Tuesday 27th February 2024
A fortnight ago I explained in the blog about Flitwick’s Transport Interchange that Stagecoach was withdrawing its hourly route 2 between Bedford and Flitwick after 17th February. The two buses saved from that cut were redeployed on an extension to the company’s half hourly route 9A/9B which perviously ran from Bedford to Hitchin but from Monday last week (19th February) was extended to Stevenage, bringing Stagecoach buses to the Hertfordshire town for the first time.
Bus route aficionados will appreciate the move provides two more buses an hour between Hitchin and Stevenage which has traditionally been served by Arriva and as featured in my first Every Route 100 blogpost last month.
With that journey still fresh in my mind I returned for another trip last Friday to see how this new competitive situation was developing and its likely prospects.
Stagecoach’s routes 9A and 9B are part of a 15 minute frequency from Bedford to the village of Shortstown on the south side of the A421 which skirts the southern edge of the town. The “village” has seen considerable expansion over the last decade with new residential development and a ‘new district’ (called New Cardington) on the east side of a diverted A600. This new road wiggle has enabled a section of bus only road to be created on the former line of the A600 as can clearly be seen from a map.
Half hourly short journeys, appropriate enough to Shortstown, are numbered plain 9 by Stagecoach while the other half hourly journeys, numbered 9A and 9B (each hourly), continue on from Shortstown via two different routes, but both calling at Shefford, on the way to Hitchin, and from last Monday, these have been extended on to Stevenage.
I’d previously had a ride earlier in February on a 9B, which takes in the villages of Haynes, Clifton and Henlow Camp (the 9A serves Arlesey and Ickleford), and found a busy bus both leaving Bedford (15 on board of which 11 alighted in Bedford and Shortstown) and coming into Hitchin (seven locals), but not doing so much in between.
Interestingly the departure stand in Bedford bus station was still advising passengers about a change to the route from last summer, with no information about, or promotion of, the forthcoming extension to Stevenage.
Going back to Hitchin last Friday also reaffirmed the route does well as I saw buses carrying impressive numbers from the north arriving and departing into Hitchin.
The new extension has meant some changes to bus stops in Hitchin with the obvious potential to confuse passengers. Whereas previously buses did a one way anti-clockwise loop dropping off, standing time and picking up at the bus stop in Bancroft (shown in blue on the map below)…
… that stop is now where passengers board for Stevenage (shown in red on the map above, with Bedford bound passengers needing to walk the short distance round the corner to the bus stop in nearby Hermitage Road.
Thankfully Stagecoach thought to display a helpful notice in the Bancroft bus shelter explaining this, but as you can imagine while I was waiting there, many passengers came up, unaware of the change and not thinking to look inside the shelter for a notice.
It did help that the (non) real time information display board in the shelter had been updated and passengers consulting that were obviously puzzled expecting to see the familiar Bedford rather than this new fangled destination called Stevenage.
But, just to add back some confusion, the static timetable next to Stagecoach’s notice still showed departures to Bedford, with no reference to Stevenage.
And although Hertfordshire’s online town maps have been updated (as you can see above), the countywide map hasn’t nor have the Where To Board Your Bus diagrams.
Arriva’s Stevenage bound buses on the 100/101 don’t pick up at Bancroft, which adds to the confusion, but pick up at a stop in Hermitage Road opposite the Luton/Bedford bound one. So Stevenage bound passengers now need to make a choice which stop to wait at.
Down in the new Stevenage Interchange, Hitchin bound passengers are better served as both Stagecoach and Arriva pick up from the same departure stand (stand A).
And the departure screen above the stand showed Stagecoach’s departures along with Arriva’s…
… although oddly the main display showing all departures in the ‘interchange’ hadn’t been updated…
… (aren’t they feeding off the same database?) and neither had the static displays.
It’s early days for the new extension to Stevenage but I reckon it has potential, particularly because Stagecoach buses take the most direct route possible and effectively just call at Stevenage’s Lister Hospital before heading directly on to Hitchin.
Stagecoach has decided to achieve this fast link by sacrificing the route via Stevenage Old Town which Arriva’s 100/101 serve as well as by-passing Little Wymondley (served by the 101). It’s a bit of a gamble, as readers may recall when I travelled on the 100 we picked up and set down quite a few passengers in the Old Town without a huge time penalty.
