Last week, I received a very present, a Blue Star bus pass that enables me to travel on any bus within Southampton. There are two annual passes on offer for adults, the Southampton Zone costing £460 and the £570 Southampton Plus one, which includes the Southampton zone, plus Totton, Hedge End, Eastleigh Fair Oak & Chandler’s Ford. The weekly cost per year then, ranges from just under £9 for Southampton Zone to just under £11. Many of us would not think twice about spending as much on hot drinks in coffee shops!
The Blue Star app makes it very easy to find out when the next bus is due. It also has the facility ‘GET ME THERE’ which shows how to get to locations that involve traveling with more than one bus. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the app also lists the walking time from one bus stop to another when a bus change is needed, and the number of steps between them.
So, while I’ve been making progress in the past few weeks on using public transport rather than driving, I did not make much progress on losing weight through walking. You see, I have two bus stops either side of my house, within 1 min walk, which is a luxury. So, the answer for me would be to get off the bus a couple of stops early and walk the rest of the way.
I often wondered if people would walk more rather than wait for the bus (and grumble about the waiting times), if they knew how long it takes to get to the next bus stop. Regulations say that the ideal distance between bus stops in cities is 400m within cities which would be around 530 steps for the average person. For a person relatively fit, this is a short distance, but for those with reduced mobility, this might be a challenge.
How bus stops and routes are decided, has been a subject of interest to me ever since I learnt to drive a bus in 2017. In Southampton we have the added challenge of narrow roads, some quite hilly, which are not suitable for single decker buses.
This is where a service like community transport Dial a Ride run by SCA Transport part of the Social Care in Action group of social enterprises, on behalf of Southampton City Council, is a lifesaver for people with reduced mobility. The minibuses operate on weekdays between 9am and 4pm This door-to-door community transport facility is very easy to use, people can call the office a week in advance to book their journeys from home to their destination and back, and pay a £4.50 for a return journey, under 3miles or £6 for under 6 miles. The minibuses are fully kitted with an electric ramp for mobility scooters, so a truly inclusive facility.
As part of my research, I was talking to the elderly people who use this service: Anne, a very well-spoken and colorful dressed lady in her 80s, who only gave up driving recently, was saying that the nearest bus stops to her house are 20 min walk from her house, which she could get to on sunny dry days, but not at any other time. Without the Dial a Ride service, she would be stuck in the house. One of the other ladies I met, takes the minibus to go to the Shopmobility office in the city center, and then continues her shopping day using a scooter.
I appreciate that a lot of people use their cars to shop at supermarkets. I have learnt to be content with buying only as much as I can carry in two shopping bags. Carrying them back home might even count as exercise!
Useful links
Bluestar Customer Service 01202 338 421 https://www.bluestarbus.co.uk/
Dial a Ride 023 8022 2033 transport@sciagroup.co.uk
Dial a https://sciagroup.co.uk/transport-services-southampton/dial-a-ride/registration-form/
