Lancaster Bus Users' Group

Passengers using one of Lancaster’s busiest bus stops will soon find waiting for their buses a more comfortable experience following an initiative by local councillors assisted by the Bus Users’ Group.

Many elderly passengers and people with disabilities find the existing seating uncomfortable and difficult to use due to it being too close to the ground and with a lack of armrests other than at the ends. As the image above shows there are also large gaps between the benches and therefore insufficient seating for all the passengers using these busy city centre bus stops.

Requests for improvement.

Following requests by passengers to city councillors Gina Dowding and Caroline Jackson to improve the seating Cllr. Abi Mills (who is also LBUG’s vice-chair) was called upon in her role as the council’s disability champion to get something done. Abi consulted with groups representing people with disabilities and through working with them, and after considerable research, was able to identify the sort of seating that was needed.

Solution found

The “Broxap Ilford” seating to be installed is made by a family-owned business based in Staffordshire. Six three-seat units, totalling eighteen seats will be installed at the Common Garden Street stops and will be similar to those below, except they will be painted green.

The seats are higher off the ground than the benches they will replace and the arms will make it easier for people to get in and out of them. The total amount of seating at the stops will also be increased.

Whose job is it?

As with most things involving buses and bus stops the process of purchasing and installing the seats wasn’t straightforward. Permission and agreement had to be obtained from Lancashire County Council as the highway authority, Lancaster City Council, which is responsible for the “public realm” within the city and which also has an involvement in bus stops and also Marketgate, whose property they adjoin and who had provided the original seating and presumably still owned it.

And who is going to pay?

This involved considerable negotiation that took several months and once agreement had been reached it just left the small matter of who was going to pay for it! The City Council had no provision in its budget and the proprietors of the Marketgate site said that whilst they were happy to see the seating replaced they were also unable to fund it, whilst Lancashire County Council originally said that its budget would not stretch to funding the high standard of seating that Cllr Mills and the Bus Users’ Group felt was needed.

Clllr. Mills then approached the Bus Users’ Group for assistance in identifying an alternative funding source. Her approach was timely, because the Group is now a member of the Stakeholders’ Forum of the Lancashire “Enhanced Partnership” through which the County Council and the county’s bus operators work together to improve bus services.

Bus Service Improvement Plan

The Group was able to advise that the Partnership had access to money through the Bus Service Improvement Plan allocated specifically to enhance bus stops. Armed with this information Cllr Mills was able to get the county council to agree to fund the full cost of the chosen seating and to meet the costs of installing it. They even allowed Cllr Mills to choose the colour of the new seats (which will be green!).

Cllr Abi Mills, the Disability Champion at the City Council said:
“I am so pleased that the new seats will be installed soon. It is incredibly important to ensure that we make our environment as accessible as possible for all, and I’d like to thank both the County and City Councils for their support on this project”.

Co-operation

The exercise is a welcome, but all too rare, example of the city and county councils working together rather than seeking to pass the buck and claim that any task is the other’s responsibility. From the Bus Users’ Group’s point of view we were happy to have the opportunity to be involved. The humble bus stop is usually ignored by bus companies and local authorities alike, except when they want to move it or do away with it altogether when it gets in the way, but we see it as the bus industry’s shop window and the point of entry to the bus system for new and existing customers and we are always happy to advise or assist anyone seeking to improve their local stop.