One way traffic vs two way traffic

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Not your average framer
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One way traffic vs two way traffic

Post by Not your average framer »

Our local council will be converting the street where my shop is located from two way traffic to one way traffic. As far as I understand, this is probably a done deal and cannot be stopped. I am wondering if anyone on the forum has any experience of this sort of thing happening in terms of what this might mean for business levels and viability in general.

I'm told by other business people that I know that this is probably not a good thing for any of the businesses on this street. I don't know what to think, or what to expect when this happens. The one way section does not cover the whole of the loop that the one way system will force some drivers to negotiate, but the distance around this loop is going to be about 1.6 miles.

My expectation is that driver who can no longer use the street, will bypass it completely and this will halve the number of potential car driving customers using the shops. Any comments please!
Mark Lacey

“Life is short. Art long. Opportunity is fleeting. Experience treacherous. Judgement difficult.”
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Roboframer

Re: One way traffic vs two way traffic

Post by Roboframer »

Do you have a local chamber of commerce/business association?

It's hard for anyone outside to know what the potential damage (or even benefits) could be, you all know where people are coming to/going from, how much benefit there is from through traffic, parking problems etc.

If you do not have a business association it may be worth forming one to discuss this and oppose it as one.

.
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Re: One way traffic vs two way traffic

Post by Not your average framer »

Well, we did have a business association, but when the chairman stepped down and nobody was willing to take his place, everything came to an end. I was one of the founding members, part of the steering committee to set it up at the beginning and a committee member from start to finish. So now we don't have a business association at all.

I know quite a few of the business owners in the town and not that many years ago a lot of them would have been somewhat concerned to see how this would affect their businesses. However, these same people don't even appear to have any opinion, or interest in what's happening any more.

It is common to hear people say that the town is dying and there are certainly less businesses in the town than there used to be. Some shops have been converted into residential properties and of late the tourist season has not been what it used to be. In the USA, there is a move to convert one way streets back into two ways streets to reverse the decline of small businesses, but for some reason the council seems to think that this is a good idea.

I don't know what to think, as I have no knowledge about whether this is a good thing, or a bad thing, but it certainly does concern me quite a lot. I like to be able to at least anticipate to some degree what I can expect and how to cope with events that I know are coming, but in this case I have no idea, what this is going to mean for my business.
Mark Lacey

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Re: One way traffic vs two way traffic

Post by pramsay13 »

Why are the council doing it?
Graysalchemy

Re: One way traffic vs two way traffic

Post by Graysalchemy »

Sorry to here that Mark. Councils don't seem to give a flying monkeys any more, they seem to have ii in for local retail.

The town our family business was in was decimated by the councils insistence in building the countries largest out of town shopping centre with in its boundary killing off every town in the borough. And to add insult to injury they increased car parking charges as well. My father joined the town centre partnership and wasted thousands of hours trying to get the council to help but it was far to little to late and eventually we closed the business.

Councils seem to have a hidden agenda when it comes to town centres, a law unto themselves. Funnily enough they have now spent millions redeveloping the town centre and surrounding area but it is still a ghost town somewhere i would never go now.

Best thing I ever did was close the retail business and open up as a commercial framer from industrial premises.
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Re: One way traffic vs two way traffic

Post by Not your average framer »

I'm not too worried about what the council is doing as long as I know what to expect and how to deal with it. I'm a survivor and a realist, but I need to be ready with a viable plan if I need to relocate. I always try to plan ahead and be ready for what's coming, but at present, I don't know what this is likely to mean for me and my business and it's hard to plan for anything when you neither know, or understand how this is going to pan out.
Mark Lacey

“Life is short. Art long. Opportunity is fleeting. Experience treacherous. Judgement difficult.”
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Roboframer

Re: One way traffic vs two way traffic

Post by Roboframer »

Our little village used to provide the only route from a certain 'A' to a certain 'B' that avoided a level crossing. Then "They" (crooks) put an application for 600 new homes in the village (BOOOOOO) , BUT .... but, they would give us a bypass (HOORAAAAY)

The bypass bypassed the village on the wrong side though, took people out of their way and, when it mattered, spilled them out on a congested-to-gridlocked road further away from their destination than the rat run. So they built five pinch points to deter rat runners, two each end and one central but it followed that visitors/shoppers were also deterred and the difference is that the rat runner HAS to get to work and HAS to get home again - the shopper can go elsewhere.

So now they plan to dual the road that the bypass spills out on and remove the pinch points, but they feel they need to replace the pinch points with speed humps. TWENTY FOUR of the friggin' things! (pink = speed tables, orange = pairs of speed "pillows".
traffic management.JPG
traffic management.JPG (2.17 MiB) Viewed 14707 times
It's a 'proposal' and the (bad) photo is from a public consultation which was met with almost total disbelief.

So, we have formed a business association, our first meeting is on Weds with a 95% attendance of businesses and it's all being done by the book.

This farce will not happen, we won't let it and I suggest that Bovey Tracey gets together and if it is agreed this is a bad thing, grows a collective pair and kicks some arse!

.

.
markw

Re: One way traffic vs two way traffic

Post by markw »

The ability to park easily is the real factor that determines how well shops survive - 1 way traffic may well help and make the journey easier for the motorist - if they can park easily as well then you probably have a good scheme. Trouble is that most councils are run by total idiots who are so out of touch with how life works that they fail to get the most basic things right - and if they accidentally do, they make sure they change it so it doesn't work.
Traders associations are good - but are rarely listened to unless they get really punchy. sometimes simple civil disobedience seems to work. We had pay and display meters repeatedly filled with expanding foam by some vandal - it did more than many protests by the local chamber of commerce (who in no way had anything to do with foam).

