GleadlessLad

I like a nice pint of real ale & regularly have a drink (in various areas of Sheffield) on a Friday & Saturday night.

The (non-Wetherspoons) pubs which I usually visit always have a good range of beers e.g. 4 or 5 cask ales, priced between £2.70 & £3.50 per pint depending on the establishment e.g. the Union Hotel in Nether Edge is, as you might expect, more expensive than the Brothers' Arms at Heeley.

I know there are some establishments in Sheffield charging £4+ per pint but I avoid them because there are lots of other nice pubs with more reasonable prices - but each to their own I suppose!

17:00 on Sun 03/06. Avoid the area if possible - long delays. Supertram suspended.

I have just returned from 2 month away and note that the PTE have removed the message about the system being under development. Does this mean they are now working as intended showing the minutes until the next tram accurately (with the odd default to timetable) or have the PTE simply given up?

I can certainly confirm that they're still not working properly - I arrived at Granville Rd at 16:17 today aiming to catch the 16:21 tram towards Herdings. The display indicated "9 mins" (hence running 5 mins late, no surprises there), counted down to "8 mins" then up to "10 mins" at 16:19. At 16:20 it changed to "1 min" then to "Due" at 16:21, which was displayed until 16:23 at which point the information for that tram disappeared altogether.

The tram eventually arrived at 16:28 - 7 minutes late. By the time it got to the next stop (Park Grange Croft) the display at that location was indicating "1 min" as the tram departed.

On the basis of this, I think your second idea that the PTE have simply given up is the most likely position!

I don't use the tram too often but in the last month I have had cause to a few times. The last 3 times I have used it I have noticed the same thing each time by different people. This morning a young man got on at the same stop as me in Hillsborough. We both walked up the aisle to sit down and as I sat in the nearest seat, there were plenty, he looked round to see where the conductress was. Once he spotted her, she was behind us, he sat a few seats up the tram from me. She duly came down the aisle to me and I showed her my weekly travel card. As she walked up the aisle asking for fares she looked at said young man. He just ignored her and carried on staring out of the window. She looked at him briefly then walked away. She looked at him each time she passed but he just blatantly ignored her. She never once asked him for his fare or ticket. As I say I have observed this the last 3 times I have used the tram. It seems the way to get around this city for free is to get on the tram and just ignore the conductor. They seem not to challenge individuals for their fares.

I've seen this happen all too frequently.

Also, quite often when I'm on the tram the conductor / conductress doesn't come through to the part of the tram where I'm sitting to collect fares - this isn't just on short trips either, sometimes all the way from town to Gleadless with no visit to take fares.

I pay £48 each month by continuous credit card authority for Supertram travel, it's quite annoying to regularly see fares not being checked / taken!

I got a free pint of Punk IPA in there last week courtesy of an online offer - this was marked up behind the bar at £4.70. It was a nice pint, but I didn't stay (& therefore pay) for a second one at that price!

There’s always somebody on here who posts whatever they like no matter how one sided, and with no measurable comparator

 

#axegrinder

Q.E.D.

How’s about you write a factual post showing accurate comparisons of how many buses and regional trains were cancelled, broke down or late

 

You might have a shred of credibility then

There's always somebody on here who'll attempt to defend the indefensible! :hihi:

So... a bit of snow last night & yet again our Supertram system lets the public down.

I can understand the delays caused by the First Bus which became stuck on Park Grange Rd, however the rest of today's issues are depressingly familiar -

Failure of the points at Gleadless Townend (again) leading to temporary suspension of the service to Herdings Park - this seems to have happened every time it's snowed this winter.

Flooding at Spring Lane (again) causing delays. Another regular issue which hasn't been resolved.

Inevitably, another tram failure - this time at Tinsley, leading to temporary suspension of the service through to Meadowhall.

Hardly a shining advertisement for public transport!

