Your Sheffield Transport Solutions

[Bladerunner]

Originally Posted by paulmat

Ok, it may not be a transport solution for Sheffield, but it's got to be good for the city:

Trains will cover the the 306 miles from St Pancras to Paris in less time than St Pancras to Sheffield, which is around half that distance I think.

[paulmat]

Lewis, I see you've got your petition up and running. I've signed it! (Here's the link for everyone else: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Sheffieldtram)

[jozblade]

I signed it other day

[tom85]

I've added my name too. A good person to go to the Supertram extention about would be Caroline Flint who is now Minister for Yorkshire. The new Regional Ministers have abit more say on stuff like this and if we can get her backing then Sheffield stands a stronger chance.

[muddycoffee]

Originally Posted by Bladerunner

Trains will cover the the 306 miles from St Pancras to Paris in less time than St Pancras to Sheffield, which is around half that distance I think.

Well from recent reports the direct Master Cutler appears to be around the same time.
Paris to London 2hours, 3Mins, 39 Seconds
Shef To London 2hours, 2Mins (approx by MasterCutler)

Getting to the centre of paris in just over 4 hours by train seems to me to be a superb way of traveling and far more convenient than air travel, if you consider city centre to city centre is is faster too, and no check in waits.

[DNA858]

how do people here think that this will boost our economy?
(sheffield area - not uk)

[muddycoffee]

Originally Posted by DNA858

how do people here think that this will boost our economy?
(sheffield area - not uk)

I don't think it will make any difference unless an open minded train operator starts offering a deal with sheffield to Paris excursions at a good price. The master cutler is mainly an extremely expensive business oriented service designed for well off commuters between London and sheffield.
This is the kind of thing that the Sheffield newspapers "Star Holidays" do although usually on a coach.

Most people in our region would consider that flying to paris was the best way because they don't add on the time and expense taken for driving to manchester airport, and the long journey from the paris airport into the city at the other end.

From my point of view four hours to paris, sounds wonderful. And arriving back at sheffield Midland station means that I don't have to bother with any driving or expensive taxis or anything.

[1867]

I don’t think it will make any difference. The problem is the route to London. The Midland Main Line wasn’t built for speed. It meanders to London avoiding steep gradients and difficult engineering. The original main line even avoided Sheffield, requiring Sheffield Wicker passengers to Change at Rotherham. Back in the day it was called the LMS (Lazy Man’s Service).

Lets see if Stagecoach came make some improvements. Speed up timings by using tilting trains. Give us more than one daily direct train to London.

Shame they ripped up the Great Central route to London, built for speed and the Channel Tunnel.

[muddycoffee]

1867,
you are spot on as usual with your shrewd reading of railway matters.

It doesn't seem likely that we will be getting a proper high speed link to sheffield in any time soon, so I am left reflecting that we might be better off without it in some perverse way. Rather than relying on the big smoke of london for everything, maybe our usual indifference will allow our city to keep a little of it's unique character.

After all most people don't do lots of journeys to london. It is only a small part of our overall transport bottleneck, one has to consider wether money would be better spent on local infrastructure.

Although in the longterm, in my view, our best bet for improved national high speed train links as well as local tram improvements etc, will be expansion of the local population. If lots of student graduates continue to settle in sheffield and the new apartments fill up with actual real residents instead of "buy to leave" property speculators, and our population gets up to 750,000 or higher then we become an increasingly important region of the country. Even Leeds could help us here. Because if the two big yorkshire cities expand so far there will be growing pressure for the government to take more notice of these transport issues.

[tom85]

I completly agree with what you are saying muddy. Although I would love to see a TGV pulling into Midland but I cant help but think would it really benefit our local Economy in a possitive way?

How I see it is this, if people can commute from Sheffield to London in say an hour thats a fairly managable commute by todays standard. So people working in London could consider living in Sheffield (or anywhere along the High Speed line) would this not create a greater Brain Drain? in terms of people working in London and living in Sheffield.

The point being that if the cleverest are traveling to London there is no real insentive for Large firms to open up Regional offices. The Benefits would be that the clever would have good jobs in London so perhaps we would see an increase in disposable income and therefore better shops. However, the downside being those less able currently working in the tertiary sector ie your data inputters may find them selves out of a job? Just a thought.

Also perhaps an Easier way in terms of Topography of linking up to the Mainline could be through a New line being Built out towards Doncastle with the existing line which the Crosscountries now run on being converted into Tram lines shared by freight I'm sure a high speed train could get to Doncaster in 15 mins?? and then its only 1hour 30mins from there to London, a couple less stops and its only 1hour 40 mins saves 25 mins off the usual commute.

[1867]

I think it is important for a major city like Sheffield to have good quality rail links. Like it is for other cities, such as Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, and Newcastle. Why should they be entitled to a modern high-speed service to the capital?
While Sheffield gets left on a branch line starved of investment. Using hand me down rolling stock, most of it over 30 years old.

Electrification of the Midland Main Line would have a positive knock on effect for local lines and services. When Leeds was connected to the East Coast electrification scheme. Local lines along the Aire Valley also benefited. Giving Leeds frequent electrified local services to Bradford, Skipton and Ilkley.

Sheffield’s rail links are second-class, and that’s not good for the image of a first class city.

Originally Posted by tom85

Also perhaps an Easier way in terms of Topography of linking up to the Mainline could be through a New line being Built out towards Doncastle with the existing line which the Crosscountries now run on being converted into Tram lines shared by freight I'm sure a high speed train could get to Doncaster in 15 mins?? and then its only 1hour 30mins from there to London, a couple less stops and its only 1hour 40 mins saves 25 mins off the usual commute.