Stagecoach schedule a journey time of 25 minutes between Stevenage and Hitchin and 22 minutes for the return. When I travelled on the 11:00 departure from Stevenage we did it in only 20 minutes while the return from Hitchin took just 17 minutes, which was impressive especially on the fast dual-carriageway stretch of the A602 linking the two towns
Despite going via Old Town, Arriva’s buses on the 100 have similar scheduled journey times to Stagecoach but 101 journeys take an extra five minutes and as I explained in that previous blogpost, the timetable includes alternate 100/101 journeys on a three-bus-an-hour frequency making for a complicated and unmemorable offering compared to Stagecoach’s simpler to understand two-bus-an-hour service, albeit Stevenage bound journeys leave Hitchin at 20 and 42 minutes past the hour due to the different journey times on the 9A compared to the 9B.
It’s possible the perception of a faster journey missing out Old Town will attract rail passengers. Although the four-an-hour Thameslink trains take just five minutes between Stevenage and a Hitchin you have to factor in the walk from Hitchin station to the town centre of around 12-15 minutes, and of course the £2 maximum fare and concessionary bus passes make the bus a particularly attractive option.
From the number of passengers waiting at Stand A for Stagecoach’s 11:00 departure from Stevenage I thought it might be busy and take business away from Arriva’s 11:05 journey.
In the event only three boarded, with another at the station and two of those four on board alighted at Lister Hospital where we picked up two adults and a child who were travelling through to Bedford so very much appreciated the new service. One more passenger boarded as we entered Hitchin, but that was it.
Returning from Hitchin on the 11:42 back to Stevenage, it was running late and only departed at 11:49 having brought a good number in from Bedford. Two passengers stayed on (one of whom, the vibes told me, was related to the driver) and the other also travelled through to Stevenage. Three boarded in Hitchin with one travelling just a few stops and the other two to Lister Hospital and from the conversation at the bus stop had made a deliberate attempt to catch Stagecoach rather than Arriva.
It’ll be interesting to see how this new competitive situation develops. Arriva certainly needs to up its game. Timekeeping on the 100/101, as I found previously, was not good and the company’s image is generally languishing.
But Stagecoach is also far from perfect as the out-of date notice in Bedford bus station showed, and both buses I travelled on were displaying a diagrammatic map of a city bus network…
… not for Bedford, but for Peterborough – but you’d have to know that city’s local district names to know that, as it doesn’t tell you the name of the city.
I think passengers will rightly be mystified by the mish-mash of timetables now on offer with one (100/101) on an alternate journey 20 minute frequency and the other (9A/9B) on a 20/40 frequency in one direction and a 30/30 in the other, and both offering three slightly varying routes, together with no printed information and websites that are unhelpful, unclear or out of date.
It’s a pity Hertfordshire’s Statutory Enhanced Partnership (SEP) can’t sort this out and broker a deal for a co-ordinated frequency along this key corridor. I thought that’s what SEPs were for?
Roger French
Blogging timetable: 06:00 TThS with occasional Su extras, including this Sunday 3rd March.
Comments on today’s blog are welcome but please keep them relevant to the blog topic, avoid personal insults and add your name (or an identifier). Thank you.
BusAndTrainUser 
Whilst I understand why the 9A and 9B towards Stevenage are serving Bancroft (plenty of room) rather than Hermitage Road (very busy stop served also by terminating 97s and 98s), it does seem odd that the new Stagecoach extension is not also calling at St Mary’s Square, opposite Hitchin Market, as that would provide a common stop for Stevenage bound passengers, not just with the 100 and 101 but also UNO’s 635.
Arriva-escapee
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Based on Arriva’s usual performance, there will be a short period of competition and then they will close their local depot abandoning in the entire area, while transferring any buses less than a decade old to some other part of the network who might have been hoping for some investment.
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Unless I dreamt it, have not Arriva declined to take part in the electric “transformation” in Stevenage (along with Milton Keynes and Fastrack in Kent)? Thus making residual operations in all three locations a “pull-out” certainty.
Terence Uden
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Correct – the money (and buses) are supposed to be going to Uno now, who thanks to Arriva are getting a heavily subisidised upgrade to their starting to get a bit long in the tooth Hertfordshire fleet.
