INFORMATION SHEET FOR MEMBERS.

The vast majority of the Group’s walks are not accessible by public transport.  We usually expect members to get to the start by car.  However we do get a small number of enquiries from people wanting to join and walk with the RA who do not have a car.  None of us know whether we will continue to be physically able to enjoy walking after we have had to give up driving.  Some members may prefer for environmental or other reasons to minimize their use of cars.  For all these reasons the Group is trying to make more walks accessible by public transport. 

To try to make it easier for both leaders and members, a Group sub-committee has produced guide-lines, approved by the Group Committee, so that leaders and others know what is expected of them and walkers know what to expect.

1.   Terminology. 

In what follows “Bus walk” or “Train walk” means a walk planned on the basis of travel to the walk by bus or train with no consideration of car parking near the start.  “Bus accessible walk” or “Train accessible walk” means a walk planned to start at a point with parking nearby and with bus stop or railway station nearby with a services at suitable times for the start and finish of the walk.  At the time of writing we have one leader who leads only bus walks, traveling to the start herself by bus.

2.   Information.

Information on public transport, for example timetables, route maps and special fares can be obtained (often free) from tourist information offices, libraries, bus company offices, railway stations and the internet.  Websites for Wilts and Dorset Buses is www.wdbus.co.uk , for Yellow Buses  www.yellowbuses.co.uk and for National Rail www.nationalrail.co.uk  .

3.   Meaning of “accessible” 

 “ Bus accessible walk” means one that is accessible from  central Bournemouth or Poole with a stop within reasonable distance of the start of the walk and at times convenient for start and finish of the walk and similarly for “train accessible”.  For both bus and train  accessible walks, leaders should allow 10 minutes plus time to walk from the stop to the starting point of the walk and time the start of the walk so that any who come by bus/train do not have to wait long for the start.  For the finish, leaders should try to adjust the return time (e.g. length of afternoon stop) to give a reasonable connection with the bus/train.  However with a frequency of hourly or better this is not vital.  (see below).

4.   Missing the return bus/train.

For bus/train accessible walks, if the end of the walk misses the planned return bus/train and there is a wait of more than an hour for the next one, the leader should try to arrange a lift to a bus stop/station with an earlier service for anyone who came by bus/train.  Leaders are advised to allow some flexibility in the walk to minimize the risk of this happening.  For bus/train walks the leader is in the same position as others who came by bus and will try even harder to make sure this does not happen.

5.   Changes to bus/train times

Train times are prone to such major disruption on Sundays (and sometimes Saturdays) so that train walks should not be put on Sundays.  Public transport times can change on a much shorter timescale than our walks programme.  Bus companies must legally give at least six weeks notice.  Train times normally change twice yearly apart from changes due to engineering work at weekends for which a minimum of 12 weeks notice is normally given.  Details can be obtained on the national rail website (www.nationalrail.co.uk ).  Members and leaders should check the timetable near the date of the walk.  If changes in times mean that plans for the walk are changed, please tell the programme co-ordinator and he will have the information posted on the RA Dorset Area website (see below)  For bus/train walks this also applies to those planning to get to the start by car.  For bus/train accessible walks, the start time of the walk is not changed to match a substantial change in the timetable so the walk may no longer be bus/train accessible.  This policy can be reviewed when we get appreciable numbers coming to walks by public transport.  If in doubt contact the walk leader.. 

6   Action if the bus/train does not turn up.

For bus/train accessible walks, if the start is near enough the stop that the leader can see that the bus/train has not turned up, they may at their discretion delay the walk briefly to wait for it.  Otherwise, start the walk at the scheduled time.  For bus walks the leader catches the next available bus.

7.   Programme details for each walk.

At the end of the programme entry for each walk there is a line(s) starting “Bus walk”, “Bus accessible walk”, “Train walk” or “Train accessible walk” in bold with information useful for getting to the start by public transport.

8.  Timescale.

A glance at a bus route and frequency map for our area shows that only a small proportion of our walks could be made accessible by public transport, even to members who live in the Bournemouth/Poole conurbation.  We hope that leaders will look to see which of their walks can be made accessible.  However, all our leaders are volunteers, we cannot tell them what walks to put on.