Bus shelters will be removed shortly from the east bound side of Royal Parade in preparation for an improvement scheme that will see new, bigger shelters installed.
A total of 12 shelters will be taken down by JC Decaux who no longer have the bus shelter contract for the city.
The plan is for the new providers Clear Channel to install 15 bigger shelters along this key route with upgraded seating and more space for wheelchair users and pushchairs as part of the Royal Parade Bus Improvement scheme.
However, negotiations around the improvement scheme contract have proved unsuccessful and while we are working quickly to resolve this, it means there will be no shelters on Royal Parade between Courtenay Street and St Andrews Cross for a period of time.
We are aware this is far from ideal and are sorry for the inconvenience this will cause. We are urgently looking for some form of temporary shelter with seating and will give details if this is confirmed.
From Monday 13 January, one shelter a day will be removed from Royal Parade, starting with the shelters between Courtenay Street and the Armada Way crossing.
On the day each shelter is removed, bus services that would normally use that stop will be temporarily relocated to the large stainless steel shelter at the bottom end of Royal Parade outside Premier Inn on Derry’s Cross roundabout.
Posters will be displayed in the existing bus shelters telling people when the shelter will be removed and where to catch their bus while the removal works take place. The Plymotion Team will also be on the ground so bus passengers know where to go.
Once the old shelter has been taken out, bus services will return to their original stopping/pick up locations on Royal Parade and while there will be no shelter there will be a temporary bus stop flag with the service numbers and a timetable attached to the pole.
There is shelter under the shop canopy along most of Royal Parade, but those who prefer a shelter with seating may wish to wait for their bus at the next available stop. We are still looking at other temporary options in the mean time.
As soon as the plans for the Royal Parade Bus Improvement scheme are finalised, we will give full details of the temporary plan for buses during the main construction phase.
We had looked at bringing forward the installation of the new shelters while preparation work on the improvement scheme is finalised, however this would mean some bus users would still be without shelters for some weeks while they were installed on a temporary basis – they would then need to be taken out shortly after for the main scheme’s site preparation works.
We were worried about the confusion and inconvenience this would cause passengers being asked to move to temporary stops several times. It would also cost around £100,000 to install, take them out and then reinstall on the rejigged road.
Councillor Mark Coker, Cabinet Member for Transport said: “Unfortunately works have had to be delayed by a few months. We are conscious that this is not an ideal time of year to remove shelters and we are asking you to please bear with us.
“We have wrestled with what is the best approach to take and believe that installing new shelters, taking them out and then putting them back is simply too confusing. I am all too aware that it’s cold on Royal Parade so have instructed officers to see if they can come up with a plan B for providing some form of shelter with seating.”
“This scheme aims to reduce congestion and improve the reliability of bus services in and out of the city centre – so we are keen to get this right.”
The final scheme will reduce delays at this key point by cutting queues and double stacking of buses, making services more reliable and helping to make going by bus a more attractive option than the private car.
We also need to change our travelling habits if we are to tackle climate change. Transport accounts for 30 per cent of the city’s carbon emissions. We have committed to encouraging people to consider alternatives to the private car. To do that, we need to improve our public transport offer.