Fastrack is switching to GoAhead sometime later this year I believe, who will presumably be hoping they can use it as a springboard to bolt-on Dartford and Gravesend to their existing London operations.
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Stagecoach 9a/b is a descendant of the former Birch Brothers route from Rushden to London, via Bedford and Hitchin. South of Hitchin it went via Codicote to Welwyn and Kings X, as Stevenage was only a village prior to the development of the New Town. The 203 passed to United Counties and ceased south of Hitchin long ago. Hitchin was the northern border of the London Transport Country Area so north-south through services across the border were impossible, other than the 203 which existed prior to the formation of London Transport. Henlow Camp was a significant military base providing traffic for the 203.
This is clearly a competitive strike against the perceived ailing Arriva , although with the extensive Stevenage Town Service network I don’t see depot closure likely, particularly as the depot has recently been rebuilt. Perhaps Stagecoach is looking to acquire Stevenage from Arriva’s new owners? As for a competitive response from Arriva the 9a/b is fairly thin north of Hitchin having only recently returned to a combined 30 minute service from hourly, and Stagecoach has nothing else in the area.
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The most at risk Arriva depot may be Colchester. It only operates a handful of routes and has direct competition from First bus on all the routes other than the P&R service
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Apologies for the Pedant’s Corner entry, but Stagecoach have served Stevenage before, albeit a while ago now and from Biggleswade on the 190/1 previously UCOC and before that, I think, Cooks.
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Always enjoy a Pedant’s Corner nugget.
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Charles Cook started a Saturday express service between Biggleswade and Stevenage in 1973, and after a period secured a stage licence over the same route adding in Stotfold and Baldock. It took some time for Charles Cook to secure daily licences to make it a 6 day a week service. It was routed along the old A1 to avoid overlapping United Counties services. After 1986 Charles Cook rerouted his service to run via Langford, Henlow and Arlesey instead of directly along the A1. When Charlie Cook retired in 1989, he sold his bus garage to Stagecoach and with it went the bus service, which became the 191. The timetable was boosted with more trips and school moves but ultimately usage was dying off due to a vastly improved train service following the 1987 NSE upgrade. Stagecoach walked away from the 191 in 2004.
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Hertfordshire are appallingly bad at updateiung their maps, timetables and bus stops. In Watford High Street the bus stops are displaying route numbers that were withdrawn 2 years ago. Some routes in Watford have been introduced and then withdrawn without ever appearing ob bus stops. When it comes to passenger information Intalink are clearly failiung badly.
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The information screens may feed off the same database, although they can have separate configurations. That said, the screen inside was updated and in your photo it does show the 11:00 9B service.
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All the Stagecoach buses on the extended route appear to be single deckers, but last Thursday I saw from a passing Thameslink train that the 10:25 from Stevenage to Bedford was a double decker.
Ian McNeil
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Confused with too much varied detail…
So, which Stagecoach number bus goes from Stevenage right through to Bedford and where is the stop from Bedford to get back to Stevenage? That’s all I need to know.
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Seems simple enough to me reading the post and looking at the photos: through buses Bedford to Stevenage run as either 9a or 9b depending on which set of villages they serve between Bedford and Hitchin.
And where do you get on them in Bedford? Maybe try the bus station?
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There seems to be a danger of overthinking this. 2 buses an hour, and only 1 on Saturdays is unlikely to do too much damage to Arriva. I think the main traffic generator is from the towns/villages north of Hitchin to Lister Hospital, and to a lesser extent the shops and railway station at Stevenage. Any Hitchin-Stevenage custom is of course clearly a bonus to Stagecoach!
Stagecoach do not appear to be bothered about changing the coving informastion on the buses transferred to Bedford as some have continued to show the Citi map and branding for many years now.
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I see the persistent theme of out of date, incorrect and amateurish (almost flyposting) information displays persist.
Peter Brown
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It’s national and it’s across all the big groups.
Nothing’s going to change while the marketodroids are convinced that everyone goes online for everything just because they do.
