Arrivals square on campus has changed...

You said we did!

buses

If anybody has been on campus over the summer months they would agree with me when I say; "the University is currently looking like more of a building site than a campus!"

It is proof that the University, even in these difficult financial times, is standing strong amongst other institutions when it splashes out about £1.2M a week on development work! Pretty impressive eh!

Along with the long awaited Student Centre, the new "East building" and several lecture theatre renovations, the University have committed themselves to completely develop the bus arrivals area on campus.

Last year, managing the efficiency and effectiveness of dealing with the additional bus service, the University devised a Code of Practice that both companies are expected to adhere to. This meant, the blue buses would now park and pick up on one side, and the orange buses on the other side.

This helped the operation however, there has only ever been one bus shelter. Last year, this resided on Wessex Connect's side.

The message was that the shelter should be used by all passengers but was nigh-on impossible to achieve when times got busy = people started getting very frustrated.

Josh Alexandre came to the Union for help to sort this problem out. With the advice of starting his own campaign that would have the full support and backing of the SU, he managed to not only get over 500people geared up about it on facebook, but managed to also use the media groups within the Union to get his message as far and wide as possible.

With so many students now frustrated with this horrible inconvenience in bad weather, it was very easy for me to put more pressure on the University to change. Within merely a few weeks, new plans went to planning!

So here's the outcome (image below)...

For the start of the academic year, there is not only going to be one bus shelter! The cycle shelter is being moved to the back end of the existing shelter. Hopefully it is clear that the blue indicates where Wessex Connect's U10, U18 and 20A/C are based, and red, where First's 18 and 8 are based.

The lighter blue indicates taxi bays for further conveniences.

Also there is a new footbridge, currently being constructed, that will offer another pathway to the Student Centre and the parade.

Remember if you are geared up to change something, let the Students' Union know... it can help!

dot :)

SU President

Comments

Andrew Grayson: 5:25pm on 18 Sep 10 Well as far as I can see it seems like you've done a good job, nice one :)
Adan Scotney: 11:06pm on 11 Sep 10 Most of your reply is not worthy of a response because I've already addressed it, but one thing I will respond to: I'm not quite sure why you'd want to see me in person: I'm not going to be convinced you have been doing anything worthwhile. If _you_ want to see me, feel free to track me down, it's not hard, but I really don't see what such a meeting would offer and I'm not going to waste my time going up there just to repeat myself. You sell yourself as a layabout, but then get upset when somebody believes it. Once you actually try to do something useful (I realise you're probably short on ideas - all the projects you inherited are coming to a close - initiate withdrawal from the NUS if you want a new one which will leave something positive once your time is up), then maybe I'll be convinced, but until then words are just words.
Daniel O'Toole: 3:42pm on 3 Sep 10 Hi Adan, I’d just like to pick up on a few points and also invite you to meet with me to talk about moving forwards. 1. “claiming a victory which firstly wasn't his” – It would help to know when/where I said that this was my victory. 2. [victory] “wasn't won” – If students are fired up about something (ANYTHING) it is the Students' Union’s responsibility to chase that up. Regardless of whether it has been on the University’s to-do-list for years, it is still essential to raise these representations. Adan, would you have preferred the Students' Union to not have done anything at all? The University has said it will continue to improve lecture theatres, endeavour to cut the number of 8.15/6.15 lectures, continue to improve assessment conditions and feedback as well as provide better resources in the library. It is up to the Students’ Union to ensure that these issues are truly being looked at and addressed by the University, otherwise there could be little actual action done to resolve such concerns. 3. [plays right into the hands of people like O'Toole ] “I wonder how the new sabbs feel about this?”. Perhaps you can talk to my colleagues, both Sabbs and staff instead of wondering. If you were willing to meet with me, face to face, instead of ranting from behind your computer screen, you will see that I am not the person you think I am. Having never met you, I can’t quite understand what your underlying frustration is with anything both I and the Students’ Union does or tries to do. I would very much like to meet with you to discuss things further. dot
Adan Scotney: 10:42pm on 30 Aug 10 TPS, So nice to see you again! Not that we saw much of you when you were assigned to our coursework group that is (how did your year go by the way?). What I take issue with is O'Toole claiming a victory which firstly wasn't his, and secondly wasn't won. It is purely to try and make it seem as if he has been doing something. It is quite right I should say what is going on: in the SU we have a huge problem of apathy. Nobody is willing to spend the time speaking out about problems because they feel nothing will get done. This plays right into the hands of people like O'Toole, but others of us don't like it (I wonder how the new sabbs feel about this? I can't imagine they could come out and say it given that they have to work with the guy for a year). "Its obvious that money was not enough of an issue to prevent the bus shelter being built, given that the shelter is being built.", sorry, what point were you trying to make with this? I was saying it would've been a waste of money to build a *temporary* shelter only to replace it with a permenant one a few months later. Especially since even the temporary one would've required planning permission. Please name one other article where I have posted a rant about the SU president? Can't think of one? Nor can I. I did go to the second QA session thankyou very much, I was not given the opportunity to ask a question. I know at least one of the new sabbs will remember my being out on the parade and I spent quite a lot of time speaking to most of the candidates. Of the candidates on offer, none were particularly good, and three I actively had issues with. O'Toole was nowhere to be seen (maybe he was in his pod thing, but it is sheer arrogance to expect people to seek you out). Gillies just didn't seem particularly good for the job and was more interested in getting people to know him. Spry got wind that I had complained about her campaign tactics about on my Facebook page, and told Tom Major I had been spreading rumours about her and tried to have my private page censored. Kennaway didn't seem that interested. Maybe I should've run, but would I want to be associated in such a capacity with the SU as it is today? No. We have a bus shelter, yes. I do not dispute this (I have seen it with my own eyes!), and it is right the SU should prod the university if nothing is getting done (even campaign if that doesn't work!) but this is not what happened. "there's no need for rants that verge on childish name calling." - "seems like double standards to me" - "If your name's Adan Scotney, grow up." Oh, what irony. How about O'Toole defending himself? I'm assuming he told you about this, or you'll have told him by now given that you're best buddies.
Adan Scotney: 11:09am on 26 Aug 10 I'm sorry, but that's not what happened at all. I know Josh, and I was one of the first people he invited to this Facebook group. He wanted the University to build a temporary bus shelter, but almost straight away it turned out that they didn't want to waste the money and instead had already started putting in for planning permission to build a permanent shelter. I distinctly remember seeing this in the news on the Facebook page, and asking Josh what the point was of keeping pushing the issue (as is stated above, there is a lack of money at the moment, and any temporary shelter would've required planning permission too so it would've been foolish to erect something on a temporary basis), to which he replied he had been told he should carry it on by O'Toole. Why? Well the only reason I can think of is so that he could be seen to be doing something. The guy you all voted in is lying to you, and he's not to be trusted. Democracy in the SU has failed. We once again have somebody in charge who does little, censors (anybody remember the debate on the 20A/C on Bathstudent which mysteriously disappeared when he lost?), takes credit for other people's achievements, and engineers situations to try and paint himself in a better light, while further feed his already greatly overinflated ego. If you voted for O'Toole, shame on you.

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Published: 19 Aug 2010 22:45 , Last updated: 06 Oct 2010 11:19