Solution to illegal standing: remove the sign!

After verbal and online reports about illegal and dangerous operations at the Hamilton shuttle bus operation seemed to be falling on deaf ears, formal written complaints to the police and council compliance units were lodged yesterday.

A visit to the site this morning revealed that someone had come up with an ingenious "solution" to at least one of the dangerous and illegal standing issues.

As previously reported, shuttle buses had been continually stopping in the No Stopping zone on Beaumont St between the Stand A shuttle bus zone immediately north of the rail line and Fern St.

The solution: just remove the sign!

Solving traffic dangers at Hamilton the Baird-Berejiklian way.

 

No sign, no problem!?

Of course, the reason for the No Stopping sign being where it was was to ensure the safety of drivers and pedestrians trying to negotiate the Fern St and Beaumont St intersection.

But when did the Baird-Berejiklian shonky shuttle ever have anything to do with reason?

No matter that removing the No Stopping sign doesn’t remove the danger that it was put there to reduce.

No matter that – sign or not – the traffic conditions are the same and a vehicle stopping in this area (especially a bus) still dangerously obscures key driver and pedestrian sight-lines.

The Baird-Berejiklian shonky shuttle shemozzle was implemented in Beaumont St without any apparent formal assessment of the risk it presented at what was already officially the state’s third most dangerous level crossing, so it was probably too much to expect that they’d give much regard to safety when it came to their obstinate, bloody-minded, costs-be-damned determination to cut the Newcastle rail line.

But I suppose we should be impressed by the relative alacrity with which authorities have responded on this matter - only three days after it was raised.

Look out for this same “solution” being applied where other illegal standing was still evident today in shuttle stand-by bus zones in Beaumont St and Fern St.

Drivers are still being required to undertake illegal and dangerous activities to create the impression that the Baird-Berejiklian Shonky Shuttle Shemozzle system works. 





Meanwhile, Newcastle councillors still haven’t received the “urgent” briefing from council officers or the state government on these and other changes to traffic conditions that they called for more than six weeks ago (25 November last year).

Yet another farcical episode in the ongoing saga that is the Baird-Berejiklian Shonky Shuttle Shemozzle.

Shonky Shuttle Shemozzle Tale - Shuttle bus negotiating Maitland Rd and Beaumont St intersection

This video shows what the Baird-Berejiklian shonky shuttle shemozzle is forcing Newcastle bus drivers to do when negotiating the Maitland Rd / Beaumont St corner.

See also the earlier post for an overview of other problems with this corner and other parts of the Hamilton shuttle shemozzle.

The Baird-Berejiklian Shonky Shuttle Shemozzle - Hamilton

The Baird-Berejiklian Shonky Shuttle Shemozzle 

Hamilton Station, 6 January 2015

Bus drivers on the new Baird-Berejiklian Hamilton-Newcastle shuttle bus service are having to perform dangerous and illegal manoeuvres around Hamilton station, while police turn a blind eye, according to rail campaigners who observed the second morning of the Hamilton shuttle operation today.

Early danger spots of the Baird-Berejiklian Shonky Shuttle Shemozzle

Obvious danger points at the intersections of Beaumont and Fern Streets, and Beaumont St and Maitland Rd demonstrate that the Baird-Berejiklian shuttle is as unworkable as rail campaigners predicted it would be.

As the pictures below show, shuttle buses are continually having to stack illegally at the northern Beaumont St stand between Fern St and the rail line.

Rear of illegally stacked bus (No Stopping sign is to the left of the tree)

This stand has insufficient room to accommodate more than one bus, forcing the rear of the second bus to protrude well beyond the “No Stopping” sign near the Fern St corner.

Rear of another illegally stacked bus

This creates a highly dangerous visual obstruction for drivers of vehicles turning right from Fern St into Beaumont St or crossing Beaumont St to continue along Fern St. 

These drivers can’t see northbound traffic on Beaumont St until they are into the intersection, and their view of southbound traffic is also frequently obscured by stand-by buses parked beyond the new bus zone between Fern St and Maitland Rd.

And yet another...

Police at the scene were alerted to the illegal bus stacking but took no apparent action (they appeared to be devoting most of their time to apprehending fare evaders).

Shuttle buses having to negotiate the acute left turn from Maitland Rd into Beaumont St are forced either to turn wide from the right hand lane in Maitland Rd (cutting dangerously across the left lane), or to turn from the left lane and risk the front of the bus sweeping across the double dividing line into oncoming Beaumont St traffic or take the turn tightly and climb the inside curb. 

The front of stand-by buses parked in Fern St were also parked beyond the legal parking area into the No Stopping zone near the intersection.

It’s not fair on either these bus drivers or on other affected drivers placed in danger by the incompetence of the Baird-Berejiklian shuttle shemozzle.

The government was warned about these problems well before the Boxing Day closure of the rail service, but has done nothing to prevent them in its headlong rush to cut the Newcastle rail line.

No wonder state government officers haven’t yet been prepared to brief Newcastle Councillors on what they were planning, despite the call by the council for an urgent briefing on the new traffic arrangements six weeks ago (on 25 November last year).

AFTERNOON UPDATE:

The illegal shuttle parking is also happening on the other (southern) shuttle stand, between the rail line and Hudson St, as the photo below shows.

The second (nearest) bus is parked across the entrance to the Hamilton Station car park (the sign near where the passenger is alighting from the middle door of the nearest bus is the No Standing sign).

As the next photo shows, up to three buses were observed to stack at this stand. The photo below shows the second and third buses lined up, with the second bus across the carpark entrance and the third bus extending nearly to the rail gates themselves.

Before this system was put into place, the Beaumont St crossing was officially rated as the third most dangerous level rail crossing in NSW.

As far as we are aware, no risk assessment has been undertaken taking into account the changed traffic conditions.

No expense or time has been spared to cut the rail line, but developing a safe, viable replacement service is obviously not a priority for the Baird government, which has treated the Newcastle community with contempt throughout their handling of this issue.

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Legal update - Judgement and Orders on the Newcastle rail line

For those interested in such matters, the full text of the judgement on the Newcastle rail line, and the associated Orders, are now available, and can be accessed via the links below:

A copy of Justice Adams' judgement itself can be found via this link. (Note: since initial posting, some have pointed out that the ends of some of the printed lines in the judgement file accessed via this link are missing. A text version of the judgement can be accessed via the NSW Caselaw website, at: http://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/54a640013004de94513dcb32.)

A copy of the Judge's Orders can be found via this link.

The government lodged its appeal against Justice Adams' decision on 2 January, and it is set down for a directions hearing on 4 March.

Government posts High terrorism alert for rail line cut

It appears that at least one part of the government regards what another part is doing with some suspicion - to say the least.

Official looking signs have been posted outside the Hamilton rail work enclosure area warning that the security alert level for the area is “High”, and explaining that this means that a “Terrorist attack is likely”. 

The Baird government’s attack on our rail line may be an act of stupidity and deceit, and this blog has even branded it the Great (Boxing Day) Train Robbery - but we never even thought of it as a terrorist attack!

Oh well, their call....

In any case, they're too late with the razor wire they've installed on the fencing between Hamilton and Wickham: the damage is already being done.