Local objections ;quash new route
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LTHOUGH a road along which Ipswich Borough Transport oposed to extend a stage carriage service was not wholly itable for bus operation, the proposed level of service would a make it significantly less safe. But the suitability of the route as not wholly a matter of structure or road safety. The oposed route was manifestly unsuitable from the environental point of view.
This was said by the Eastern .affic Commissioners in a serve decision refusing an )plication by Ipswich irough Transport to extend a rvice into the Stokes Park tate. It had sought a halfurly service during the day id an hourly one in the enings and on Sundays. In pport were six letters and a tition and opposition came from the Fountains Road Action Group, the Stokes Park Residents Association and eleven individual householders.
Before reaching their decision, the Commissioners travelled over the route in a double-decker bus similar to those it was proposed to operate.
In their decision, they said they were not satisfied that a cost-effective case had been made out for the extension into Fountains Road and the creation of a turning circle there. They commented that if some residents considered they could not afford to pay Ipswich fares in addition to running a car, then the prospect for a bus service would appear to be bleak.
Fountains Road was on a hill and the effect of its narrowness was made worse by the housing development. The houses were close to the road with open plan gardens and large windows, Generally the first floor front rooms were on a level with the upper deck of a bus, with the interiors plainly visible at short range. Many of the access drives were short and steep and some houses had no room for visitors' cars to be parked except in the road-way. It was these considerations that led the Commissioners to decide the proposal was environmentally unsuitable.
They also felt there had been very little consultation with local residents, for example over the siting of bus stops. They said there appeared to be a strong conflict of opinion in the Fountains Road area as to whether the service was needed. Many of those who might be thought to benefit were strongly opposed to the proposal.
They Concluded that the best way of testing the requirements for a service would be to operate an experimental service for six months under Section 139A of the Road Traffic Act 1960, as amended by the Transport Act 1978.