Fully agree that Stagecoach Supertram don't care about passengers - their "customer care" service certainly doesn't warrant that name! They don't care, don't listen, frequently refuse to investigate reported issues & try to belittle the complainant to make them feel awkward about reporting problems. Absolutely hopeless.[/quote

 

Yet in independent market research they scored extremely high this year amongst customer service and satisfaction so thst doesn’t bore out factually your comment

 

Maybe you werent satisfied how your issue was handled

 

:hihi:

You are too charitable. They simply do not work as intended and the PTE have no idea how to resolve the problem so rather than admitt they are useless better to pretend all is well - after all sometimes they are correct. Who cares about the passengers certainly not the PTE or stagecoach

Fully agree that Stagecoach Supertram don't care about passengers - their "customer care" service certainly doesn't warrant that name! They don't care, don't listen, frequently refuse to investigate reported issues & try to belittle the complainant to make them feel awkward about reporting problems. Absolutely hopeless.

Thanks Hook. I wonder where was the due diligence & prudence in the procurement process to ensure that these - very expensive -vehicles, funded from public money, would actually be fit for purpose??

One wonders when you’ll find something else to have a vendetta about

Hardly a "vendetta" in my opinion - just an honest comment about what appears to be an increasing debacle with these new vehicles (paid for by lots of public money) & they seem to be unfit for purpose.

You appear to think that this situation is acceptable mrmw - & it should be swept under the carpet, at a time of unprecedented pressure on public finances...??

On Supertram's website today -

"Citylink Trams

16 Feb 2018

Due to a problem with one of the new Citylink vehicles near Shalesmoor today (Friday 16th February), and as safety is our top priority, a decision has been made to temporarily withdraw these trams from service while the issue is investigated. We are working with the manufacturer to identify and rectify the problem. As a result, there may be a small number of short term service cancellations which will be publicised on our Twitter page @SCSupertram.

We're sorry for any inconvenience this will cause"

I fully appreciate the absolute necessity to put safety first - but it seems that things are just going from bad to worse.

The new trams were delivered several years ago & only put into service last autumn, we were told that the timelag between delivery & starting in service was due to the requirement for extensive testing & driver training. It's extremely worrying to hear that a fault, which is obviously so critical that it's resulted in the immediate withdrawal of the new vehicles, has only now come to light.

 

Of course the great thing about the dot matrix is that when they do not know where the tram is they will show the timetabled time even if the tram is cancelled

:hihi::hihi::hihi:

Change the record. There’s more to life than worrying about the tram stop displays! Yes they should work, yes they cost a fortune, no it’s not good enough. But seriously, get over it now.

Yawn don’t you tire of grinding the axe over this?

 

Much more serious events taking place in the world

The ongoing fiasco with the electronic displays is certainly not good enough.

It really is time that serious questions were asked with regard to the procurement of these items, the ongoing situation where they're still not fit for purpose after a number of years of being "under test", & the amount of public money which must have been wasted on these rather hopeless items particularly at a time when public finances are under such unprecedented pressure.

Money raised via local taxation will presumably have been spent on this useless system & the ongoing situation is nothing short of an utter disgrace; the least that the folk who will have funded these - the local public - deserve is answers & a commitment to resolve the situation instead of a "forget all about it" sort of approach.

Where i work i see several vehicles during the day that park in front of driveways,on the pavements,in front of somebodys garage,on yellows and what i noticed was that they were all carers that were doing it.Do carers have the right to do this,they do it all the time on my mum and dads road.

No, Carers certainly don't have the right to park across an entrance to a driveway - unless it's the drive belonging to the house which they're visiting. Carers are bound by exactly the same rules as everybody else. I used to have an issue with Carers regularly blocking my driveway when visiting a house 4 doors up the street (despite the availability of ample parking a little further up or down the road); polite requests for them to move because I needed to go out were usually met with an extremely rude refusal & a response that I'd just have to wait until they'd finished - frequently meaning a wait for me of over 30 minutes.

After putting up with this for about 18 months - & having to get a taxi to a job interview on one occasion because a Carer had blocked my drive & refused to move - I ran out of patience & rang the Council (who manage the contract with the Care Agencies) - to their credit, they very quickly sorted the situation out once & for all.

I have occasionally had ambulances blocking my drive - but that emergency situation's very different of course so when this has happened & I've needed to go out I've always politely waited until the ambulance has gone.

I'm almost too scared to say this in case I jinx it..........but, a whole working week into the new timetable and.......it's been running like a dream. Every day this week we've set off bang on time from Middlewood terminus. Happy days:)

Almost every tram that I've boarded on the Herdings Park route this week, in both directions, has been late - some by as much as 12 minutes (on a 30 minute frequency).