A. Nony Mouse
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The lack of investment by Arriva’s owners in the South East bus business is so depressing. As far as I can tell, in the last five years (2019-2024), The Shires have recieved a total of 14 new buses and Southern Counties 5 (which have since been transferred to The Shires). Plus the 2020 batch of coaches for the 757. No wonder Stagecoach thinks there might be easy pickings, there are independents like Whites and Falcon who’ve placed bigger bus orders than that.
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And Safeguard with 5 Evoras and 1 E200 in 2022 and 2023.
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Changed bus stop? Information at the old stop? Well done on this occasion Stagecoach East! (But let’s skirt over the outdated poster in Bedford bus station.)
In another corner of the forest…
The Bedford-operated 905 Cambridge – Bedford has finally been allowed into the hallowed precincts of Cambridge’s (rather grotty) Drummer Street Bus station, rescued from a terminus far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy aka some 250 m away, on Parkside, with the Flixbus and NatEx departure stands.*
But is there any information at the old stop? No.
*The issue appears to have been the allocation of Drummer Street bays on FRAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory) terms.
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The state of Arriva buses is depressing. The seeming lack of interest in their operations has not changed since the takeover was announced and it lets down all transport operators when a leading player has little care
Stagecoach is still suffering from the retirement of a generation of bus people with their replacements focused more on image than operations.
The lack of correct information just drives occasional travellers away and judging from the comments Hertfordshire CCG has lost its way too.
Maybe I’m just too old, but I do despair for the future of public transport.
Gareth Cheeseman
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“Stagecoach is still suffering from the retirement of a generation of bus people with their replacements focused more on image than operations.”
I agree with you to a certain degree, but who recruited, trained and retained those image-obsessed replacements? That last generation of bus people.
Stagecoach lost its way the generation previously as far as I’m concerned.
A. Nony Mouse
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Its not stagecoach’s 1st foray into deep Hertfordshire Arriva territory as many years ago, think around 1992/1993, they used to operate the 314 from Stevenage to Welwyn Garden City via Welwyn church. It wasn’t a very regular timed service but i used to recall seeing their Double Decker Alexander type buses laying over in the centre of the old bus station.
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The 314 service from Hitchin to Welwyn was for many years part of the Birch Brothers route from Rushden & Bedford to London which operated via Henlow & Hitchin before the A1(M) opened as a dual carraigeway. The Birch sold out to United Counties and the route was eventually broken up. At deregulation United Counties operated the 314 from an outstation in Hertfordshire and it remained in operation from the garage at Biggleswade for many years interworked with school movements and the 191 service from Biggleswade to Stevenage. It was withdrawn in 2004 and passed to Centrebus.
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Its so sad how Arriva seems to be on a one bus destination to destruction these days. I used to live on the outskirts of their operating area in Royston, North Herts. Long before Arriva got their hands on the routes around North Herts, It was under the professional outfit of Luton & District Transport. With a Bus Bond ticket or an Explorer which was valid on nearly all L&D services excepting the 757 to London i would have a full day out, starting from the outer extremity of Baldock around 06:00 and i would get my money out of that Explorer ticket finishing back at Baldock around 23:20.
During that time i would travel around the estate services of Letchworth (451/452/455) & Hitchin (401, 402/403/404/405) all linked in by the Cooly Branded “Herts Beds Connection” 92/93/94//96/97/98/99 routes then on to Stevenage (SB2/ SB3/SB4/SB5/SB6 & SB16). following them it would entail a 100/101 over to Luton and then a quick spin out and back from the now flattened bus station on the 27 around Marsh Farm. !!.
All these services were high frequency, the minimum being every 30mins. The estate services every 15-20mins and the 92-99 Herts Beds Connections running every 10 mins combined. These were the good old days when you could guarantee a Leyland National would run on the longer distance Luton trips or circle round and around all day on the Stevenage SB circulars. Even the local estate services were top notch with their very colorful “Hoppanstopper” branded Iveco turbo daily minibuses scuttling around the towns.
Look now and its a pitiful network Arriva have created around north herts with hourly services from Baldock and Stotfold and the last buses finishing around 19:00 and the estate services are hardly temping to use with their much reduced frequencies and reduced operating hours.
Its not just North Herts that seems to be affected because Watford/Garston/Croxley routes & Hemel Hempstead/Woodhall Farm/Boxmoor services all are very much reduced.
