Rawreth Parish Council have been advised by the Essex County Council bus team that from March 3rd, two Regal Busways routes are being withdrawn, and a third one reduced. It’s very disappointing news. It would have a drastic impact for some Rawreth residents in particular:
Service :Regal Busways R3 ? Rawreth Lane ? Rayleigh Station
Changes :Service withdrawn
Impact: A number of peak time journeys linking the Rawreth Lane area of Rayleigh to the station are withdrawn, leaving a small number of remaining service 3 journeys at these times unaffected.Service: Regal Busways 2 ? Southend ? Rochford ? Hockley ? Rayleigh – Chelmsford
Changes: Service withdrawn
Impact:This 3 day a week direct shopper service between Southend and Chelmsford will be withdrawn, alternative journeys will require using more than one bus.Service: Regal Busways 6 Southend ? Rayleigh ? Rawreth ? Chelmsford
Changes: Service withdrawn
Impact: This 2 day a week direct shopper service between Southend and Chelmsford will be withdrawn, alternative journeys will require using more than one bus.Essex County Council is assessing its response to these changes.
We’ve tried looking at the Regal Busways website, but all you get is a big red page, saying the website is currently down for maintenance:
This information is included on the County Council’s monthly bus passenger news, which you can download from here.
We will be seeing if there is anything we can do to help the situation.
Disappearing High Streets.
I think a lot of people are choosing not to go to High Street shops because of the cost of Car Parking therefore they tend to go to out of town shopping malls where you can park for Free.
Parking charges are getting rediculous and the latest one is very unfair. Hockley Woods….now you have to pay to go for a walk in the woods………..disgusting.
The role of the High Street is changing with the advent of on-line shopping and this will see a move away from the traditional retail environment to become areas for eating, drinking and leisure. The large malls are popular because you can stroll around in comfort and safety and normally find a good range of shops ( a la Bluewater ) and no gangs of pain in the backside 13 year old kids screaming and shouting on a Saturday afternoon. I’m not sure that car parking costs are a big factor, but of course, high charges do not help. Like it or not this is the shape of things to come.
RE; Hockley Woods, it could be argued that those people who use them should in some way, pay for the upkeep….if indeed the charges are used for that purpose.
I agree that if charging for parking during the week at Hockley Woods is to prevent people parking all day for free and then walking to the Station or other local businesses, then it would mean more parking spaces for people going for a walk & 20p for an hour is not that much.
However, as this post is about cutting bus routes, if you take the bus you won’t have to pay for the parking.
I think car park is a major factor in the demise of the high street.My wife in the past has been caught by the little hitlers in Rayleigh a minute late with no room for compromise and will not use the high street for shopping again . Shopping malls with free parking and increasingly as was said online shopping is more attractive and less hassle . I do not find attractive many of the eating establishments increasingly populating high streets and would much rather enjoy country pub food . Suggest you try the Prince of Wales Stow ‘Maries . It is sad that the bus routes were unsucessful probably because there was no historical connection without complex route planning.It may have been that promotion of new routes needs looking at ,many in the east of the district were probably unaware of the new option .p
OK peoples shopping habits are changing, therefore if people are going to Lakeside where’s the bus that goes there?, there are none, you walk around most towns in Essex you always see a bus marked Lakeside, I feel for the people that need the service for work and visiting family on the way to Chelmsford.
Perhaps they have been withdrawn because so few people use them. You cannot expect a commercial company to run routes at a loss.
You may well be right about this being a commercial decision RR. On the other hand bus companies do make mistakes (I recall them withdrawing one route along London Road that was full of passengers) and these routes are often not publicised enough and some people really need them. Otherwise they are stranded.
Regarding High Streets vs Shopping Malls, I do think it is the malls that have more to fear from online shopping. Well cared-for High Streets can still create the kind of ambience that you just don’t get from ordering stuff from your laptop.
Look at how Tescos have quietly set up the Harris and Hoole chain of coffee shops. They can see that High Streets still have a future:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20943739
Chris. as you have noted about the Tesco coffee shops, it’s a move away from retail and into leisure, I think we are in agreement that the High Street has a future but not in the traditional sense. The challenge will be to ensure that they do not become places that attract trouble makers / drunks etc at night and become no go areas for families.
Looks like another shop is about to become vacant in Rayleigh High St
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21047652