An increasing trend at the moment in my area (or perhaps i'm just noticing it more), is the long term roadworks causing road closures, resulting in roads or whole villages being unserved by buses for weeks and months. It seems particularly prevalent for rural routes, especially as its often difficult to find a diversion route to serve villages.
Here are some current examples in Kent:
Route 666 (yes, that's its number!) usually runs between Ashford and Faversham, but the main road near Faversham is closed for roadworks. There is no suitable diversion for the route, so instead of Faversham it will go to Canterbury, where people can connect to the 3/3X to/from Faversham. This will last about a month, and will leave two (admittedly very small) villages unserved during that time. I travelled on this route today, and it also couldn't serve an out-of-town shopping park properly so had to turn around in a car park, and it couldn't enter a small part of a housing estate due to a road closure. I was the only passenger for the entire journey, and its the first post-0930 journey for the villages into Ashford (although concessionary passes can be used all the time in Kent until the end of August, but people like their routines).
Route 11 runs between Canterbury and Thanet via various villages (a scenic route i'd really recommend by the way). However, a weight restriction has been imposed on a weak bridge that crosses a railway near Pluck's Gutter, cutting the route in half so the route only runs between there and Canterbury. This means it doesn't serve the villages of Monkton and Minster, which are served by a more frequent route, but this route doesn't provide the same links as the 11. This is a very long term closure (with an official date of 2025 - but this could just be a random date to cover any potential works). If the council can keep the bridge open with a weight restriction, I doubt the repair works will be urgent. This route previously had roughly 5 return journeys spread through the day, but now has just 2, with the last journey being 11.07 from Canterbury! I've also seen today that the route is being cut back further to Preston (no, not that one) for a few days due to roadworks, leaving Stourmouth without a bus.
Route 45 runs between Sandwich and Ramsgate, via the village of Cliffsend. This village has had a long-term road closure which will last until the end of November - the route can still serve the very top of the village, but there have been a few days when it hasn't been able to serve the village at all. Hopefully there haven't been passengers who have walked up to the top of the village, to find out it has been further diverted.
I've travelled on all these routes over the last few weeks, often being the only passenger for the entire journey, or just a small handful of passengers joining me. I realise Covid is still having a big impact on passenger numbers, although many rural routes have had very small passenger levels even pre-Covid. When entire estates or villages are cut off for weeks or months, why would anyone want to rely on such badly disrupted services?
There are countless other examples, and i'm sure there's plenty more across the country.
It just seems quite hopeless that not only do operators have to cope with getting passengers back following lockdown, but there are also these countless diversions which will be having an impact on passenger numbers. With the potential financial problems which may affect councils following Covid, how many will want to continue funding services carrying mostly fresh air? Some of these infrequent rural routes are even commercial too - its the same question for those commercial operators.
Its not the operator's fault (although some communication could be better), and obviously there is often no choice for roadworks - but utility companies or whoever is digging up the road often give operators little or no notice, and also give little provision to buses (i.e. letting only buses through the roadworks, if possible). The use of shuttle buses or taxis is expensive, and there may not be many people to actually use them anyway (and who will fund it?). I'm not sure how this can be improved, but anyway its clear to see it gives a really negative impact on to bus services.
Here are some current examples in Kent:
Route 666 (yes, that's its number!) usually runs between Ashford and Faversham, but the main road near Faversham is closed for roadworks. There is no suitable diversion for the route, so instead of Faversham it will go to Canterbury, where people can connect to the 3/3X to/from Faversham. This will last about a month, and will leave two (admittedly very small) villages unserved during that time. I travelled on this route today, and it also couldn't serve an out-of-town shopping park properly so had to turn around in a car park, and it couldn't enter a small part of a housing estate due to a road closure. I was the only passenger for the entire journey, and its the first post-0930 journey for the villages into Ashford (although concessionary passes can be used all the time in Kent until the end of August, but people like their routines).
Route 11 runs between Canterbury and Thanet via various villages (a scenic route i'd really recommend by the way). However, a weight restriction has been imposed on a weak bridge that crosses a railway near Pluck's Gutter, cutting the route in half so the route only runs between there and Canterbury. This means it doesn't serve the villages of Monkton and Minster, which are served by a more frequent route, but this route doesn't provide the same links as the 11. This is a very long term closure (with an official date of 2025 - but this could just be a random date to cover any potential works). If the council can keep the bridge open with a weight restriction, I doubt the repair works will be urgent. This route previously had roughly 5 return journeys spread through the day, but now has just 2, with the last journey being 11.07 from Canterbury! I've also seen today that the route is being cut back further to Preston (no, not that one) for a few days due to roadworks, leaving Stourmouth without a bus.
Route 45 runs between Sandwich and Ramsgate, via the village of Cliffsend. This village has had a long-term road closure which will last until the end of November - the route can still serve the very top of the village, but there have been a few days when it hasn't been able to serve the village at all. Hopefully there haven't been passengers who have walked up to the top of the village, to find out it has been further diverted.
I've travelled on all these routes over the last few weeks, often being the only passenger for the entire journey, or just a small handful of passengers joining me. I realise Covid is still having a big impact on passenger numbers, although many rural routes have had very small passenger levels even pre-Covid. When entire estates or villages are cut off for weeks or months, why would anyone want to rely on such badly disrupted services?
There are countless other examples, and i'm sure there's plenty more across the country.
It just seems quite hopeless that not only do operators have to cope with getting passengers back following lockdown, but there are also these countless diversions which will be having an impact on passenger numbers. With the potential financial problems which may affect councils following Covid, how many will want to continue funding services carrying mostly fresh air? Some of these infrequent rural routes are even commercial too - its the same question for those commercial operators.
Its not the operator's fault (although some communication could be better), and obviously there is often no choice for roadworks - but utility companies or whoever is digging up the road often give operators little or no notice, and also give little provision to buses (i.e. letting only buses through the roadworks, if possible). The use of shuttle buses or taxis is expensive, and there may not be many people to actually use them anyway (and who will fund it?). I'm not sure how this can be improved, but anyway its clear to see it gives a really negative impact on to bus services.
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