GleadlessLad

6 hours ago, Jim Hardie said:

If the police are so concerned about speeding on this particular road, why don't they have a permanent speed camera installed?

Presumably due to the cost of the installation & maintenance in these times of austerity; also if a speed camera was installed there'd be the usual carry-on of folk slowing for the camera & then speeding off in excess of the speed limit, after passing it.

1 hour ago, WiseOwl182 said:

 

I'm talking about the stretch after Norton, where nobody sticks to 40mph anyway (apart from self righteous forum posters, of course).

Since when did it become "self righteous" to abide by the law & stick to the speed limit - which has obviously been set at 40MPH for a number of reasons? 

These just might include the facts that there's an established (& official) crossing point for pedestrians & also there's an access road to a school for children with Special Educational Needs with Council Transport buses going in & out, when leaving the school they have to join a busy main road & of course these buses aren't the nippiest vehicles.

I sometimes use that pedestrian crossing point (which is, as others have pointed out, an official crossing, as indicated by the path across the central reservation & also the presence of warning signs); but it's often quite difficult to cross the road safely due to the number of drivers who seem to ignore the 40MPH speed limit.

When I drive on Bochum Parkway I always stick to 40 (or lower if the road conditions require a slower speed) & when doing 40 I regularly see other traffic tearing past me at high speed & aggressively tailgating other vehicles.

I read somewhere recently that the police are aware of the issue of people flouting the speed limit on Bochum Parkway & the danger this causes to pedestrians; consequently they sometimes drive along that road in an un-marked vehicle specifically to catch people speeding.

https://www.sheffield.gov.uk/content/dam/sheffield/docs/housing/council-housing/Your%20Furniture%20Choices.pdf

On Thursday morning (27/12) the electronic display boards were displaying the usual weekday timetabled times - despite the Saturday timetable being in operation.  They'd publicised the running to the Saturday timetable on their twitter page & they'd also put notices in the display cases at the stops, but they obviously couldn't be bothered to update the signs.

A lot of public money's been spent on the electronic boards but when they can't even be bothered to make such  a fundamental  update to the information, it seems pretty hopeless.

7 hours ago, amnicoll said:

Unbelievable I know but I went to Parkway the other day and the Pid was actually providing correct information and working as intended for the first time in several visits instead of rubbish - I hope that this continues and was not a one off

The sign at Granville Rd (heading away from town) is still regularly all over the place - e.g. the tram towards Herdings Park due at 16:21 is frequently shown to be running on time - minutes counting  down & "Due" then appears at 16:21 - & then it suddenly indicates "5 mins".  Then the tram nearly always turns up at about 16:27 - 6 minutes late - with the sign showing  "3 Mins". at that point..

23 hours ago, woah said:

False story:

 

https://twitter.com/SCSupertram/status/1067846376321662976?s=19

I think you're right - I see that the Star's tale of derailment now seems to have vanished from their website!

https://www.thestar.co.uk/news/tram-train-derails-at-rotherham-central-1-9467435

I had a ride on the Tram Train this morning, for the first time.

Trams from Sheffield at 39 & from Parkgate at 09 were - again - cancelled until further notice, so only 2 trams per hour with an approx 30 min frequency. Tram to Parkgate departed Cathedral 3 mins late. Had a look around Parkgate (was impressed at the range & no. of shops!) then caught a tram to Rotherham Centre - which departed from Parkgate 4 mins late.

Had a quick look around Rotherham Centre then another late tram (5 mins overdue this time) back to Sheffield. Supertram official at Rotherham Central said that the reduced service was due to "technical issues" - I did see a Tram-Train vehicle parked in the depot as we went past & it wasn't the same tram which was damaged on the opening day...

Tram-Train on the outward journey (timetabled 09:27) wasn't at all busy but the return from Rotherham (timetabled 11:02) was well used.

This evening:-

"Stagecoach Supertram

‏@SCSupertram

Follow Follow @SCSupertram

Due to Tram/train fault the 18:27 Cathedral to Parkgate and 18:59 Pargate to Cathedral will be cancelled."

(I wonder whether "Pargate" might be anywhere near to "Parkgate"?)

If the problem at Parkgate do they go at least from cathedral to Meadowhall?

I believe that they aren't bothering, as the Yellow Route serves that part of the network - at the moment, unless there's another tram failure....!

"Stagecoach Supertram@SCSupertram

Due to a points failure at Parkgate, the tram train services are currently suspended."

10:45am today....

I see that the PTE are proposing to extend bus 27 - which currently runs between Crystal Peaks & Rotherham - beyond Rotherham & on to Parkgate, on Monday to Fridays only.

Wonder whether this might take passengers away from the Tram Train...?

If you look at Real Time Trains you’ll see that this is due to tram trains being held at Parkgate due to a late running Northern service. Not sure what you expect Supertram to do about that?

Thanks Hook - it would have been helpful if Supertram had bothered to offer this explanation within their tweet...

