Half a job :-(

In the opinion of this writer, Bletchley station car park has "issues".  London Midland are aware, and they have recently done work to resolve one of them.  It's a shame that they didn't take advantage of the opportunity to do a couple of others...

When sections of the upper deck of the car park were removed earlier in the year (see Slimmed down) the exit ramp was relocated.  Unfortunately, in the new location the angle of the slope was steepened and drivers found they were grounding their cars.  The work done a couple of weeks ago involved levelling out the bottom of the slope, reducing (if not removing altogether) the risk of a car striking the ground when it reaches the bottom. 

Unfortunately London Midland didn't address another issue introduced with the relocation of the ramp - the road markings...



The view from the top of the ramp.  This probably exaggerates
the gradient, but note that from this point there is very limited
visibility of traffic coming out from the ground level

Usually cars on a car park ramp have priority as they reach the next level down.  This makes sense as it reduces the chances of accident caused by having to brake on the way down (either slipping or through another car following too close behind).  In its original position the road markings did give priority to cars on the ramp.  In the new position there are no road marking indicating which line of traffic has to give way. 

Two photos showing (a) how little room has been allowed for
vehicles to stop and wait at the bottom of the ramp and (b) the
absence of any give way markings (the solid line is part of the
"do not park here" hatching)

To make matters on the down ramp worse, a car descending is faced with a very short run-off - Only three bays have been hatched off to provide space for vehicles to come down and turn so a driver coming down to ground level has only a few feet to brake and stop  if another car is going past at ground level.

The view coming out from under the car park.  Again, note the
absence of any give-way signs or road markings and the
limited view of vehicles coming down the ramp

It would surely have been possible while London Midland had workmen on site to put up signs and paint road markings making the give way/priorities clear...

The other problem that London Midland could have dealt with was putting measures in place to enforce the one-way system (see one way?).  The problem of drivers coming out of the entrance against the one-way system has been acknowledged, but it was first raised with London Midland in May last year and there's no sign of any action being taken.

Both of these issues increase the risk of accidents.  As car park customers we are paying a significant amount of money into London Midland's coffers, and it would be nice to think that some of this could be used to fix the problem before something serious happens.

Action is needed now please! 

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Slimmed down



The original car park layout
(looking north)

 While the rest of us were enjoying Easter, London Midland staff were out remodelling the car park at Bletchley station.  I don't know how many spaces have been lost, but the removal of a large section of the top deck has probably reduced capacity by around 150-200.

The new car park layout (with
most of the decking shown in
the picture above removed
- looking south)

So why have these spaces been 'taken away'?  Is it a further sign of a degradation in service for Bletchley passengers?  Have LM reforecast demand following the cancellation of a couple of major housing projects in the area?  The answer to both questions is apparently 'no'.

It seems that when London Midland secured the franchise for the Euston-Northampton route they took on a commitment to provide an extra 1,000 parking spaces.  The result was the introduction of the rather clever, freestanding upper decks put in at several stations including Bletchley.  After hitting the demand-based targets for the stations involved, LM found themselves a couple of hundred slots short of the overall 1,000 figure.  There was room at Bletchley, so an extra section or two of deck went in there.

London Midland have now 'robbed Peter to pay Paul'.  Demand for car parking at Northampton has far exceeded supply while we have spare capacity at Bletchley.  The deck sections removed over the Easter weekend have therefore been transferred north.

Painted markings showing the
intended position at the front
of the car park for the up
ramp (adjacent to the
entrance to the lower floor)

Passengers at Bletchley can be thankful that London Midland changed their minds about the design for the new layout.  The evidence for what it would have looked like is still around - Look at the paint markings on the road at the front of the car park.  Their first plan was to relocate the ramps from the rear of the car park to the front!



Again, painted markings showing
the intended location of the
down ramp - over the entrance
and straight onto the roundabout!



Fortunately, following a short campaign on Twitter London Midland saw sense.   We already have chaos in the evenings with cars approaching the roundabout from umpteen different directions (including vehicles coming the wrong way out of the one-way car park entrance).  Cars coming down the ramp from the upper deck would have had to have priority which would have gone against the normal principles of access onto a roundabout.



As the saying goes, 'an accident waiting to happen...'



Multiple access points onto the station forecourt roundabout...



Mixed bag

This has been a week of interesting developments for Bletchley rail passengers...