They haven't even managed to run the one timetabled at Gleadless Townend at 7:24am towards town - just 2 stops down from the Herdings terminus & with light traffic - on time; for 4 out of 5 mornings this week it's been late.

Some of the Blue Route trams that I've used this week have been late too.

So my experience of the new timetable is that it's a bit of a joke & certainly hasn't solved the late tram issues as had been promised!

Mine's leasehold, built in 1954 with a lease of 899 - rather than 999 - years effective from 1939; evidence here of delayed construction due to WW2 & I understand a shortage of construction labour & materials for some time thereafter.

The ground rent is fixed for the term of the lease at £8.00 per annum & the company acting on behalf of the landlord have recently started to try & pressure leaseholders into paying for 10 years' ground rent up front (£80.00) which will of course reduce their admin fees. There's no legal basis for this & - as no discount's offered for what amounts to early payment - I shall continue to pay £8.00 per annum. I understand that a number of my neighbours have ignored the annual invoices for £8.00 for a number of years now & these debts haven't been pursued - presumably due to their low value.

Given the length of the lease & the fixed nature of the ground rent (with extremely low cost at today's value) it doesn't seem to be worth me buying the freehold?

Thanks. I got that mixed up.

Must have the wrong specs on today.

No worries!

You are pleased to hear that the police support breaking the law?

No, I'm pleased to hear that enforcement action was taken against people who illegally parked across Kaytie's dropped - & therefore legal - kerb. Kaytie stated that her kerb is flush with the road - therefore this is in fact a dropped kerb.

You are correct cgksheff in stating that it's illegal to access a property by driving across the footpath where the kerb isn't dropped - i.e. the kerb is raised above the road surface - however in Kaytie's situation this isn't the case, it seems obvious that Kaytie does in fact have a dropped kerb as she states that it's flush with the road surface hence it must therefore be a dropped kerb.

Not so. My drive, along with all others on my street, has no dropped kerb as the kerb is flat with the road surface, and police have issued fines and even towed away a blocking car.

Pleased to hear this Kaytie - just to clarify if I may, a dropped kerb is a kerb which is flat with the road surface (as opposed to a raised kerb where there's a small "step" of about 6 inches or so up to the pavement level.)

Vehicles blocking driveways are classed under "obstruction" (see above post) - as long as the driveway has a dropped kerb which is the important point here. If there is no dropped kerb then the situation is different & will not be dealt with. Hence this type of inconsiderate parking - obstructing a drive with a dropped kerb - is being addressed (as a rather inconsiderate person I know recently discovered to their cost!)

Talking of "right of way" I was almost knocked down on Tuesday evening by a car which turned, without indicating, into the side road I was crossing. The driver's reaction was to hoot & give me a gobful to which I responded by telling him to use his indicators because I wasn't a mind-reader.

His response? To say that the traffic light at the junction (filter arrows pointing both ahead & left from the same lane) was green for him so I was in the wrong because I should have waited until the traffic light changed to red. This wasn't a pelican crossing (no red & green man), I did look before I started to cross the side road & I saw the car which appeared to be going straight on - but found it bizarre that the guy was adamant that I was the one in the wrong when he turned into the road I was crossing without indicating.

Of course, if he could have been bothered to switch his indicators on then I'd have known that he was intending to turn & I'd have waited.

Incidentally, when I learned to drive I was told that pedestrians always have right of way when crossing a side road at a junction; traffic intending to turn into a side road should allow pedestrians who are already in the road to cross - not that I'd ever intentionally, as a pedestrian, put that to the test!

Thanks Andy C - I was wondering where the CityLinks had gone!

I'm confused though to hear that the new timetable will require more trams - as it reduces the daytime service from 6 trams per hour to 5 so I'd have thought that the same no. of trams were required to run to timetable at peak times with fewer trams off-peak?

Disappointed to see that the "evening peak" increase in frequency to every 10 mins on the blue route towards Halfway won't start until 16:38 (for folk like me who get on at Granville Rd) - blue trams before that time are already often rammed. Although the earlier start of the 10 minute frequency in the mornings will be useful. I usually try & use the purple route whenever possible but may have to start to use the blue route more for work due to the changes to the times of the purple trams.

Thanks very much for this Hillsbro - I've sent a private message.