in sensible areas where when you do check your speedo you’re not going close to the limit anyway.
I’m really glad that the importance of a proper transport infrastructure is taking a good hold. Blackpool at the moment is hard to visit purely because if you go by car you can’t stop and park when you get there. I know you all know I’d like a park and ride scheme on the lines of Preston’s at the docks – of course we’d need to take account of how people would connect to it from the M55, Lytham, St Annes, (North of Blackpool maybe) etc (or go mad and have two or three) and it could have a direct bus to the interchange at very low cost to the people using it. It’d encourage so many more people to come into the town and I’d fund it out of national or Northwest regional funds given that it wouldn’t just be Blackpool benefitting.
Done right it could be the biggest spur to regeneration (and private investment cash) for Blackpool for decades.
I wouldn’t have said a park and ride system would encourage visitors, but it’d make it easier for them when they were here.
Neither of us would use it because they’d site it at the end of the M55. I’d have to get in my car and drive most of the distance to town except in the opposite direction!
The problem is Blackpool council’s lunatic planning department has persecuted motorists to such a level that it’s quicker to drive 18 miles to Preston than it is to drive into town from South Shore. A park and ride system won’t really change that.
However a well thought out tram implementation might.
I think Blackpool could do with a park and ride. We are one of the only big towns I know without one. Southport has some fantastic park and rides where you park for £1 and get a free bus into town. I think we should have more multistories in Blackpool as opposed to surface car parks, I definitely prefer pay on foot to pay and display, its much more efficient when I don’t have a pocket full of exact change.
I also agree totally with skeet that fucking Westcliffe Drive scheme is a complete joke then again it is a Roy Fisher production, so no surprises really. It is dangerous as well as inconvenient, one bus stopping causes massive tailbacks and could block emergency vehicles en route to BVH or elsewhere.
At least our council logo doesnt have a goat on it.
“I wouldn’t have said a park and ride system would encourage visitors, but it’d make it easier for them when they were here.”
It depends what sort of visitor you’re talking about. Tourists may be encouraged if they are allowed longer term parking – however those from nearby towns, Manchester etc. would be encouraged if parking in town is difficult (which for a lot of the year it would be). Park and rides aren’t designed for locals so I wouldn’t expect you to be using it at all. They do however take pressure off parking in the centre making it more likely that locals can park (especially if Blackpool people were given some sort of scheme that allowed them to park in places that other people weren’t).
I’m not sure the tram thing would work though (unless part of a park and ride scheme) as buses currently run these routes and we still are driving instead in the main. I’d also have it going up to the Vic – I bet that would be really well used and could stop at Stanley Park, the zoo, the hospital.
If u want crap transport look no further than Wyre, an area run by that cunt: Russell Foreskin.
The Traffic Calming or Traffic Clogging for Talbot Gateway will ease all the problems of speeding. Don’t know what the emergency services will do in an emergency – probably drive on the the plantered pavements !
as long as there are councillors on the pavements, they will be doing the public a favour!