GleadlessLad

Happy New Year in return, and to all Forummers!

 

Kelsey's was an excellent shop on the corner of Taplin Road. The Kelsey family came originally from Lincolnshire and were of good, solid farming stock. Harold Kelsey (a tall chap, always cheerful and energetic with "the gift of the gab") took over the shop that his uncle, Winter Kelsey - that really was his name - had run since about 1920. Harold retired and passed the shop on to his nephew, who didn't seem to have a good head for business and the shop sadly went downhill. Harold died aged 78 in 1982.

Just seen this - great to hear that Hillsborough folk still have good memories of my "Great-uncle" Harold's shop! Winter Kelsey was my great grandfather, Harold was his son - I remember Harold's shop in the 1970s & it still bore the sign "W A Kelsey" in white lettering on a red background. Harold's brother Ralph was my maternal grandfather, he & his wife Emma ran their own pork shop at Wadsley Bridge on the other side of the road to Wadsley Bridge Methodist. There was a third sibling, Clifford Kelsey.

I bet that two weeks goes on until early September then!

Supertram's website still gives no timescale for the resumption of a proper service on the Purple Route, just "until further notice".

However, according to Radio Sheffield this morning, the current daytime suspension of the Purple Route will continue until "about September"!

Michael_N;11694395] As for the Herdings Park branch - be easier just to catch the 1A/56 buses and have a direct route into town.

Thanks - good advice, except not a cost-effective option for me because I have a pre-paid monthly Stagecoach Tram-Only ticket...

I agree about transparency Hook. When I complained on the last occasion when they pulled the purple route (at the start of this month) they just replied that it was as a result of the incident involving a car hitting a tram (presumably 114) & nothing to do with the tram into tram collision at Hillsborough because both of those trams were back in use within 24 hours. However they saw fit to make no reference whatsoever to 107 being out of service too, as a result of the earlier tram into tram collision at Halfway.

They also stated that RTCs were outwith their control - however, given the level of in-built safeguards which must surely be within the system, I've heard a lot of passengers airing worries that something must have gone very badly wrong with these safeguards to result in serious potentially procedural or operational or maintenance etc etc failures allowing trams to collide with each other at Halfway & a couple of weeks afterwards, again at Hillsborough? I've also heard passengers saying that, following these incidents (& the tragedy at Croydon) they no longer feel safe when travelling on Supertram.

Yes, the sooner the Citylinks are rolled out, the better. I remember a good few years ago now they publicised that each tram was undergoing a thorough mechanical & cosmetic overhaul to improve reliability, appearance & comfort - this was when the fleet was repainted in the current red, blue & orange livery. These trams have been running around for some considerable time since then - & for 23 years now in total; there seems to be a pressing need for a thorough overhaul of the fleet.

"Due to a reduced number of trams being available for service, we are making some temporary changes to the Purple route on weekdays and Saturdays from Friday 14 July until further notice.

Monday to Friday

The 05:35 Purple service from Sheffield Station to Herdings Park and 05:55 Herdings Park to Cathedral will operate as normal

Purple services will be replaced by a more frequent bus between Herdings Park and Gleadless Townend, starting at 06:22 from Herdings Park and 06:32 from Gleadless Townend, then every 20 minutes until the 19:32 bus from Gleadless Townend and the 19:42 bus from Herdings Park

Trams resume with the 19:37 Purple service from Cathedral and the 20:02 from Herdings Park

Saturdays

The Purple route will operate as normal until the 09:26 from Herdings Park to Cathedral

Purple services will be replaced by a more frequent bus between Herdings Park and Gleadless Townend, starting at 09:45 from Gleadless Townend and 09:55 from Herdings Park then every 20 minutes until the 18:45 bus from Gleadless Townend

Trams resume with the 18:54 Purple service from Cathedral and the 19:21 from Herdings Park"

I was stopped at the census point at Totley this morning - I did think that they'd chosen a "difficult" location, not least because it was right on the junction (Hillfoot Rd / Totley Hall Lane I think?) with the main road - in addition to being on the narrow section of road as has already been mentioned.

They were just handing out brief "postage paid" questionnaires for drivers to fill in & post back. No names or addresses were taken, so it was obvious that there was no obligation to return the form.

Questions were very basic - asking where you'd come from & where you were going, whether you'd parked for free or paid to park at your journey start & end points & how many people were in the car.

Blue Route has been turning at Drake House / Beighton for most of today "due to a RTC incident at Halfway".

