Forth Road Bridge after work each evening

[BlackLabel]

Halmyre said:

I hope the Ken-Doll look-alike Transport Minister actually puts forward a plan to help with additional trains, buses, maybe even a ferry, to help with the problem, or will the useless just wring his hands and tell us not to travel unless it's really necessary.

Here's a tip Ken, I don't think the people crammed on the Fife Circle train this morning were travelling for the sheer joi-de-vivre of it.

Listening to him speak today it sounded like he was just pulling the numbers out of his arse when it came to how many weeks were needed for assessment, repair etc.

[tvrolet]

The cynic in me is thinking all this plays beautifully into the hands of the retards that decided the new bridge should only be 2 lanes. Undoubtedly some of the folks having to find alternative ways to get across will not go back to road transport once it's fixed; and given the world hasn't ended with 0 lanes available (although with massive inconvenience and even hardship to thousands) I expect at some point this to be taken as justification folks don't 'need' to drive. I actually assumed there would be a series of measures to inconvenience travellers in the run-up to the new bridge, so when it opened it would appear so much more efficient that it actually is. Rather like re-timing the traffic lights in London in the run up to switching on the Congestion charge to cause inconvenience, then put then back to a freer flowing setting when the charge was introduced.

Anyway - stuck in Fife and looking at the bridge out my window. I work from home a few days each week, so on these days I'm not affected. But I fly down to London in the middle of each week getting to the airport is going to be a pain. When I got back on Thursday night, I chose to get a taxi to South Gyle and then a train. I guess that's what I'll be doing then. So galling to be passing the end of the runway on the train, but due to another retarded planning decision there's no rail halt. Idiot planners reckon the sensible option is to get a train to Haymarket and then a tram back out. On principle, I'm never going to set foot on one of these bl00dy trams. But I digress...

Such a pain not just for folks working, but folks with hospital appointments (my wife was having radio-therapy a few years back, and the only option was to get to Edinburgh), folks going on holiday over Xmas and having to get to the airport, and of course the Edinburgh Xmas trade will be hit.

Having moved from Edinburgh to Fife some 30 years ago I always felt the Forth Road Bridge was the weakest link in the transport chain, with no redundancy. Still, we've got another 2-lane bridge to look forward to...

[Mojocvh]

According to the responsible minister there is no hope as all he can offer is "public transport" and car sharing.

Now, all things being equal, I'd LOVE to be able to use public transport on my commute, gEt on, switch of, then get of again AND ON YOUR WAY..

Now, why does the minister think there is such a usage of private transport?

Edited by Mojocvh on Friday 4th December 15:30

[simoid]

Find a mate to pick you up at your home in fife, lift share to NQ, walk across bridge, get into your car which you left in SQ, drop your mate off where he's going. Simples

[tim0409]

The problem with Scotrail/Abelio is that they don't have any spare rolling stock to deal with the extra demand without taking it from other routes. We are getting a platform extension at North Berwick in January to allow for much needed additional carriages but they won't have rolling stock until late 2017!

[AndrewEH1]

simoid said:

Find a mate to pick you up at your home in fife, lift share to NQ, walk across bridge, get into your car which you left in SQ, drop your mate off where he's going. Simples

Can't even walk across I believe, completely closed.

I say they all buy/make amphibious cars à la Top Gear.

[ModernAndy]

AndrewEH1 said:

simoid said:

Find a mate to pick you up at your home in fife, lift share to NQ, walk across bridge, get into your car which you left in SQ, drop your mate off where he's going. Simples

Can't even walk across I believe, completely closed.

I say they all buy/make amphibious cars à la Top Gear.

even if you could walk or even cycle across it would still take a fair amount of time exposed to the pishy weather. Other than that, excellent plan.

[ninja-lewis]

tvrolet said:

So galling to be passing the end of the runway on the train, but due to another retarded planning decision there's no rail halt. Idiot planners reckon the sensible option is to get a train to Haymarket and then a tram back out. On principle, I'm never going to set foot on one of these bl00dy trams. But I digress...

They're building a railway station ('Edinburgh Gateway') next to the tram depot/Gogar roundabout - apparently most if not all trains going north will stop there unlike South Gyle.

[salguod]

To be honest, despite it being frustrating that it is closed completely, if it means that they will fix it and it will squeeze another year out of it until the new bridge opens, I'm all for that rather than it failing can killing someone.

As a commute this week even before the issue arose the traffic was horrendous. Then from Wednesday I just avoided the FRB completely.

Today though was on another level. Left home just before 0630, got stuck at the Clackmannanshire Bridge for over an hour (an hour to do 2.5 miles), saw the queue to join the M9 and thought sod it,and headed for Glasgow, stopped at Old Inns services on the M80 to take a leak, then on to the M73, M8 and A720. I should have gone via Stirling and avoided the Clackmannanshire Bridge completely.

