Category Archives: Milton Keynes
Protected: Oxley Park:The Movie!
Protected: We're an "Exclusive" Estate…
Goodbye 22, Hello 2!
Well yesterday (Saturday) was the last day of Route 22, My Favourite route at Metro 🙁
Luckily I was able to swap duites with Professional Matt, who had a whole day of 22’s, So that I could do them one last time 🙂
(Please don’t ask about the waving of cucumbers, Its a long story and If I went into detail you’d think I’m even weirder than you do currently)
But Today was the start of the new, Improved route 2 which takes over the Westcroft end of the 22.
A slight difference with this route, Firstly it doesn’t go round Tattenhoe, and secondly (And a rather brave decision) the bus goes through Oxley Park Estate.
Now, Anyone thats been to Oxley Park before will realise that it’s still currently being built, which means the roads are still half finished, Coupled with the fact that most of the houses are rather expensive, as are all the cars parked outside these said house, This doesn’t really seem like good bus territory!!
Anyway, I decided to go for a couple of rides round with Professional Matt today to see what it was like, and I think it’s going to be rather interesting in the evenings with parked cars, Lots of bemused faces from residents as we went past, and one even flagged us down to find out why we were driving through. He didn’t seem too impressed when we told him it was a 30 minute service until 2230 at night, 7 days a week! I took a load of photos of the route which are below.
Road with no houses 1
Unfinished (and assumed unadopted) road
The bus randomly goes through the Local Centre Car Park, This is by the Tesco Express
Road with no houses 2
Road with no houses 3
Struggling to get the bus past double parked cars, Lucky it was just a minibus
Another shot of the Local Centre Car Park the bus goes through
More double parked cars
Professional Matt stopped in another sort of Car Park the bus goes through
Is this the start of the change?
Two of the Five hire buses arrived at the depot this week for some new cross town route we’re starting in a week..
Notice the company name on the side!…No sign of MK METRO… Is this the start of us being “Arriva’tised”?!
(Pictures by Professional Matt)
Tickets Please
Last night The Chris Moyles Breakfast Show on Radio 1 held a Karaoke event in Milton Keynes. This morning they are broadcasting their show from the BBC Three Counties studio in Willen, and as part of that they had a feature called “Aled in your Area” where Aled comes to help you out at work….
Well the first job was “Revenue Protection Manager” at Metro!
You can listen again to the show at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/chrismoyles/
(Pictures are copyright of BBC)
Can you see me?! UPDATE
Well the GPS tracking thing seemed to work quite well today.
According to the data, Between 11:08 and 18:38 I traveled 38.3 Miles, at an average speed of 5mph (!!!), and my Max Speed at any one time was 41mph. The average speed might be a bit inaccurate as there were two one hour breaks within that time.
Anyway, I’ve decided to have another go at it tomorrow, between the hours or 1500 – 1940, So don’t forget to log and look again.. and Please comment on it, I might add it as a permanent feature of the blog
You can use the (manual refresh) map in the post below or go directly to a map at http://www.instamapper.com/ext?key=15320019696317868336
Passenger Conversations Part 7
Driving a Route 7 to Bletchley this morning….
Someone rings the bell outside ASDA, So I pull in at the next stop….
A woman gets off, Then turns around to me and says…
“Driver, Can you tell me where IKEA is please?”
Whoops! & Visiting Bus
The so called ARRIVA “Bus of the Future” has made a visit to Milton Keynes today, How long for, who knows!
Whoops Number 1:
Whoops Number 2:
Station Square
MK Council have finally released their proposals for the redevelopment of Station Square in Central Milton Keynes.
Anyone that has had the misfortune to travel over the current road surface of pot holes and loose brickwork will know it’s been a long time coming.
There are two options that the Council have whittled their ideas down to, Which there is an image of each below.
Option 1
Key points:
* Plant trees to extend boulevard effect
* Uses proportions of CMK grid
* Reduces pedestrian/vehicular conflict
* Clear views and routes to underpass
* Transport located to sides of square
Option 2
* Plant trees to extend boulevard effect
* Less focus on proportions of CMK grid
* Reduces pedestrian / vehicular conflict
* Clear views / routes to underpass
* Less land given over to transport purposes than option 1
* Reduced size of land used by current transport layout
* Allows for two large grass areas
I personally prefer Option 1, Mainly because there are more bus bays than Option 2 and buses enter and exit the square through different roads, Whereas Option 2 has them using the same one road, I can see that becoming a bit of a pain with the amount of buses that pass Station Square.
Option 1 has a Bus Setdown point, Just before the bays, Something that will become very handy for buses that terminate at the Rail Station, stopping them from blocking up bays for through routes, Option 2 doesn’t seem to have this.
Also, Option 1 has 3 bays just for Coach services, The X4, X5 and VT99, completely separate and away from the bus bays, Whereas Option 2 has the coaches sharing the same space as Bus Layovers, Far from Ideal.
I’d be interested to hear what you each think of both options and which ones you prefer in the post comments, and you can take part in the council consultation by clicking here before 27th April 2009.