Herdings Park 30-minute frequency service running 15 mins late (according to the electronic boards) at 16:20 this afternoon.

Supertram also advising of severe disruption to the Yellow Route.

Saw two "Not in Service" trams heading down Park Grange Rd towards town at 16:30 - one with a damaged rear & the next with a damaged front.

Surmising that one's run into the back of the other? Anybody know what happened & why this seems to have affected the entire network...?

I (Jeremy) was at Ashleigh between 1972 - 1979. I remember Ron Underdown as my English Teacher ! My brother Mark Allison also went there (3 years older than me). Anyone else from my classes remember ?

Hi Jeremy, I remember you - I was at Ashleigh from 1977 to 1983. I seem to recall that you were quite involved with the Astronomical Society? I remember Ron Underdown too, he taught me during my years in the Sixth Form.

Bunting Nook at the side of Graves Park? Top of Cobnar Road at Woodsests?

I'll second these two options; additionally there are some local tales that Bunting Nook really is haunted!

Thanks cgksheff - yes, they've now added notices to the barriers stating "Exciting development, grand re-opening Friday 26th May".

I hope that they improve the beer range...

Security barriers going up around the site this morning. Anybody know whether this is "refurbishment" or "closure"?

I remember the plan in the early 1980s to pull down St Paul's Parade - the red sandstone Victorian block situated opposite the Town Hall, on the other side of the Peace Gardens near to where the no. 51 bus currently stops. There was a lot of public opposition - & fortunately, by then, the planners had started to listen.

Many nice old Sheffield buildings which survived the bombing were then torn down by the planners in the 1960s & 1970s.

I remember the big, imposing bank which used to stand on Commercial Street on the corner of Fitzalan Square, where Cooplands is now. Plus the Norfolk Market Hall on Pinstone Street. Just have a look at this little film (1960) to see the buildings at the top of the Moor / bottom of Pinstone St for example, which survived the blitz but were then demolished in the '60s & '70s in the name of "progress".

Might be worth adding that despite using the tram for between 12 & 14 times each week I haven't seen any "Revenue Protection Officers" on Supertram for over 12 months.

Additionally when the conductor / conductress does come round fare collection - particularly at busy times - seems to be on an "honesty basis".

Hence the recent announcement of an 11.6% increase in the cost of the Tram Only Megarider Extra appears to be an attempt to pass the cost of fare evasion on to honest customers who buy in advance - instead of employing staff to tackle the issue of freeloaders?

[quote name= Hook

The group might be in profit overall but supertram is operating at a loss and has done for the last couple of years.

busdriver1]Exactly, just because the group makes a profit, it does not follow that every part of it is in profit, even with all the back door subsidies from the PTE.

So Supertram's plan to turn the business around is to hike prices by 11.6% at a time when the service is deteriorating...? Thereby making the service less competitive & alternative modes of transport more attractive.

On the basis of this flawed business model, Supertram's financial deficit is likely to increase!

See my comments on the Hillsborough thread. It is frustrating but trams have to share the road with other vehicles and Hillsborough delays the entire network as soon as the bus gate opens at 11 (see the twitter feed to see how often trams get terminated at Beighton from 11 onwards). At the end of the day the fleet is getting older, they are less reliable and they don't have enough vehicles. None of that is stagecoach's fault - the PTE refuse to invest in tram network. Look at how Nottingham, Manchester, Edinburgh etc have all grown in size and nothing has changed with Supertram in 23 years.

 

Of course if something doesn't change people will abandon the tram for buses. As of course you could do if youre unhappy - take your money elsewhere and vote with your feet. Personally I'd rather be delayed and sit in traffic on a tram than a bus and think £48 a month is still pretty good value, especially considering how much it costs to run a car, pay for parking etc.

Thanks Hook - I take your points however I do already run a car but choose not to use that for city journeys e.g. to & from work where I can use the tram, not least due to the environmental benefits of tram travel.

However after nearly 20 years of doing this I'm starting to seriously reconsider that now, already looking at abandoning the tram altogether - the main reason being the latest fare hike - & either using my car more instead of leaving it sitting in the garage during the week or defecting to the bus - Supertram's price hike of 11.6% on their monthly tickets is just way over the top.

I note that Stagecoach Group's profits before tax for the *half* year ended 29/10/16 were £89.5million.... with an increase of 8.6% in shareholder dividends.

Notices have gone up at Tram stops overnight notifying that Tram fares are also set to increase on April 2nd.

 

Short distance single goes to £1.70 from £1.60.

