Are some of these rural bus stops real?

[TravelDream]

I've been researching a holiday over the South Downs and something piqued my interest (not in a good way!).
There seem to be several bus stops that look abandoned and seem downright dangerous.

Take this one on the A24. It's Washington Bostal (S)
Google shows there is a bus stop there and shows that three different bus routes stop there and will plan routes from there. It will also show routes going to Washington Bostal (N) which is in a more sensible location a two minute walk from there for routes in the opposite direction.
Is it a stop or not? And, if it is, how awful is this stop? I can't imagine anyone uses it.



Here is the same location is 2009. A lot more like a real stop, but still rather dangerous IMO. Google Streetview shows the stop on its own sign in 2014 and attached to the other sign when it next passed in 2020.

 

[andrewbowden]

Looks terrible. There's a cluster of houses nearby. And it's really close to the South Downs Way National Trail. It's quite possible that it's used by some walkers.

 

[geoffk]

I don't know the area but it looks as though the stop is on a slip road, not the main carriageway. The main issue is how someone on foot would get to it. There are similar stop locations on the A38 south of Exeter.

 

[LowLevel]

I know of some bonkers rural bus stops on 60 mph bends with no proper access etc. I've often wondered how they're intended to be used safely.

 

[Statto]

There's one on Merseyside, on Moor Lane between Ince Blundell & Thornton, this section of the road is 50mph limit, & is always very busy as it's the main road to Formby & Southport & no way of crossing over safely as their's only a pavement on one side of the road for most of the way, & the pavement itself is quite narrow., when the 47 can't go through Ince Blundell, as has been the case recently, passengers for Ince Blundell are directed to use these stops.

 

[TravelDream]

It's especially crazy given we live in these health and safety conscious times. And the stop could so easily be moved opposite the Washington Borstal (N) stop. There is still no pavement, but at least that is on a quieter road.

I imagine one reason this stop gets so few users is you can't really see it from that far and who in their right mind would wander down a busy highway on the off chance that there was a bus stop. Even with a map/ Google, most would presume they were wrong.

Whilst geoffk above is right this is technically on the slip-road, it's certainly not where I'd fancy waiting for a bus at trucks and cars thunder by at 70mph+.

 

[RT4038]

I don't know the area but it looks as though the stop is on a slip road, not the main carriageway. The main issue is how someone on foot would get to it. There are similar stop locations on the A38 south of Exeter.

Looks like the bus stop is on the slip road, not the main carriageway. From the OP it looks like this is a historic location of the stop. There is a bit of hard standing, albeit getting overgrown. I guess the pole got knocked over, so the flag has now been attached to the road sign. It is not London, so there will be no department at either the County Council or the bus company looking after the bus stop or the lack of pedestrian footway at either location. If there is an issue with the stop siting then it will more than likely simply be removed, so how will that help anyone?

 

[Bristol LHS]

This one on the A19 Northbound, near Elwick (Hartlepool) has always concerned me. It serves the Go North East X10. The A19 is *really* busy, I’ve never seen the shelter being used, okay, there’s a lay-by, but anyone trying to access the stop would have to cross 4 lanes of 60mph+ traffic. Presumably the shelter being in place means the stop was once better used, maybe for works services.

 

[JD2168]

One of the worst rural type bus stops I’ve encountered is across from Rufford Country Park on the A614. The bus stop is on a 50mph road & has no footpath from the nearest level crossing from the junction.

 

[Hophead]

The Washington Bostal southbound stop is, indeed, on the slip road from Washington village. The bus is going to have to accelerate to join the main carriageway so, if the bus does need to stop there, it's little different.

There are no longer any bus stops in West Sussex directly in the line of traffic on fast dual carriageways. This follows an incident in, I think 2008, when a Metrobus Scania on the 23 was rear-ended at Findon Place (northbound), just south of Washington. It was judged to be unsafe to have buses stopped in potentially fast traffic. The Findon Place stop remains, but the road is hatched to one lane. This move saw the closure of several stops on the 23, on the A24 & A264, as well as one or two on the 700. I think that was about it though - there aren't that many fast dual-carriageways to start with, still less with bus routes and exposed stops.

 

[aliceh]

I have actually alighted at this stop (image shows Google Street View of Stanford Cottage bus stop, near West Moors). There's no pavement, no exit other than to walk along the road and it's a 60mph road. Interestingly, the latest Street View shows that the pole and flag have vanished, but it's still listed as a stop on Morebus' website. I can't imagine anyone uses it, unless (like me) they're new to the route and actually wanted to get off at the stop after it!

