Pedestrian Access to the Asda StoreAfter a lengthy period of trying to get something done about the lack of easy and safe access to Asda via the 'bus stop on the far (west) side, most recently aided by a petition organised by ward councillor John Ward, we have had a traffic survey done along that stretch of road.
The outcome from this was disappointing, in that it clearly showed that it would be very dangerous to have a crossing there as cars coming over the new flyover would be coming down the ramp at quite a speed and would have insufficient room to be sure of stopping safely.
Now, we are not in the business of increasing road-related injuries and fatalities, so are forced to agree that a crossing is not the way to deal with this issue.
What is possible, however, is a dedicated 'bus service to and from the Asda store; I idea originally floated within Asda by John a few years ago when he worked there. This is now likely to be piloted over two routes, covering a large catchment area throughout most of Chatham, much of Rochester, and even our to the near (i.e. west) side of Gillingham. John has been working with the store's management and their consultant, and has seen the proposed 'bus routes. It looks good!
It is not yet clear whether or not the 'buses would be able to come onto the store premises or will use the stop on the east side of Maidstone Road. If the latter, note that this would be for both set-down and boarding, so it would no longer be neceeasry to come from or go to the stop on the west side: non-driving shoppers would never need to face the prospect of having to cross that busy road ever again!
The 'bus scheme, if approved (which seems likely), would start as a pilot to judge response, probably between certain hours on just a couple of days each week to begin with. If it is sufficiently successful to justify increasing the service to longer hours and/or more days per week, then that will follow after the initial evaluation period.
This seems to be the best possible outcome, and the safest for local (and not quite so local!) non-driving shoppers. Indeed, even some drivers might well find it easier to take the 'bus; and one customer has already told us as much.
It is immensely pleasing to be able to turn what at first looked to be bad news into something even better than what had been hoped for originally.