Train length

Starting on a positive note, London Midland have confirmed that the 1751 will be returning to a 12-car service from Monday 14 March.  When the winter timetable was introduced back in December, London Midland reduced the capacity to 8 carriages.  This caused a storm of protest with complaints being submitted by post, by email and via Twitter (see Rob Peter, Pay Paul).

London Midland accepted in January that they needed to restore the train to its previous length, but warned that this might have to wait until the next timetable change in May.  Fortunately, they've found a way of making the change earlier.


Now for the not so positive bits... 

Bletchley station car park

This week we learned that London Midland intend to remove part of the car park upper deck.  We have excess capacity and Northampton has too few spaces, so the section will be dismantled for re-erection up there.  There's no argument about us having more spaces than we need, but it does seem strange that:

1. London Midland got it so wrong when the car park was first built (or was the provision of so many spaces at Bletchley a ploy to help meet a target set as part of the franchise agreement?), and
2. That it is cost effective to move a section from one location to another rather than buying new for Northampton

In addition to dismantling a section, London Midland are planning to move the up and down ramps from the rear of the car park to the front.  Is this madness?  We already have chaos at the roundabout which has five official feeds plus bikes coming out of the shed and pedestrians with no footpath.  Add on people ignoring the one-way system who exit the car park from the entrance, and it's 'an accident waiting to happen'.

If the ramps are moved to the front then the down ramp will presumably have to have priority over all other traffic.  How that will happen in reality is a mystery...


Station manning

On Tuesday London Midland have announced plans to change the manning hours at the majority of stations across the network (see London Midland proposes changes to ticket office opening hours).

For Bletchley, the proposal is to change the manning hours as follows:

• Mon-Fri: 0600-1900 instead of 0545-2130
• Sat: 0700-1800 instead of 0545-2130
• Sun: 0800-1700 instead of 0715-2100

What does this mean in practice?  For the ticket office itself, the reduced hours will mean that anyone needing to buy or replace a ticket on their way home won't be able to do so if they get a midweek train after the 1751.  Not good when London Midland have an expectation that we'll call into the ticket office to get a replacement when our ticket won't work their automatic gates...

The toilets at Bletchley are only open when the station is manned, so this means discomfort and inconvenience for many (their website says that we can use the toilets on the trains, but this is no good when you are waiting for your train to arrive!)

The other issue is safety.  Bletchley is a big station.  It may have CCTV but it seems unlikely that that will help at the time of an incident.

The changes are only proposals so if you'd like to comment on them then please write to:

Passenger Focus

Freepost (RRRE-ETTC-LEET)

PO Box 4257

Manchester

M60 3AR

Or email: advice@passengerfocus.org.uk

ASLEF strike

Before Christmas ASLEF, the train drivers' union was due to strike (see Rail strike 23-Dec).  The industrial action was called off following legal action by London Midland.   On Friday it was announced that the Appeals Court had made a judgement in favour of ASLEF, so it looks very likely that we can expect a strike in the coming weeks.  What joy  :-(


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One way?

Which bit of "One way" is so difficult to understand? The signage and road markings are very clear - when we park at Bletchley station we should drive in on the left and come out on the right. Unfortunately some people don't seem to get this.
Imagine the scene... It's early evening and all any of us who've been in London want to do is to get home. We get off the train and jump in our cars. We follow the arrows to the car park exit, but coming onto the roundabout in front of the station we spot someone emerging from the right who has ignored the signs. He or she has maybe saved themselves 200-300 yards and a minute or two, but it's queue jumping and they risk causing an accident. I've seen the rows, the hand signs and heard the horns blow. These people though are oblivious to it all.

Today I saw perhaps an even more serious issue arising from this behaviour. I didn't go to the station until midday. The sun was shining as I drove around the corner and the lower level of the carpark was in near darkness. Fortunately, thanks to a flash of light off the windscreen, I spotted the car coming at me the wrong way and was able to stop. I waited for the car to get out of the way and figured that maybe I'd get a wave of apology. What I got was nothing. The driver gave no indication that he was aware that he'd just driven out of the entrance.

We need to ask what makes people think they know better and can ignore the signs (and common sense). Do they think that because the car park is on private property then the usual rules don't apply, or do they think that they so important and their time so precious that they can do what they want, regardless of the potential consequences?

London Midland and Meteor Parking could add more signs and road markings but I reckon these people would still take no notice. The only thing that would stop them would be a physical barrier, one of those tilting ramps which allows cars over in only one direction.The construction of the second level to the car park has been a huge bonus but the abuse of the one way system is going to lead (and for all I know may already have led) to an accident.