More problems yesterday:-

"Stagecoach Supertram

Stagecoach Supertram

@SCSupertram

Due to delays the 20:58 Tram train departure from Parkgate is cancelled.

8:48 pm · 31 Oct 2018"

Appears that Supertram are still having difficulties running a frequency of 3 trams an hour to the timetable - on a route which is almost entirely "off highway"....

Now on Supertram's Twitter feed this morning:-

"The tram train services departing :

Cathedral at 39 minutes past the hour

Parkgate at 09 minutes past the hour

will not be running due to no tram available till further notice

6:39 am · 31 Oct 2018"

Seems to be a bit of a farce all round - the promised 3 trams per hour reduced to 2 trams per hour for an indefinite period, less than a week after this "flagship" service commenced!

Supertram's announcement on Twitter this evening (cut & paste hence not my spelling!)

"Appologies but due to the Tram Train from Parkgate held for a late running train the 19:00 departure from Cathedral to Parkgate will now commence at Woodbourne Road"

I wondered how long it would take before there were disruptions (for whatever reason) to the new service! Discounting the awful event on Launch Day of course.

Are these trams new for use on the train tracks, or are they the orginal trams that have been in use in Sheffield on the original tram routes?

 

As someone said they were very busy on the first day, I am assuming they are brand new vehicles that people wanted to try. Anyone know?

6 x new trams were purchased some time ago due to the requirement for a different design of tram to enable running on the railway. I understand that 3 of these are required to provide the new Tram Train service, the other 3 are used to supplement the original trams around the original network.

The new trams have been in customer service around the original network for about a year (or thereabouts) so while they're relatively new vehicles, passengers have already had the opportunity to try them.

 

The new times should be in the online journey planner.

Thanks Andy - however Supertram's journey planner continues to show the current Purple Route tram times from Herdings for weekday travel dates on & after 25th October hence it seems apparent that the journey planner hasn't yet been updated?

Incidentally the Purple tram towards town (due at Townend at 07:24) often doesn't appear at the top of the hill just after the Leighton Rd stop until at or after that time, despite usually only light traffic at that time in the morning. On some occasions I've boarded this service at Herdings Park & the tram's departed from the terminus several minutes late, despite having arrived there on time i.e. several minutes prior to the time it's due out. So while it seems to be a good idea to bring forward the departure time to allow for traffic, I still wonder whether Supertram will actually provide a service in accordance with their timetable?

Have they taken away the old fares list and replaced it or are they still displaying the announcement of the increases and the old ones?

 

If they are making changes to improve punctuality (not those to accommodate the tram train) does this mean the last changes were ineffective?

I didn't look re. the fares list - I did notice though that it seems apparent that the Purple Route will no longer be running to Meadowhall on those days which it currently does (Suns & BHs) - presumably folk travelling towards town on the Purple Route will be expected to change in town for Meadowhall on Suns & BHs, as they do at the moment on weekdays & Sats.

Re. punctuality, the notices state that Purple trams will be leaving Herdings & Gleadless earlier on weekdays with a comment about this being due to traffic - hence seems to make it clear that this is to improve punctuality. Therefore, yes I'm guessing that the January timetable revision wasn't too effective re. punctuality improvements for that route? This supposition has certainly been borne out by experience, I use this route to & from work & things have been no better at all since the January changes were made to the timings for that service.

Notices have been posted up at the tram stops today advising of timetable changes to all routes (Blue, Yellow & Purple) with effect from 25/10/18. The notices state that in some cases this is necessary to accommodate the Tram Trains, in other cases it's to improve punctuality.

I have no idea though of exactly what these changes (applicable from Thursday next week) might be, because the notices ask customers to access the details via http://www.supertram.com - yet the new timetables don't seem to be available on that website at the moment...

 

What other locations did you spot?

Norton Water Tower was featured, also the big cranes at HTC Plant on the right hand side of the M1 just before Meadowhall as you travel south. Plus the view over the city from Park Hill Flats near to the end.

I used to use the 51 now & again, until First left me stranded at Lodge Moor late at night on two consecutive occasions after I'd used the 51 to get over there from Gleadless Townend. I complained on both occasions & First replied that they'd pulled the service due to a shortage of drivers in both instances.

After that I just totally gave up on the "service".

It's appalling.

I've just checked mine - & Radio Sheffield are definitely still broadcasting on Freeview Ch 734 here... My aerial points towards the relay transmitter at Crosspool.

It was a nice pint - but even 2 years on I can get an equally nice pint in the Blake, or the Queen's Ground, or the Brothers' Arms, or the Sheaf View, or the White Lion, or the Hallamshire Hotel, (etc etc!) for around £2.80...

Can't say that I'm surprised to hear that Sentinel's now closed, only surprised that it lasted for as long as it did.

Paid them my one & only visit two years ago & was charged £4.50 for a pint of beer - so haven't been back since!