Is it me looking through the L&D rose tinted glasses or does it seem that anything that Arriva get their hands on they just seem to trash it until its not worth bothering with ??
GN Tel.
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“does it seem that anything that Arriva get their hands on they just seem to trash it until its not worth bothering with ?”
It’s not just Arriva, it’s all the big players although I think Arriva have definitely replaced First as the worst.
And some of the smaller players are losing it, too; it’s a long time since Wellglade’s trentbarton lived up to the hype of being the “really bus company”, for example, with even the ‘premium’ Red Arrow regularly having entire circuits missing and most of the circuits which are running being ordinary buses rather than the coaches which are supposed to make it premium, and you really don’t want to look at their TM Travel operation where almost every bus is a different colour (no, they don’t have route branded liveries). Further east Brylaine, a major player in Lincolnshire, stopped running at weekends after Covid and has never restarted, leaving some big gaps which have only been part-filled by the County Council.
Evening services have collapsed everywhere outside the big conurbations; inter-urban links are slowly falling apart away from the most successful corridors and even those local estate services which survive are struggling in many towns partly because it’s almost impossible to get a full-width bus along estate roads that are nowadays chocka with parked cars.
Add all the financial woes courtesy inadequately resourced and/or poorly thought out government programmes such as the English National Concessionary Pass and now the £2 maximum fare, and the fact that few bus companies can pay a high enough wage to attract people onto a pretty anti-social job, and it’s surprising that buses outside the conurbations have survived as well as they have.
A. Nony Mouse
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Sadly at least in my view it is a race to the bottom with bus services. They have been in decline for decades and standards steadily fall
There are a few exceptions but they are rare.
At one time it looked as if BSIP might deliver real improvement but in general that proved not to be the case. Services continue to be cut back and there has been little improvement in timekeeping and reliability
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Hi I live in Broadwater in Stevenage & I’ve got learning difficulties & I’m really not sure what’s happening bout our New Buses weather were getting New Buses or not. I just wish that didn’t have to wait so long. I really feel for the elderly who can’t walk very far & so please tell me if we’re getting New Buses or not?
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Hi Maria
I’m sorry but I don’t think anyone here will be able to answer your question. We’re just a bunch of people from across the country who are interested in buses.
There is someone from Intalink (Hertfordshire County Council) who sometimes posts here, so maybe he’ll see your post and be able to answer.
Sorry!
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I believe the extension is at the behest of Hertfordshire County Council and their BSIP money rather than an initiative from Stagecoach. Also Stagecoach did use to serve Stevenage from the Biggleswade area on the old Charles Cook services United Counties took over.
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An example of deregulation lunacy. First West of England have rediscovered a previously abandoned part of Bristol as a spoiler to a new start operator.
https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/bus-desert-estate-now-gets-9125992.amp
How can public transport be left to the whims of large companies?
Peter Brown
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That news article makes no sense. First they’ve been “campaigning for years” for the replacement of a withdrawn service and then it was only withdrawn a year ago?
Mind you, all local newspapers are atrocious now, so I suppose it’s hardly surprising. In north Staffordshire, the Stoke Sentinel’s “journalists” have taken to trawling Google reviews and business replies, and posting them verbatim as ‘news’ stories.
Whatever happened to local journalists actually researching stories and doing their best to produce accurate and informative local news?
A. Nony Mouse
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That can work both ways. Our Bus Users’ Group now finds that all we have to do to get a news story in the local paper is to post it on our website.
Jim Davies
Lancaster Bus Users Group
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No it isn’t and your post and the article are wildly inaccurate. Both services were registered with the standard notice period, so without knowledge of the other.
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The problem was that the old route to Ashton Vale had to go under a low bridge on Ashton Drive precluding the use of deckers. For many years, First used Darts/Streetlites but in 2019, they decided to truncate the 24 at Ashton Gate, using a Solo to operate a shuttle service to link Ashton Vale with Ashton Gate (connecting with the 24). That wasn’t sustainable and then withdrawn.
What has now happened is that with the replacement of another bridge on South Liberty Lane, an alternative decker friendly route has become available and so the 24 can now be routed to Ashton Vale that way. However, Transpora had already submitted their proposal to operate via the old route on Ashton Drive.
