AN Islander who lives near Plémont is campaigning for buses to continue to the top of the picturesque bay instead of stopping in the main road over half a mile away.
Basil Carré lives on the junction where the main road leading to Grosnez meets Route de Plémont, which bends its way to the upper beach car park, headland and Giant Puffins.
Since 2020, the number 8 bus which serves the far north-west of St Ouen has dropped off and picked up passengers at Portinfer, on the main Rue du Val Bachelier road. This means that they have to walk almost a mile to get to the wicker birds or beach.
There remains a large ‘buses only’ section of the top Plémont car park and a blue pole marking a stop, but no bus ever pulls up there. A sign directs people back to the main road.
Mr Carré said that he and his wife had driven several visitors to Plémont who had been unable to walk from Portinfer.
He said: “I just feel sorry for the visitors who have to walk such a distance to see a beautiful part of the Island which is promoted as a must-see place to visit.
“At peak times, you see up to 20 people getting off the bus and then, on their return, they have to stand in a dangerous place on the main road, or they sit on the wall with their legs dangling over.
“The Constable [Richard Honeycombe] agrees that it is ridiculous. I’ve heard it’s because the road is not wide enough, but coaches go up there and, when the holiday camp was there, buses and coaches used to use the road all the time.”
“I think our heavily subsidised bus service should be supporting the Island better.”
Mr Honeycombe told the JEP that the fact buses didn’t go as far as Plémont was “an absolute disgrace” and no reports of damaged vehicles or crashes along Route de Plémont had ever been reported to the parish hall.
“My calls and emails to LibertyBus have never been returned and Infrastructure Minister Andy Jehan just says he is aware of the issue,” he said. “The main road is dangerous but we have just got the go-ahead to build a bus shelter there, having secured permission of the owner of the bordering field, which will keep people safer.”
LibertyBus director Kevin Hart said: “Route No 8 used to go to Plémont in the summer months only. We continuously had delays in this area due to the narrowness of the two-way road, multiple low-speed collisions because of this and indiscriminate parking around the bus turning area.
“This all led to delays to the service that was unsustainable and also led to complaints from people along the route who were inconvenienced. Passenger numbers boarding at this area were also very low.
“Therefore in 2020, the government gave permission for us to withdraw the service from this area and the punctuality since the change has been far better, and passenger numbers have actually grown.”
Mr Jehan said that he would not be asking LibertyBus to reinstate the Plémont service.
“The challenge we face is that the journey from the main road can take two minutes or 20 minutes, depending on whether there is traffic or not,” he said.
“I always believe that buses should stick to their schedules whenever possible. Just this morning, my bus was a delayed and at least half a dozen regulars weren’t on it, no doubt because they thought it wasn’t coming.”
He added: “Once you get to the top Plémont car park, you still have to be fit enough to walk down to the café and beach. Also, there has been an increase in traffic because of the popularity of the puffins but I don’t think people would want us to go to the expense of installing pull-in areas along the road or putting in traffic lights.
“So, there are no plans to run the service to Plémont.”
In other St Ouen road news, Mr Honeycombe said that the zebra crossing between the Village Green and the car park outside Morrisons would soon become a pelican crossing – with pedestrian-activated traffic lights – to improve safety and stop cars going on the wrong side of the traffic island when a bus was at the stop.