Long distance single goes to £2.40 from £2.30.

Short distance return remains £3.00.

 

There are a few other changes to Day/Weekly and Child Tickets.

The cost of a Tram Only Megarider Extra is going up from £43 a month to £48 - a whopping increase of 11.6%...! This in addition to the very poor standard of service recently, particularly on the Blue Route...

I was on Supertram towards Townend, at Manor Top at 22:30 this evening. A First 120 bus ahead of the tram pulled into the nearside lane to service the stop opposite Manor Fish Bar - & very neatly left the back of the bus obstructing the tram's passage, despite there being no other vehicles parked anywhere near the bus stop. The tram driver rang the bell & after about a minute the bus moved out of the way but then stopped. The tram driver understandably expected the bus to pull out & pipped the horn but the bus sat there with no indicators displayed. After about 2 minutes of this with the tram driver ringing the bell & pipping the horn the tram driver started to move past the bus - upon which the bus then pulled out straight away without indicating. At the traffic lights at Manor Top the bus driver then indicated to pull into the lane the tram was in - to go down Ridgeway Rd, despite the 120 service being routed to go down Mansfield Rd. I got off the tram at Hollinsend to see the same First 120 bus at the Ridgeway Rd bus stop outside Gleadless Church; this bus then turned - very hesitantly - down Hollinsend Rd towards Intake. This First Bus driver really didn't seem to have a clue!

Supertram have posted on Twitter that they aren't running a Blue Route service between Sheffield Station & Gleadless Townend while the Purple Route's cancelled altogether - all due to flooding (Spring Lane / Arbourthorne Rd area yet again I believe)

If anybody's interested, please find below a link to the RAIB's report into the incident which led to the cancellation of the purple route in the second week of December, this was published today.

http://links.govdelivery.com/track?type=click&enid=ZWFzPTEmbXNpZD0mYXVpZD0mbWFpbGluZ2lkPTIwMTYwODA5LjYyNDI4NTYxJm1lc3NhZ2VpZD1NREItUFJELUJVTC0yMDE2MDgwOS42MjQyODU2MSZkYXRhYmFzZWlkPTEwMDEmc2VyaWFsPTE2ODk5MTYzJmVtYWlsaWQ9YW5kcmV3QHNwOGllcy5jby51ayZ1c2VyaWQ9YW5kcmV3QHNwOGllcy5jby51ayZ0YXJnZXRpZD0mZmw9Jm12aWQ9JmV4dHJhPSYmJg==&&&101&&&https://www.gov.uk/government/news/report-172016-collision-between-two-trams-at-shalesmoor

Quite right Taxman - I will certainly not be going there again...

Popped in to the new Sentinel Brewhouse bar on Shoreham St this evening. Big mistake... No prices displayed, asked for a pint of cask American Red IPA (5.2%) - the normal price in Sheffield for this sort of beer would have been around £3.20. Was charged £4.50! Rip off. Avoid.

I've walked past it a lot, but I don't know what it's for. It's unaesthetically pleasing, in my opinion.

It was built by Central Govt in the late 1970s to house the Civil Service's Manpower Services Commission, who were relocated from London to Sheffield as part of the then Govt's policy of devolving jobs from London to other cities.

After the Civil Service vacated the building about 6 years ago I recall that there was a plan to demolish it & build a retail park / apartments on the site, however due to lack of commercial interest in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crash the building was instead sold to Sheffield Council for a nominal fee. It's now occupied by Council staff, who were moved into there from a number of rented offices around the city centre thereby saving public money. Some Council contractors rent office space in there from the Council too.

When built it had a bad effect on the London Rd shops because before then these were a natural extension of city centre shopping, in line of sight from the bottom of the Moor. Then the London Rd trading area became more or less "out of sight, out of mind" when the Manpower building went up.

your number 1 is exactly what happens .the other day I waited nearly 40 minutes for a service that is supposed to be every 10 mins . why cant these screens inform people whats happening ?

Fully agree - two bus no. 51s "disappeared" despite the electronic display assuring me that they were on time, leaving me stranded at Crosspool late one Saturday night - display indicated that they were coming, the time counted right down to "Due" - & then no bus.

Same with the next one timetabled for 30 mins later. Ended up walking down to Broomhill & then managed to flag down a black cab.

Complained to First - apparently they'd pulled the 51 service that evening because they were short of drivers! Frustrating thing was that the displays indicated a normal service as did the "NextBus" text service which I'd used as a belt & braces policy...