Forum discusses declining bus use

Maidenhead: Town has second lowest bus use in country

A Maidenhead Town Forum meeting heard from Courtney Buses on Monday night. Councillors were told that the town has the second lowest bus use in the country.

Mr Fisher was asked by forum chairman Cllr Gurch Singh (Con, St Mary’s) what the council could do to increase bus use.

The bus manager called for lighting to be improved above the bus stop underneath the railway station, and enquired about the possibility of traffic lights being phased to prioritise buses.

Forum members were updated on the closure of Shoppenhangers Road due to the collapsed sewer and water main.

Last week, Thames Water said the road could be closed for ‘up to another seven weeks’.

Mr Fisher said: “It has not really had a massive effect on us time-tabling wise. We have not had any cancellations.

“We would like it fixed as soon as possible like everybody else.”

The council will act upon requests from Maidenhead Golf Club – which is still open – to increase signage during the closure.

The bus manager was also asked how far off electric buses were.

“Quite a long way to be fair,” Mr Fisher said.

“The challenging thing is getting a battery big enough for the distances we go.

“Probably not in the next five years, I think it will be a bit longer than that.”

Also discussed at the meeting was the controversial right-turn out of the Nicholsons car park.

Last week, the Advertiser reported on drivers’ misery with queues out of the centre in to Broadway, which is now two-way.

Cllr Phil Haseler (Con,

Cox Green) said: “We know the car park was not designed to have the rightturn, but I believe it has worked well.

“At Christmas time, there was an increase in traffic, as there were in other towns.

“I was sceptical, but it alleviates traffic going through Queen Street, which was why it was instigated.”

Cllr Helen Taylor (TBF, Oldfield) asked about the possibility of syncing the two sets of traffic lights along Broadway to increase traffic flow.