Waterfront Works

[Chris]

It is not overly easy to try and capture the current works at Chatham Waterfront Bus Station on camera, except if you catch a gap between the now rather congested lower end to try and capture loading at bus stops. Services from the Luton Road also tend to use either The Brook or Best Street at the driver's desire anyway. so without knowing could easily be a "standard picture". 

Whilst not guaranteed - as some vehicles are running in as normal, before turning at the Dock Road roundabout) - the most likely options are (i) services arriving from Rochester, which ought to be circulating via Best Street and the Brook to approach from the north; (ii) service 116 and 182, which should be doing the reverse to approach from the south; (iii) ASD service 113, which unlike other services to Luton, leaves facing south, and uses Best Street outbound (i.e. the opposite of 166 and NV 169/179). It isn't that simple though, as a lot depends on next journeys, AKT 190 is turning at Dock Road regardless, and on occasions, the usually frowned-upon turn with assistance from the loading bay at the top end of the bus station is being used instead, especially at lower-traffic times of the day.

Some average attempts at all three attached - ASD's SK22BTO on the 113, Arriva 4263 on 182 and 4268 on 191 (the upside-down 500-series running number reveals this latter journey should have been operated with a double-decker). All taken on Best Street last Thursday (ASD) or yesterday (Arriva).

Chris

[Chris]

The main part of the roadworks at Waterfront Bus Station have now come to an end, although resurfacing takes place over various nights this week. That work is being completed in sections, with buses being moved around to various stops after 8pm... except on Sunday, where the contractors started at 6pm, apparently causing all manner of issues for the last departures. During the day, though, buses have resumed their previous departure bays, with the exception of ASD 170, which neither returns to A4 nor stays at B11, but moves to D17 (in theory, facing the wrong direction, but free of conflicting moves with Arriva services). 

It became clear after further observation, and in discussion with various drivers and other sources, that the guiding element for which way a service entered the bus station should have been which way it was due to leave: as such, it was quite possible that a journey on one service could have entered normally, whilst the subsequent journey took a diversion to approach from a different direction. 

The weather was not overly suitable for photography for much of the latter half of the work, and when it was I was otherwise engaged. Nevertheless, as a final example of things you don't usually see, Streetlite 4313 approaches from the northern-end of the bus station on an inbound 700, with the historic Chatham Town Hall/Brook Theatre/pre-Pentagon terminus point behind. 

As a result of the work, the roadway past bays 1 to 4 will now be strictly northbound only, with a no-left turn from traffic passing bays 8-5, with an ahead only marking due to be placed. No vehicles will be able to U-turn in either direction around the former travel office, and the kerbs have been built out there to narrow the road, with planting to follow. Although there was a safety aspect behind the works, which has to be accepted, these changes do somewhat restrict the flexibility of the bus station somewhat, and it will be interesting to see how things are handled should there be an incident on the Brook or Best Street necessitating use of the "wrong" route. 

Chris