Call for referendum on buses in Torquay town centre shopping street

“Sinjis has it right. Fleet Street was not a problem when it was a normal shopping street with pavements, kerbs, and kerbside parking and it was very much busier than it has been since. It was always a bad idea to part pedestrianise a street which, unlike many others including Newton Abbot, has no flanking roads. I have never understood how it can be good for the environment when there is a 2.5 mile diversion from Market street to the strand. I wouldn't want to live in those roads in Ellacombe that have to carry all the diverted traffic.”

“Fleet Walk could be such a nice place without the noise, the smell, and the inconvenience of buses constantly forcing their way through the throng.

I understand about the access, but there are stops at both ends, and people manage to visit Union Street just above Fleet Walk without buses going through it.

It's a no brainer to get rid of the buses, it would transform this area into somewhere really quite pleasant.”

“It might be a 'shared route' but it is a pedestrian priority zone. The buses must give way to pedestrians. I just don't think anyone has told the bus drivers.”

“Perhaps better signage at each end to warn pedestrians that it is a shared route with buses would help.”

“I recently saw a young student walking down the middle of the road with earphones on, he was being followed approx. one yard behind him by a large bus, as his music was so loud he didn´t realize at all that the bus was behind him.”

“It isn't very clearly defined where the pedestrian areas are, just a load of old bollards! Wouldn't it make sense to reinstate kerbs, make a one way route down the road for buses and disabled, with a couple of disabled parking bays. The road isn't really wide enough for two way traffic and the rest of us simply do not need to drive through there. Newton Abbot is completely pedestrianised and it doesn't seem to have affected it's popularity. Re-opening the road completely would make it more dangerous and choked with fumes and would not help make it a more attractive place to shop.”

“Of course Fleet Walk is a pedestrian priority zone, but you would never guess this the way buses are used to herd tourists like cattle.”

“Interesting and mainly uninformed comments but so far as other places with buses in pedestrianised areas let us try Exeter, Oxford, Cambridge, Newcastle upon Tyne et al. No one has seriously considered what other routes are really available and some posters have noted the difficulties if other routes are used. Putting buses on another or other routes will cause more delays around the town and only make things worse than they are now at time, is that possible? Let us all see and carefully analyse what the council comes up with in a few days time. Also over one year ago I posted the results of a piece of research by the Retail Consortium which represents retail owners and landlords, just to remind you of the main points, it set out to get cars back into town centres but ended up proving that those people who use public transport, cycle and walk into these same town centres stay longer, spend more and enjoy their time in town too.”

“There are plenty of other towns/cities where the main street is pedestrianised with the exception of buses, the difference is they have separate pavements and roads, perhaps a compromise would be to make buses going up to take a different route but let the ones coming down use Fleet Walk then there could be a proper wide pavement and a smaller road.”

“I have seen many near-misses in Fleet Street. Holiday makers (I assume) strolling along the middle of the road and a bus 2 yards behind patiently waiting for them to realize it is there. In one case I witnessed an elderly man actually walk into the side of a bus. I despair of pedestrians!”