Traders that sit on councils also end up with a form of Stockholm syndrome - they start to agree with the stupid decisions.
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Re: One way traffic vs two way traffic

Post by Steve N »

We are on a road that is one way, OK it's not a main road , but it's a through road on the industrial area where we are based, but that don't stop white van drivers and other lazy S*ds for going both ways :head: :head: :devil: :punch:
In our area you need to be going somewhere rather than just passing, but I agree with Markw, if it means better parking, it should help you
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Re: One way traffic vs two way traffic

Post by Not your average framer »

The council say that they are doing it to benefit the town. As one of the more active members of the towns Business Association that used to be, I was invited to join the town's regeneration committee, which I must say does appear to be taking notice of what businesses have to say. To this has been discussed at various times at regeneration committee meetings, (but the council make all the decisions), so I can't say that I did not know about it and certain shops in the town are keen to see this happen and think it will be good for business.

For all I know, it may well turn out to be a good thing, but now it has gone beyond the discussion phase I'm thinking what happens if this is bad news for business. Several traders that I know are saying that it can't get much worse, so it can only get better. I'm not saying that I don't like the idea, but I just don't know what to expect after it becomes one way, which is why I am asking if anyone has any experience of this happening in their town. IMHO, I think that the town has been becoming a dormitory town for people who work and shop in nearby Exeter and have no interest in using the local shops at all.

Our post office closed within the last few months and now is a lower profile counter at the rear of the local spar shop. The shop which was the post office is supposed to be re-opening as a card shop, which for me is quite surprising, because I'm not sure that a shop selling just cards is going to be viable in what is fast becoming sleepy old Bovey Tracey. I think that they will need to do more than just cards and perhaps they have plans to sell other items as well. Another shop which has been empty for perhaps a year is going to become a sandwidch and cake take away shop, but it's been taking at least six months getting it fitted out.

There are now only a few "one man band" shops left in the town, of which I am one and we all seem to be asking one another whether we had a good day, or a bad day. This used to be a really busy town, but for the more specialist shops thing are becoming less busy. The trouble is that most of us don't really understand what has happened, or why. I also don't think that the council has any idea why either and it's all something of a mystery as to why the town has declined, or what to do about it.
Mark Lacey

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Re: One way traffic vs two way traffic

Post by IFGL »

Do you think you are loosing trade to framers in Exeter, like the Frame warehouse?
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Re: One way traffic vs two way traffic

Post by Not your average framer »

Nobody is losing trade to the Framing Warehouse! They are cleaning up the botton end of the market and are more, or less a contract framing outfit, which does a substantial amount of retail as well. They are very cheap and if all you want is cheap then fair enough. There is nothing wrong with this, the market is there and they know how to exploit it. The workmanship and choice of materials is what you would expect from their position in the market. There are not so many contract framers around any more, so I guess that this is to their advantage as well.

Most of the other framers around here are aiming at a different price range and a different level of framing. The framing warehouse have been around a long time, so I guess that the minimum possible price business model has it's merits, if you know what you are doing. Unless things have changed since I was told this, they also have premises in north Devon and in Bristol, but the workshop is in Exeter and they run a delivery van between the locations. The Exeter premises are in an industrial unit, while the other premises are probably retail units, they have a number of workers that reflects the reasonably large amount of business they appear to be doing.

They are quite a decent sized operation and must get quite substantial business volumes to make the the lowest possible price business model work in today's difficult economic environment. I went there for a job interview about 15 years ago. They were about as interested in employing me, as I was interested in working for them, which in both cases was not a lot, but it was interesting to be shown around their location and to see how they did things. This was no more than a year before my own shop got off the ground and although I don't remember much about it, I may have picked up an idea, or two while I was there, which may have been of value, when starting my own business.
Mark Lacey

“Life is short. Art long. Opportunity is fleeting. Experience treacherous. Judgement difficult.”
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Re: One way traffic vs two way traffic

Post by silvercleave »

Concerted action by Businesses / Residents is what is called for.

Look at Totnes Businesses and see how they fought AND WON!!! One way system restored to old way

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-36083358
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Re: One way traffic vs two way traffic

Post by frameartnyc »

Mark,
Sorry to here this thing, but I Dont have an idea for the same. I hope that from the above comment you have got some solution. All the best and keep growing.
markw

Re: One way traffic vs two way traffic

Post by markw »

I certainly have no idea for the same!
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Re: One way traffic vs two way traffic

Post by Not your average framer »

Apparently if everything happens on time, this should be put in place during September this year. Unfortunately, they are now talking about making the length of the road subject to the one way system much longer and I am very definitely unhappy about this.

Instead of my shop till being accessible by those who would like to avoid the one way system and just turn around and go back the other way, they won't have that option.

At present, my shop is just at the point where the one way system begins, but if they extend the one way system, then my shop will be half a mile from the start of the one way system. If thigs go badly, I will need to relocate and start all over again, not an easy thing to do as you get older.
Mark Lacey

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Re: One way traffic vs two way traffic

Post by David McCormack »

Apologies for posting off topic but, I think frameartnyc is only concerned with one way traffic!! :shock:

I don't believe any of the posts are genuine contributions to the forum. I thought this would be a good place to mention it as you are a moderator Mark. :D
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