Transport - questionnaire responses

Swanage Community Plan

Questionnaire data about ‘Transport’

The following information has been extracted from a Report written by Bournemouth University . It is strongly recommended that the whole report is studied and used as a one of the starting points to further develop community projects in Swanage.

Question 2: What would you like to improve?

Transport is seen as the most important area of discussion in Question 2 with 26.8% (187) of all comments. Opinions are predominantly focused on public transport, pedestrianisation, parking and road management/traffic control. Some key areas for discussion are detailed below:
® The need for better public transport facilities (25)
® Pedestrianisation (17)
® More available parking (16)
® Problems with/ the need to change the one-way system (15)
® Problems with traffic and traffic control (13)
® More parking for/ free parking for residents (11)
® An improved/ cheaper bus service (9)
® Cheaper/free parking (9)

More buses and a train service (Housing Economic Regeneration Survey)

Parking arrangements are appalling (Purbeck Gazette)

Pedestrianise town centre and Shore Road (Tourist Information Centre)

One-way system changed (League of Friends)

Clearly the responses indicate that public transport is an important issue for the respondents.

Question 3: What hopes do you have for Swanage in 5-10 years time?

Of the 74 comments relating to transport 44 (59.5%) relate to public transport. The desire to see a rail link to Wareham (26) and an improvement in public transport in general (14) are the two main themes of response.

Functional and affordable train service to Wareham (Housing Economic
Regeneration Survey)

Direct rail link - more accessibility to Bournemouth / Poole etc (Methodist Church Mums and Toddlers)

Public transport is improved (Sea Rowing Club)

Buses from Poole & Bournemouth in evening (Miscellaneous)

Non public transport related replies centred on traffic control/ management (10), pedestrianisation (6) and parking (6).

Traffic flow to south of town without going through main shops (Friends of Durlston)

Traffic free town centre (Purbeck Gazette)

Lower parking prices (E-Mail)

Question 4: What one thing would improve your quality of life in Swanage?

32% of all responses (106 comments) to question 4 referred to transport showing the possible strength of feeling in the need for improvements in this area. The top 5 responses were as follows;

® Better public transport (17)
® Better bus service (16)
® Traffic calming /management (11)
® Better rail links (9)
® Pedestrianisation (7)

Once again, as can be seen, a great deal of comments relate to public transport (47% of responses or 50 comments).

Better transport system: want to use the car less (Housing Economic Regeneration Survey)

Better local transport in the town (Over 60's Club)
Buses need to run all year round and longer hours (Housing Economic Regeneration Survey)

There are also a few comments on the Sandbanks ferry including;

Sandbanks Ferry - longer operating hours (Business Economic Regeneration Survey)

Cheaper season tickets for ferry: swipe card system for residents / workers: avoid queues (Miscellaneous)

Finally, some more specific suggestions included:

Traffic Wardens to improve their public image (Business Economic Regeneration
Survey)

A big reduction in the use of cars for journeys of less than 3-4 miles (Purbeck
Gazette)

Cycle track along Valley Road from Corfe Castle to Swanage (Corfe Castle Coffee Morning)