Calls to move bus stop increase
• The Department of State Growth have drastically changed the zoning of the bus stop on King Street last week.
By Taylor Clyne
January 29, 2020
Immediate calls to relocate the bus stop on King Street Scottsdale have surfaced following drastic changes rolled out by the Department of State Growth last week regarding the new timetable.
The timetable, which is yet to correspond with the old signage, means that the forty-seater bus will have the ability to stay on the prime stretch of parking between 7am – 5.45pm.
This is despite the new timetable only needing to pick up passengers at 7.10am, 9.40am and 1.15pm between Monday‑Friday for roughly a total stop time of 15 minutes.
Prior to this change the space was only a bus zone between the times of 9am-10am and 3pm-3.15pm allowing shoppers the opportunity to utilise the space for the majority of the day.
The Scottsdale Shoe Store and Roses Newsagency will be directly affected by the new zoning which will make it illegal for their customers or any others to park in this space during business hours.
“It’s no good taking car parking away from shops all day when the bus will only be picking up people during short windows. It will make it very difficult for the elderly, I’m not sure how they expect businesses to cope,” Graeme Woods said.
Mayor Greg Howard said concerns were being heard and Council would be inspecting possible options to shift the bus stop.
“We are currently looking at alternative sites outside of the main street which could include the Hedley Street carpark and the old indoor cricket centre in Arthur Street,” he said.
“Disabled access requirements place limitations on where you can locate a bus stop, and these will have to be taken into account before we apply to State Growth to shift the stop from its current location.
“State Growth have effectively turned this zone into an all-day bus stop, meaning you can’t park in front of the newsagent or shoe store which is unacceptable.
“Given this is one of the busiest parts of the commercial zone, an all-day bus stop would seem highly inappropriate for the area,” Mayor Howard said.