London expresses from Sheffield Victoria used to use the east Coast Main Line to Kings Cross (including The Master Cutler). Through Worksop gaining access to the main line via a spur at Retford. Not viable today, due to a lack of capacity.

[DNA858]

NEWS RELEASE FROM SYPTE

Sheffield Passengers To Get Free City Centre Bus Service

a free city centre bus service will be introduced in Sheffield from monday 29 october supported by south yorkshire passenger transport executive (sypte).
the free bus will run on a route from sheffield interchange via flat st, castle st, and markets, arundel gate, norfolk street, surrey street, pinstone street and town hall, charter row, moorfoot, eyre street, furnival street, paternoster row and back to the interchange.
buses will run every 7 minutes from 0700 to 1900 on weekdays and from 0800 to 1900 on saturdays.
at its meeting today (06/09/07) south yorkshire passenger transport authority approved a proposal from sypte to fund the service for three years. sypte believes around 250,000 people could use the service in its first full year of operation.


..it goes on but im on my dinner and cant be arsed typin no more.....

[AndrewC]

Just we suggested a few days ago elsewhere on this forum - and just like my two coursemates suggested in their consultancy report to the SYPTE earlier this year...

[1867]

Resurrecting the old City Clipper - thats great. Definitely needed with an elongated city centre.

[paulmat]

Although it misses out half of the city centre!

[1867]

Your right, but its a step in the right direction.

If the service is a success, maybe there could be scope for introducing another service, covering other parts of the city centre.
Manchester has more than one free service, operating within the city centre.

[muddycoffee]

Originally Posted by DNA858

NEWS RELEASE FROM SYPTE

Sheffield Passengers To Get Free City Centre Bus Service

a free city centre bus service will be introduced in Sheffield from monday 29 october supported by south yorkshire passenger transport executive (sypte).
the free bus will run on a route from sheffield interchange via flat st, castle st, and markets, arundel gate, norfolk street, surrey street, pinstone street and town hall, charter row, moorfoot, eyre street, furnival street, paternoster row and back to the interchange.
buses will run every 7 minutes from 0700 to 1900 on weekdays and from 0800 to 1900 on saturdays.
...

Christ, you wouldn't get a very big bus around the corner of Norfolk street and surrey street. It's a right bloody squeeze.

[Alfie]

This is kind of good news but I'm disappointed that they haven't come up with a solution for the marooned rail station - a public transport link from the station to the city core is surely needed, unless it's just going to be left to hopping in a cab.
whilst the new service would seem to go "near" the station (paternoster row) visitors arriving at the station won't know that, unlike a stop actually there. sadly I fear this is never going to be resolved because the catastrophic access plans for the station leave literally nowhere for a bus, even a small one, to go - why oh why didn't they have a bus layby in the "dead" corner at the northern end of the station entrance???

[paulmat]

Service on circular route around city centre aiming to ease congestion

THOSE with long memories in Sheffield look back fondly to the days of 10p and even 2p bus journeys around the city – but stand by for the free Sheffield bus arriving at a stop soon.
Transport bosses in the city are planning to introduce a circular bus route around the city centre that would charge no fares at all.

The service, which is due to start running on Monday October 29, hopes to help slash the worsening congestion in the city and could carry as many as 250,000 people every year.

The service harks back to the 1980s when David Blunkett’s Sheffield Council subsidised bus journeys and they were hailed as the cheapest in the country.

South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Authority is stumping up the cash to support it for around three years, but negotiations have already begun with the Town Hall to try to make it a permanent feature.

The free bus will run on a route from Sheffield Interchange via Flat Street, Castle Street and the markets, Arundel Gate, Norfolk Street, Surrey Street, Pinstone Street and the Town Hall, Charter Row, Moorfoot, Eyre Street, Furnival Street, Paternoster Row and back to the interchange.

Buses will run every seven minutes from 7am to 7pm on weekdays and from 8am to 7pm on Saturdays.

Sheffield Council cabinet member for transport Coun Bryan Lodge said: “It’s fantastic news and is something people have been asking about for
some time.

“The service connects a lot of areas which, because of the layout of the city and the hills, people can find it difficult to travel around.”

Green councillor Coun Jillian Creasy said: “It will be a great boon to people who work or visit the city centre. The only way to reduce congestion is to provide a genuine alternatives to using the car.

“We could wish for a longer route, to include both universities and the Royal Hallamshire Hospital, but it’s a great start. “

David Young, head of transport integration at SYPTE, said: “We want to make it easier for people to get around Sheffield city centre, and using public transport is one of the best ways to avoid adding to congestion. People will be able to hop on and hop off the bus at any of the 11 stops it will make around the city.”

The service will be operated by three new, low floor, environmentally-friendly buses.

Sounds like they're looking to have a more extensive route, which would be great.

I like the sound of the environmentally friendly buses. I hope they use natural gas or hydrogen fuel cells, not just that they're slightly more efficient than normal buses.

[Bladerunner]

Originally Posted by Alfie

This is kind of good news but I'm disappointed that they haven't come up with a solution for the marooned rail station - a public transport link from the station to the city core is surely needed, unless it's just going to be left to hopping in a cab.
whilst the new service would seem to go "near" the station (paternoster row) visitors arriving at the station won't know that, unlike a stop actually there. sadly I fear this is never going to be resolved because the catastrophic access plans for the station leave literally nowhere for a bus, even a small one, to go - why oh why didn't they have a bus layby in the "dead" corner at the northern end of the station entrance???

I was disappointed at the lack of a bus layby for another reason - I thought Midland station would have been the natural stop for a direct bus link to and from DSA airport. It would have meant that people living to the north, south and west of the city could have stepped off the train or tram and straight onto the bus without having to cart their luggage to the bus station.