Trivia: Stations that didn't justify reopening

[kieron]

The difference with a bus stop is that, if it's not being used, the bus simply won't stop! There's only a few cases (hospitals, railway stations, schools) where the bus will deviate from the main route to serve a stop, but in these instances it does so because the demand is there in the first place.

It''s not just places like that. If you work it right, a village can be served by a single 'bus stop and a lengthy detour away from the main route. Sealand Manor used to be served like that. It's now , with a single stop at the end of Fox's Drive. It's now served by a route which starts there instead. I don't know if 'buses ventures any further into the village now, but the stop it used before is still there.

One way a 'bus stop could be closed would be if it primarily serves a single destination (school, hospital, railway station, shop, etc.), and that destination shuts down. They may not wait to see if anyone still waits for a 'bus there, though.

If (say) the 'bus stop is one with a layby which leads onto a road with high traffic speeds, they may want to close it and block off the laybys to discourage other vehicles from stopping there.

Wouldn't that be where request stops come in to play? Often, the only cost I can think of would be maintaining the platform structure and a couple of signs (neither of which, I agree, may be cheap!). Maybe a bus shelter if you're lucky.

The way picking passengers up at a request stop works means that every stop added to a rail journey adds to the time it takes, whereas having a stop there just means a 'bus driver has to be in the right place to get to it if needed on a dual carriageway.

Things are not always what they seem if you just measure the distance by rail. Ty Glas serves an entirely different catchment area to Birchgrove. The Tax Office and other commercial premises, clustered around Ty Glas, are a surprisingly long and indirect way, on foot, from Birchgrove.

I make it about half a mile, which still isn't far. Newcourt isn't much more isolated, though, and they've only just built that.