The time it took to get from Kinross to just over the bridge was 1h30. The time it took to get from the bridge to Glasgow and then to Straiton was 1h15. Total of 80 miles but I was only 30 minutes late for work.

Left work at 2. Took nearly 2 hours to get home. Went via Stirling and the A91. Luckily I was told I am allowed to work from home until the new year or if I am desperately needed so no stress for me.

[Davie_GLA]

I read some tin foil hat gobste that the FRB being "Closed", George square being shut and a heavy police presence in Glasgow it's all because we've started bombing Syria.

I despair.

Poor luck for those of you on the other side of the watter. Good luck.

[S2red]

George Sq closed?

When?

Cant say saw a lot of police in town 15 mins ago either

[hidetheelephants]

AndrewEH1 said:

knotweed said:

Closed until new year ...

Anyone in Fife want to buy a boat to get to work?

Commonsense would suggest Transport Scotland charter some hovercraft from Hoverwork and copy the service trialed by Stagecoach a few years ago to relieve some extra load from the roads and the Forth Bridge, so it definitely won't happen.

[AndrewEH1]

S2red said:

George Sq closed?

When?

Cant say saw a lot of police in town 15 mins ago either

A man with a beard and red clothes was spotted with a large sack potentially containing explosives.

(But really the Christmas stuff is closed due to high winds tonight)

[S2red]

AH

:-)

D

[simoid]

I didn't read it as an immediate danger the bridge would fall down, I think it's more like if they use it just now when it's damaged it could cause greater and more expensive damage (like if you have broken a bone in your foot and keep running on it...?)

So they've shut it for weeks to avoid taking years off its life.
(Stand to be corrected of course).

[Davie]

tvrolet said:

So galling to be passing the end of the runway on the train, but due to another retarded planning decision there's no rail halt. Idiot planners reckon the sensible option is to get a train to Haymarket and then a tram back out. On principle, I'm never going to set foot on one of these bl00dy trams. But I digress...

Don't get me started on that...

I simply cannot comprehend why there isn't a rail halt with a fast link to the airport... seems ludicrous that the suggested option is to get the train to Waverly then a bus or a tram back to the airport. Given how close the tram link runs to the main line, surely it wouldn't have been a major task to incorporate the two? My sister is now facing that dilemma, trying to commute from Fife to the airport daily and at all manner of unsociable hours. Going to be a fun few weeks (months?)

[Leithen]

Davie said:

Don't get me started on that...

I simply cannot comprehend why there isn't a rail halt with a fast link to the airport... seems ludicrous that the suggested option is to get the train to Waverly then a bus or a tram back to the airport. Given how close the tram link runs to the main line, surely it wouldn't have been a major task to incorporate the two? My sister is now facing that dilemma, trying to commute from Fife to the airport daily and at all manner of unsociable hours. Going to be a fun few weeks (months?)

For that you can thank the infinite wisdom of our political masters.

Idiots.

[bigwheel]

Davie said:

tvrolet said:

So galling to be passing the end of the runway on the train, but due to another retarded planning decision there's no rail halt. Idiot planners reckon the sensible option is to get a train to Haymarket and then a tram back out. On principle, I'm never going to set foot on one of these bl00dy trams. But I digress...

Don't get me started on that...

I simply cannot comprehend why there isn't a rail halt with a fast link to the airport... seems ludicrous that the suggested option is to get the train to Waverly then a bus or a tram back to the airport. Given how close the tram link runs to the main line, surely it wouldn't have been a major task to incorporate the two? My sister is now facing that dilemma, trying to commute from Fife to the airport daily and at all manner of unsociable hours. Going to be a fun few weeks (months?)

There's an interchange at Edinburgh Park station. 30 second walk between Main-Line rail and the Tram.
I'm in West Dunbartonshire and not familiar with which trains stop at Edinburgh Park. Which makes me wonder if the Rail companies will alter their routes/stops?

[Davie]

bigwheel said:

There's an interchange at Edinburgh Park station. 30 second walk between Main-Line rail and the Tram.
I'm in West Dunbartonshire and not familiar with which trains stop at Edinburgh Park. Which makes me wonder if the Rail companies will alter their routes/stops?

Edinburgh Park isn't on the Fife to Edinburgh line, closest station is South Gyle then a walk to the tram stop at the Gyle centre car park.

Not the end of the world granted but not as user friendly as it could be.

Just noted a previous comment about a rail halt being built at Gogar, that would be a welcome relief I suspect and would hopefully allow a fast link to RBS and the airport.

[ModernAndy]

Leithen said:

For that you can thank the infinite wisdom of our political masters.

Idiots.

To be honest, the interchange at Gogar sounds like a much more beneficial way of joining the trains to the airport via the tram network. Cost and time being no object, it's an okay idea to have a railway line running under the airport but when you do bring cost and disruption into it the appeal is quickly lost (unless you're one of the few that takes the train in specifically for the airport). I think it was more sensible to prioritise electrification of the main rail line over creating an interchange directly under the airport.