 

[MotCO]

Are some of the more 'extreme' bus stops required by some regulation or other for the stopping route to qualify as bus route?

 

[Busaholic]

Are some of the more 'extreme' bus stops required by some regulation or other for the stopping route to qualify as bus route?

You cynic!

 

[Flange Squeal]

The Queen Elizabeth Country Park on the hourly Havant to Petersfield route 37 (Stagecoach South) is located on the northbound on-slip onto the main (and busy!) Portsmouth to London A3 dual-carriageway. As can be seen in the attached Google Maps image, the approach to the on-slip is a very sharp right then left turn, before needing to accelerate to join the flow of traffic. A bus being stopped at this point could be far from ideal for vehicles joining the carriageway trying to get around it, as well as I’d imagine the bus driver themselves going from a standing start straight onto a very busy 70mph road.

Some similar slip road bus stops on the A31 between Guildford and Farnham have been done away with, although the eastbound carriageway does have a layby one near Puttenham that is little more than a bus length. I bet that’s fun trying to get out of from a standing start!

 

[JD2168]

There was (not sure if it is still there now) bus stops on the A1 near Skellow near Doncaster. Not the best idea for a bus stop location & for the bus driver to pull in or out of.

 

[Ken H]

This one is a nasty place to stop. Sharp bend on a 60 mph road. And it is one of those both sides of the road jobs. Used by the 581 Settle - Kirkby Lonsdale.

Feizor Lane End

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

maps.app.goo.gl

 

[bristol1996]

I was on a tour up north recently and I happened to see bus stops in the middle of absolutely nowhere, and I thought to myself "how on earth do they get used when there are no houses for miles?"

 

[Martin66]

Are some of the more 'extreme' bus stops required by some regulation or other for the stopping route to qualify as bus route?

There used to be a stop on the A66 between Darlington & Middlesbrough at the County Durham/Cleveland border. It was rumoured that this was to obtain EU funding.

 

[Flange Squeal]

I was on a tour up north recently and I happened to see bus stops in the middle of absolutely nowhere, and I thought to myself "how on earth do they get used when there are no houses for miles?"

Possibly near footpaths used by ramblers? On a few occasions I’ve been out walking I have surprised drivers where they’ve had to slam the brakes on upon seeing me wanting to get on, or when on board and rung the bell to get off, the driver has commented they forgot there was a stop there and/or almost excited they’ve got a passenger as they’ve never had to serve that stop before!

 

[Strathclyder]

Local to me (as in it was a mere 10 minute walk from where I now live), there was this 'in both directions' stop on Duntocher Road that served buses in both directions located near the local substation on Cochno Road, but by the time the Google Maps car passed in April 2009, I doubt it was actually in use by any of the services running along there or appeared in any of the relevent timetables.

At any rate, the construction of a roundabout (Langfaulds Roundabout) less than a quarter mile to the east at the junction with Baljaffray Road the following year came with the upgrade (in terms of visibilty, safety, tarmac and updated flags of two stops on Duntocher Road (the nearest noteworthy locations being the substation and a nearby farm), one for either side of the roundabout (the Glasgow-bound stop was moved to just before the turn off onto Baljaffray Rd while the Hardgate-bound one was moved roughly to across from the Glasgow-bound stop's original location):

April/June 2009







2010 onwards

 

[WibbleWobble]

I have actually alighted at this stop (image shows Google Street View of Stanford Cottage bus stop, near West Moors). There's no pavement, no exit other than to walk along the road and it's a 60mph road. Interestingly, the latest Street View shows that the pole and flag have vanished, but it's still listed as a stop on Morebus' website. I can't imagine anyone uses it, unless (like me) they're new to the route and actually wanted to get off at the stop after it!

It still exists, albeit moved about 150 metres south to be sited outside the business park. Looks like Dorset Council never relocated it in the Naptan bus stop database.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Looks terrible. There's a cluster of houses nearby. And it's really close to the South Downs Way National Trail. It's quite possible that it's used by some walkers.

I don't know the area but it looks as though the stop is on a slip road, not the main carriageway. The main issue is how someone on foot would get to it.

Is this a footpath entrance between the bus stop and the road sign??

 

[Kite159]

Is this a footpath entrance between the bus stop and the road sign??

View attachment 137503

Looks to be more markers for a buried fuel pipe (s)