Hope that clarifies
BW2
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If you read the First West of England announcement it says “In response to community feedback and following the removal of the old railway bridge and its abutments, we are very pleased to be re-routing the 24 down to Ashton Vale, Langley Crescent”.
When the First 24 was converted to double deckers it could no longer access Ashton Vale. Their replacement shuttle service was just too unprofitable and so for the last year they have had to walk. Without the rail bridge obstacle, the double decker operated route can now be extended.
The other company just hasn’t noticed the new rail bridge, but needs work between contracts and so has reintroduced a 4 a day service along the direct road through the 11ft under bridge.
I think it is a case of not researching the business opportunity properly and not being aware of road improvements. The big company knows best.
In general the bus industry seems to be just short of cash as are the councils supporting them. In my area (Devon) however, we do see improvements, new routes, extra journeys, printed timetables on stops and in book form and we have several new bus shelters.
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Sorry but you have the Bristol situation twice in 4 minutes. Nothing to do with Stevenage either. The local situation is often more complex than it appears at first sight.
It would be good if the bus industry had more money. However one local route was adjusted to every 10 mins across town and very quickly had to be largely converted to double decker operation because of its popularity.
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Interesting to see in the photo at the top of this blog, Stagecoach cannot even spell Haynes – they have have spelt it ‘Haines’ on the bus destination display!
Josh
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I recall the Stevenage and Hitchin operations as the Arriva transition was underway. At that time, it was Nigel Eggleton who was the commercial manager for The Shires. Can’t recall if both depots operated the 100/101 but the differing culture between the two depots was evident. Stevenage had the best routes with the 100/101 alongside the Stevenage locals (Pin Green, Chells etc) that were real moneyspinners (note: Sovereign was still operating in the town). Hitchin was a tight operation, less lucrative but with a good network out to Stotfold, Baldock and Letchworth.
However, the loss of Nigel to Transdev was indicative of an overall decline as marketing efforts fell by the wayside, investment waned and services were axed. It is a pale shadow of what it once was, and the woeful fleet allocated to Stevenage is as careworn as anywhere in Arriva. After the travails of LC(NE) and the splitting of the operations, it felt by the mid 1990s that a decent business had been crafted under the Shires but it wasn’t to last.
BW2
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Nigel Eggleton moved first to Go-Ahead (Oxford, then Birmingham) before reaching Transdev.
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Of course he did, and for a few years too at Oxford. Thanks for reminding me. I’d forgotten that he’d also been involved in the somewhat ill-fated expansion of Go Ahead into the West Midlands.
Top bloke, Nigel, on the few times I met him.
BW2
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Regarding the transfer of 905 to the bus station in Cambridge, I thought the problem was that the coaches previously used on the X5 were too long to navigate the bus station. Now standard Double decks are used the bus station is accessible.
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Coaches fitted fine length-wise but the wheelchair lifts didn’t have room to deploy in among the cramped bus station infrastructure.
blue
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Unfortunately that rather crucial stop change notice at the Bancroft stop was no longer there when I was in Hitchin earlier today, less than two weeks after the changes – I took the opportunity to explain to a small group of people who had wondered what had happened to their Bedford bus that they now had to wander around the corner into Hermitage Road to catch it….
PS
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That’s not good.
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I’m afraid the cynic in me sees exactly what has happened here. Stagecoach have walked away from yet another historic corridor that they’ve basically given away (Flitwick-Ampthill-villages-Bedford) as they did when they walked away from the Biggleswade & Sandy corridor in 2022. Now they’ve got a cheque from Herts County Council who clearly have a wad of BSIP cash to spend and have simply opted to deploy the buses from one corridor to another and have HCC pay for it to help prop up the dog which is now their Bedford operation. The network of services from Bedford to Hitchin via Shefford and Biggleswade were once known as the ‘golden triangle’ because of their profitability. If this extension of the corridor had genuine commercial legs Stagecoach would have done it in 1987 when it took over United Counties. I predict when the money runs out, this will be truncated back to Hitchin. As for the buses, those E300s have had the Peterborough ‘Citi’ vinyls inside for over 2 years whilst working at Bedford. It’s symptomatic of an operation that doesn’t care about it’s offer to the public or any attention to details.
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