Out canvassing the Ward to introduce Roy Hill as out candidate for the County Council elections in May 2013 #dcc13.
Before we even start knocking on doors, I am stopped in the street by someone who has heard about the campaign. She explains that her hips and back prevent her walking the shortish distance to Cowick Street and so has to endure the P bus and a change at the precinct to see her doctor, a journey of over half an hour as "the bus stops for 15 minutes up at Sylvan Heights". I've on on the bus when it arrives at the Crossmead terminus - meaning a wait of 10 minutes in total.
She also reminisces about the former routes - the B and C used to travel along Bowhay Lane. need to find out more about the history of the routes in Cowick.
As the morning wore on, met 2 young mothers that raised the point that they thought that buses were too expensive. For them, it's seen as cheaper, quicker and more convenient to drive into town and park in a car park.
Not surprisingly, many people we spoke to still have a great desire to see a service that runs down to Cowick Street - I'm used to residents relating the difficulty of getting to see the doctor but today some mentioned that they prefered to shop at Tesco rather than Co-op. The bus service makes it difficult to exercise that choice.
As we move onto Bowhay Lane, the story is till the same.
On election day, I was told by an elderly couple at 9am I had won [Dom, my campaign organiser, was never that certain until the votes were counted]. I call on them and find the husband is in hospital, has been since June. His wife uses the P and K buses to make the hour long journey to RD&E most days.
Her experience of the P is "awful...its goes all round the world to get to town." She tells me there used to be 3 strops into town. Outside her house, this end of Cowick Street, the shopping precinct and the city centre. "There must be about 15 now" she adds. Well there's 5 just to get to the other end of Bowhay Lane, yep I make it 15.
One lady rails against the "cockeyed service" offered by Stagecoach. A resident well rememers the J routre which went up to the top of Nadder Park Road. She wishes she had kept a letter from the bus company that said that "Barley Farm Road was unsuitable for public transport". "And that's when they were running minibuses" she concludes.
My final call on Bowhay lane is yet another resident diappointed with the bus *service*.
"I see many blooming buses heading to Exwick perhaps I should move there" she says, and I'm sure the smile is not entirely ironic.
She points out that it makes no sense using Buller Road as the buses often have difficulty passing. "They have to go onto the pavement, and get so close to the windows that they could pass out a cup of tea to you".
To avoid all this congestion she is grateful that at the moment she is in a position to walk down to the First and Last on Cowick Street.
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